Blog - From the Winery

Oregon Big Fire Dry Rosé – A new release, and sweet story for you.

As we were getting ready to release the new (absolutely stunning) 2010 Big Fire Dry Rosé, Rob and I were sitting in our kitchen, sipping on a glass and talking about all the lovely things we tasted therein. Suddenly Rob grabbed my laptop and started furiously typing something.  ”Just some thoughts I have…”, he said. I didn’t get a chance to read what he wrote until a day or two later, and here’s what it was, in all it’s un-edited loveliness. This is pure Rob.

“When I was 12 years of age our family move from Buffalo, NY to Grand Island, NY.  We lived right on the Niagara River about 2 miles above the famous falls.  This was moving to the country in our minds.  And with that we had moved into a house that had a field next to it.  Ultimately Charlie Hensel and his wife Ethel built on the far side of this field, but at the time in my life, THE FIELD and the woods and creek beyond it were magical to me.  Our 2010 Big Fire Dry Rosé takes me right back there to this time and place in my mind.  After all, that’s one of the magical things about wine, it transports you to places that meant something to you.

In this field next to our Outpost in the wilds of Grand Island, NY, grew wild strawberries.  I am not talking about the wild ones that you might see in a store.  I am talking about really wild ones that have been there on that land probably forever.  These things were about the size of your baby fingernail.  I remember the first time I saw them I was surprised with delight! They were so red and so small, but pop one in your mouth (we didn’t think of herbicides or pesticides in those days especially on a wild abandoned field) and WOW! What flavor.  I spent a lot of time over the next few weeks foraging around in this field to find them.  They only last a few weeks before they run their course.  I would be lucky if I could put together enough to fill my hand and then devour them in one euphoric munch.  That being said, even one popped in the mouth is a delight.”

In this wine I smell and taste fresh wild strawberries with a hint of cinnamon.  It is lean and crisp and assertively refreshing on the palate.  I follow with the thought that I am almost drinking wild fresh strawberries.”

the freshest Oregon strawberries

And I (back to Maria now) smell and taste strawberries and cinnamon as well, but I also get a lot of white pepper flavor. I love that spiciness, as it reminds me of the Rosés from Provence, France – which I adore. And truth be told, that’s the style we are trying to emulate.

There are so many perfect places in your life for a Dry Rosé. On the patio, in your picnic basket, at the beach, and it refreshing crispness goes with just about everything you might be cooking up this spring and summer.  Any minute now, the sun will come out and we’ll be ready with the perfect wine. Join us!

Approx.. 200 cases produced.

Cellar Tracker Review of 2010 Big Fire Pinot Gris

Rick Allen

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Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:13 am

Location: McMinnville, OR

2010 Oregon Pinot Gris – Big Fire and Northwest Cioppino

We recently released our 2010 Big Fire Pinot Gris.

A lovely glass of Pinot Gris

As usual, we love this wine – it’s all about crisp acidity and bright fruit flavors. Last night I had a sip of it and the first thing that popped into my head was “Yum. Grapefruit!  Another sip, please.”

Of course one of the things we love the most about Pinot Gris is how it is SO versatile with food. Spicey? Yep. Seafood? Perfect. Fresh Chevre marinated in Salsa Rossa? Oh yes!

Big Fire Pinot Gris is long on personality and adapts to so many situations. This is the one of the reasons we take it wherever we go, Pinot Gris is such a crowd pleaser.  I’ve often said “this ain’t your mother’s white wine.” But guess what? It’s my mother’s favorite wine!

A week or two ago I made a huge batch of Cioppino to serve for lunch to a group of colleagues visiting from the East Coast. Several friends have asked for the Cioppino recipe since then (I posted the photo on Facebook that day), and so I thought I should share it here.

That was a blustery cold March day – much like this one. Cold rain showers, broken up by intermittent bursts of sunshine. It’s hard to tell what the weather’s mood is today.  Never mind – Pinot Gris to the rescue.  As I was writing this up this afternoon, I thought to myself it’s not too soon for a reprise. And so, for our friends arriving from Eastern Washington tonight, another big pot of Cioppino is on the stove.

Northwest Cioppino

Cioppino for a Blustery Spring Day

Serves 4 -6, easily doubled

This recipe originated in a slow cooker cookbook. I made it verbatim a few times and it was very good. But then I starting improvising quite a bit and it was even better! Including the fact that I usually cook it on top of the stove for just about an hour. Either way works and, either way, don’t add the fish till the very end of course.

2 T olive oil

1 med. Onion, chopped

2 medium celery ribs, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups bottled clam juice (find this by the tuna fish in the grocery store)

1 cup dry white wine

1 28 oz. can tomatoes, undrained (I use the Muir Glen Fire Roasted ones, for that smoky flavor)

1 cup dry red wine, full-bodied

1 heaping T “Better Than Bouillon” Lobster Base (this is my secret/guilty ingredient. It flies in the face of all of my rules about not eating anything with ingredients I can’t pronounce – but hey, sometimes you have to sacrifice for great flavor. I find it in the soup section at my grocery store.)

