Mario Kart Over Deadlines, and Oregon Bubbles on SOMM TV

It’s Sunday night, the day after I was supposed to publish this month’s newsletter. I’ve got a glass of Sparkling Blanc de Blanc in hand, it’s 87 degrees out, and I’m soaking up the fact that it’s summer. Yeah, I’m a little surprised I’m saying that too—usually, I don’t call it “summer” until after July 4th. But yesterday was hot, tomorrow will be too, and the rest of the week looks like a typical Oregon June. As always, I’m curious how this weather will reflect in the glass a few years from now.

Now you might be asking: why am I sipping BdB and writing this myself instead of handing it off to my editor? Or maybe the bigger question is, why is the newsletter late?

If you’ve been reading Weinnotes for the past six years, you already know I have a tendency to procrastinate. And sometimes, that bites me in the patootski. Friday, I had every intention of getting the newsletter out, even though I didn’t really know what I wanted to write about. But things happened.

The first “thing” actually started back in April, when Nintendo announced pre-orders for the Switch 2. Personally, I don’t need a new Switch. But that console holds some special memories for me. It all started in March 2017, when the original Switch launched. I took a chance and ordered one—I wasn’t sure if my daughter would like it or not. If you don’t know, the console came bundled with Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Incredible game. She fell in love with it. Still one of her all time favorites.

March is also spring break, and my daughter has an older brother, who I got hooked on Zelda way back on the Wii. The two of them bonded hard over BOTW and have talked games ever since. So when Nintendo opened up pre-orders for the Switch 2, how in the whole wide world of sports was I supposed to say no? I couldn’t. No way.

I placed the pre-order and everything looked set for a June 10th delivery. I was kinda hoping to get lucky on launch day, June 5th, but no dice—estimated delivery was the 11th. That was fine.

Then Friday morning, I got an email from Target. My package had shipped. Cool. I was a little excited, but mostly bummed it was going to take so long. I clicked the tracking link to confirm it—and to my total shock, the status read: Out for Delivery.

What?!?!?!?!?

That flipped my day on its head. I wasn’t expecting that at all.

I texted my stepson a screenshot of the delivery status and said, “Hey, I know this is last minute, but look what’s coming today—want to come over and play Mario Kart World?” I was double shocked when he replied, “Your timing is incredible. I have PTO this afternoon!”

So now tell me—how in the world am I supposed to finish a newsletter when I’ve got the chance to hang out and bond with two incredible human beings over Mario Kart World?

I know it might sound silly to some, but we’ve been doing this for over ten years. The number of times we’ll get to do it again is shrinking. They’re growing up. They’re becoming super-responsible adults. I had to grab the moment while I could.

If you’ve played Mario Kart, you know this new version is intense. There’s a LOT going on. We had an awesome late afternoon and evening filled with laughter, smiles, pizza, and memories I’ll treasure for years to come.

Now—shall we talk about some links happening in the world of wine?

Starting off, here's a nice little article titled: Oregon Pinot Noir: Staying true to the Pinot ideal​

Do you remember me telling you about Paden's Chardonnay from Approachment? It's getting some very good press!

Here is some more background info on Michael Osborn, the new CEO of Willamette Valley Vineyards. If that wasn't enough, here is some more. I am sure you want more don't you? Ok, fine here ya go!

The Willamette Valley Winery Association held their yearly aucion recently. Be sure to read about it here and to also check out the record Alexana set this year. I was in the room when it happened. So very exciting!

Forbes did a nice quick writeup on Rodeo Hills and the Willamette Valley.

Are you curious about a backhind the scene look at the history of Oregon Chardonnay?

We hear about the merging of wineries, here and there. This is the first time I have heard about vineyard management companies merging though.

Love love love love, this little writeup from the Oregon Wine Press on Arabilis!

I’m in full ramble mode tonight before I get to the main content. Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe it’s the BdB. Maybe it’s a combo of both.

I have been wanting to ramble a bit about Oregon in the wine world lately. Let’s start with James Suckling’s latest Oregon Wine Report. Right off the bat, Bryan and Laura from Hazelfern are pictured front and center before you even get to the actual content. This makes me so freaking happy! Scroll down a little and you’ll see Hazelfern’s bottle is right next to Antica Terra. If you’ve read James Suckling’s reports in the past, Antica Terra is always front and center.

If you want to know more about Bryan and Laura, here’s a link to my podcast episode with them.

What I really want to highlight is something James Suckling says in the report:

I wish I had the time to cross-analyze other wine regions to compare those numbers—but wow. Oregon is making a serious name for itself. If you want to read the report yourself, and I wouldn’t blame you one bit, here’s the link.

Outside of the Suckling report, Oregon’s also been pretty dominant on SOMM TV lately. If you’re not familiar with SOMM TV, I’m going to assume you haven’t seen the cult-classic SOMM movie either, and that’s okay. Let me give you a quick crash course.

Jason Wise, who I had on the podcast, created a film called SOMM in 2012. He followed a group of guys studying for the Master Sommelier exam. Mind-blowing stuff, these guys are guessing wines from all over the world and putting themselves through hell to get this certification. If you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend it.