2 T chopped fresh parlsey

1 -2 t chopped fresh marjoram

1–2 t chopped fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

½ t salt

¼ – ½ t crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

1 pound snapper or cod fillets, cut into 1” pieces

½ pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

(Alternates: you could use scallops, mussels or clams instead of – or even in addition to – the shrimp. You could also use dried herbs for the fresh. I prefer the fresh, but sometimes it’s not always possible)

In a large skillet heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute. (If you’re using one, transfer all this to a 3 ½ quart slow cooker and add everything else – but the fish, cover and cook for 4 – 5 hours on low.)

Stir in all the rest of the ingredients, breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon. Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce to a low simmer. Let simmer for about an hour to an hour and a half, so the flavors meld.

Increase the heat to high and stir in the fish. Cover and cook until just cooked through, about 15 minutes – stirring frequently.

Serve in soup bowls with crusty bread, a huge green salad – perhaps laced with orange avocado slices – and Big Fire Pinot Gris. The truth is, it’s also delicious with the Big Fire Pinot Noir, so whatever suits your mood.

P.S. If you enjoy the Cioppino with either of the Big Fire wines, snap a photo and send it to us for our “Me & My Big Fire” contest. We’d love to see!

Tiny Bubbles – Oregon Sparkling Wine

Rosé d’Or, Brut NV

Ooh-La-La!

Rob and his crew recently disgorged about 120 cases of our oh-so-lovely Brut Rosé known as Rosé d’Or (which literally translates to Rose Gold in French – a perfect description of the wine’s color – or a less literal translation could be Rosé of Oregon. We like that one too.)

Purchase Rosé d’Or in our online Wine Shop!

In 1971 Rob Stuart had his first taste of Champagne – a 1961 Bollinger. That sip sparked an epiphany – the dream of becoming a winemaker and making something as delicious, rich and complex as that Bollinger came to life.

Ten years would go by before Rob was working in a winery, but the taste of that wine lived on in his memory. Through all of the more than 20 vintages that Rob made wine for others, he always nursed a small sparkling wine project. When R. Stuart & Co. became a reality, Rosé d’Or stepped onto the stage. Many people ask us how we make this lovely elixir. It’s a good story, and we love to share it.

Purchase Rosé d’Or in our online Wine Shop!

The Fruit in this wine is predominantly Temperance Hill Pinot Noir. Temperance Hill Vineyard is one of our favorites, it is farmed organically and we make a Single Vineyard Pinot Noir from it every year. The block that the sparkling fruit comes from is very high elevation, about 800 ft above sea level. It wouldn’t make very good red wine, but it has just the acidity we’re after for sparkling. Once the fruit has reached it’s full maturity, we crop it at about 2 tons/acre. The sugars are low, the acids are up and the flavors are fully developed.

The Press. The grapes for Rosé d’Or are not crushed. We load the whole cluster fruit into the press. We don’t put any pressure on the grapes, we just roll it for about 5 minutes and let the free run drain out. We do this a second time, after which we notice the pure flavors begin to drop.  At this point (by now we’ve gotten about 100-110 gallons of juice/ton, for a still white wine we would have gotten 150-170 gallons/ton) we stop.

The Fermentation We settle the juice for 48 hours and then rack the clean juice into 5-7 year old French oak barrels. These barrels are basically neutral in flavor, but we like the complexity the barrels give to the juice while it’s fermenting and later on while it ages.

The Lees. When the juice has fermented to dryness, we rack the wine off the lees. Then we roll the barrels upside down, and let whatever gross lees fall out do so. But we do not clean the barrels. We leave some of the lees in the barrel and we rack the wine back on the lees in the barrels. We stir these lees about every two weeks for about 6 months and this contributes immensely to the creaminess of the wine.

The Cuvée. You’ll notice that Rosé d’Or is non-vintage. That means it’s a blend of several vintages in one bottle (in the case of the current release, 1999 -2005). Each vintage, we add the new wine to the older (or the base) wine and bottle it. Thus each successive year the reserve base wine and that cuvee that is now in tirage (see below) become more and more complex.

The Tirage. Once we have made the cuvée, we bottle a portion of it, and leave the rest for future years – think sourdough starter. Once bottled you have a second fermentation in the bottle and then the yeast dies. We leave the wine in this stage for a minimum of 18 months. It’s a good thing to leave the wine on tirage a long time. The results are more toasty flavors, and also smaller and more consistent bubbles – both good. Generally we leave the wine 3 years on tirage.

Rose d'Or, on tirage

The Disgorgement. Generally in early September, we riddle the remaining, now dead, yeast down into the neck of the bottle. We riddle by hand (turning each bottle a quarter of a turn, twice a day) in traditional wooden racks. Once the yeast is settled in the neck of the bottle, we dry disgorge. This means we hold the bottle upside down, pop the cap off to release the yeast, and quickly get our thumb over the opening to stop the cascade of wine.