Also on SOMM TV is a series called Sparklers. It’s a James Beard Award–nominated, high-stakes, high-pressure cooking and wine pairing competition show featuring sparkling wines from around the world. Thirteen episodes, a cast of food and wine pros who are shaking up the culinary world. While there are guest judges, the main judging is done by the five contestants themselves—friends judging friends. (I stole that bit from their website.)

I mention Sparklers because part of it was filmed at At The Joy. That whole thing started as a COVID project when Andy Lytle was sending Lytle-Barnett Sparkling to restaurants in San Fran. Matthew Kaner put Andy in touch with Jason Wise, and boom, Sparklers was born. You can hear the full story in my interview with Andy on the podcast.

Quick sidenote: Meghan Zobeck, who was the winemaker at Burgess and is now Director of Winemaking for Opus One, is also on Sparklers. I tried to get her on the podcast, but it didn’t happen. Still trying. Probably never will, but I’ll keep the hope alive. Oh, and everyone on the show loved loved loved loved Andy’s Lytle-Barnett Sparkling. You should visit the tasting room in Dundee ASAP!

Back to SOMM TV—there are three episodes available to watch as of when you’re reading this. Two of them were filmed at At The Joy and the third was at the Lytle-Barnett / Aubaine Tasting room.

The first features Jeanne from Corollary and Kenny from Arabilis. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing both of them on the podcast, and I had straight-up goosebumps watching them go back and forth. Here’s the interview with Jeanne and Dan. If you haven’t heard me ramble about their X-OMNI Blanc de Blanc, let me tell you, it’s something else.

And Kenny—who I’ve said over and over again is Dr. Bubbles. (I didn’t give him that name—Travis Todd did. More on him in a sec.) Kenny’s been on the podcast twice. First was a remote interview. The second was in person, with his wife Allison, who was due with their baby any day. That was also Super Bowl Sunday. What made that day special was they were about to release their first sparkling wine. Kenny had reached out to me back in 2021, and I’d been waiting years for that bottle. He and Allison are the real deal. Keep your eyes on Arabilis.

I’m going to spoil part of the episode for you because one of the wines in the blind tasting is especially close to my heart. Back when I did my Sparkling Report in 2021, it was kind of an elusive bottle. I now have 6–8 bottles of it. It’s an Oregon Blanc de Blanc from Michael Lundeen, who does not speak up enough about the work he’s doing. Way too humble. He’s been making sparkling since 2011. Who here has heard of Lundeen Wines? Very few, I bet—and that’s the point. This episode is something special.

The next Blind Tasting episode is with SOMM Art Tierce from Antica Terra and Travis Todd from de la boue. Naturally, I had Travis on the podcast—and what a fun time that was! I seriously wanted to blind taste him on MGD, but instead I brought a nice Domaine Serene because that’s where I met his wife many years ago. Never in a million years did I think I’d be interviewing her husband on a podcast later in life. Life’s funny like that.

What I loved about this episode is knowing Travis and watching his reaction to the blind tasting. If you’re going to watch it, I highly recommend watching my interview first for some great backstory. He’s an amazing guy making some incredible wines—and he’ll be coming out with a sparkling wine soon, with help from Kenny!

The wine Travis brought for the blind tasting? Out of this world. It’s a 2011 from Tendril. Tony Rynders made it—and yes, I interviewed him too. He was the first full-time winemaker at Domaine Serene. Powerful wines, powerful stories—and it makes me so happy to see it all unfold and share with you.

The third episode features Kate Payne Brown (podcast interview here). She was at Stoller, then Ambar, and now she’s the Queen of Sparkling at Argyle. In this episode, she’s disgorging a 38-year-old bottle of Blanc de Blanc with Jeanne from Corollary. This was the first sparkling bottle ever made by Rollin Soles at Argyle, the bottle that kicked off the Sparkling Revolution in Oregon.

I can’t say this for certain, but it feels like what’s happening in Oregon Wine Country right now isn’t happening as abundantly in other regions. There’s magic in the vineyards, and the people behind the labels are giving it life. You’re part of that magic. You’re witnessing it firsthand.

So here’s what to do tonight:

1. Sign up for SOMM TV , it’s super cheap.
2. Watch those three episodes
3. Watch another episode featuring Maysara—Jason got a James Beard nomination for that one
4. Join me and a bunch of others at Method Oregon on July 26th. It’s the first-ever celebration of 20+ Method Champenoise (aka traditional method) producers at Domaine Willamette. It’s the event of the summer. Come be part of Oregon wine history.

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This is where I normally say, "Tell them A.J. sent you", but I don't think that will be the case this month. Instead, here is what I would like instead. When you see me at Method Oregon on July 26th, come up to me and say, "A.J. sent me!"

With Gratitude,

A.J.

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PS – I mentioned the podcast a lot today. And if you’ve been paying attention, you know there hasn’t been a new episode since November. It’s not going away, just sitting on the back burner for now. Sitting down across from the superstars of wine country and hearing their stories still gets my blood pumping. But I’ve put a lot on my plate, and right now, my focus is on Block 55.

I’m working with close to 50 wineries across six different states. It’s mind-blowing. And the reason I’m pouring energy into Block 55 is because I honestly believe I’m filling a real need in the wine world—bringing a more intuitive, cost-effective system to wineries that need to streamline one key part of their business.

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PPS - I guess the main content for the month ended up being about Oregon wine!

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