The Dosage is Rob’s secret recipe. It’s added seconds after the bottle is disgorged and just before a cork is inserted to protect those tiny bubbles. Sometimes the dosage contains brandy, sometimes some of the base wine. This is the most critical piece, to bring all of the flavors into balance for each bottling, and Rob creates a different dosage every time, to make the wine sing.

Rob corks the bottles after Lisa adds the dosage.

The Result. A beautiful rosy hued bubbly that makes true Champagne lovers swoon. It is rich and complex and each sip turns the page to new discoveries. Is that the caramel of the crispy crème brulee top? Or perhaps it’s rose petals. At once fruity and mellow – this is the thinking person’s sparkling wine. It goes beautifully with all kinds of occasions and foods. Explore this wine, and think beyond hors d’oeuvres and celebrations – though we like it there too.

13.1 % Alcohol:

pH:3.05

tA: 9.8  grams/liter

Residual Sugar in grams/ liter: 0.6% added in the dosage

Put into Tirage: 26^th September 2006

Disgorged: December 2010 (4+ years on the yeast)

Cases Produced: 180 cases

Composition (type of grape and vineyards): Approximately 70% Pinot Noir Noir, approx 30% Chardonnay

New Year’s Day, Lobster and Bubbly

New Year’s Day 2011 in Western Oregon was sunny and cold – the kind of winter day that doesn’t happen too often for us here, but I love it when it does. This afternoon found me lounging on the couch, sun streaming through the window and a “big fire” (okay, I couldn’t resist) blazing in the fireplace.  I was flipping through magazines and newspapers that I’ve wanted to read but set aside in these last few busy weeks, and thinking about how all of this holiday excess really must come to an end.

And then, I stumbled across a recipe for Simple Lobster Risotto, and even though I know we should honor those New Year’s resolutions soon – any day now, in fact – this did sound delightful. That recipe was a little too simple for my mood, and I began thinking about how I had a fennel bulb in the fridge – purchased for a Christmas Bagna Cauda which never came to be, the much-needed afternoon nap won out over prepping all those vegetables – and a half drunk bottle or two of bubbly, left over from last night, languishing in the fridge and doing nothing but getting flat.

Yes, Not-So-Simple Lobster Risotto was just the gentle antidote we needed to all the excesses of the last month. Still comforting, yet reasonably healthy. Shellfish is healthy, right? So I called down to my local market, and indeed the fish man had a few frozen lobster tails on hand, and was happy to pull them out and begin to thaw them for me.

Meanwhile a lovely friend dropped by to deliver New Year greetings and so we had a glass or two of our un-Port and some leftover Christmas cookies. Afterward I hustled myself to the market to pick up the aforementioned lobster tails.

Some will complain about risotto – saying it’s too finicky, too slow-going, requires too much stirring and patience – but the truth is there are days when those are the very qualities which I long for.  Lots of stirring, sipping and chatting are sometimes just what we need.

In this case Rob and I sit in the kitchen, chatting and reminiscing about other lobster dinners, most notably with our dear friends Richard and Kathy in Toronto. It seems we often visit them in the winter when the Nova Scotia lobsters are fresh, briny and rich. The jazz on their stereo is lyrical, the Champagne from their cellar is luscious and delicious – outdone only by their sparkling company.  We missed snowy nights with Richard and Kathy tonight!

So as the evening wears on I stir and Rob pours the wine, we reminisce, the kids come in and out updating us on their activities, the phone rings with holiday greetings from more friends – and I just keep stirring.

Eventually this turned into a scrumptious dish which warranted a brand new bottle of Rose d’Or being opened to enjoy with the meal.  Happy New Year to you and yours – and we wish you many lovely, rosy-hued bubbles in 2011!

Lobster Risotto and Rosy Bubbles

Easy, but Not-So-Simple Lobster Risotto

(inspired by a recipe in January 2011 Cooking Light)

• 3 cups chicken stock (low fat and low sodium, of course -it’s January!)
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 2 cups leftover bubbly, divided (or other dry white wine)
• 1 leek, chopped finely
• 1/2 of a fennel bulb, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 four ounce lobster tails
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• minced chives
• 3/4 frozen peas, thawed
• 1/2 teaspoon piment d’esplette
• salt and pepper to taste
• meyer lemon zest and wedges to squeeze over the risotto at the end

Bring broth, clam juice and 1 cup of wine to a boil. Add lobster, cover and cook for 4 minutes. Remove lobster from the pan and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. When it’s cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the shells. Place shells in a large zip-top plastic bag. Coarsely crush shells using a meat mallet or a heavy skillet. Return crushed shells to the broth mixture. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes.  Strain shell mixture through a sieve over a bowl, reserving broth; discarding solids. Return broth to a saucepan, keep warm over low heat.

Heat 1 -2 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek and fennel to the pan and saute until the vegetables are soft and beginning to get translucent. Add the garlic and stir another minute. Add the rice and saute, stirring constantly. Stir 1 cup wine into the rice mixture and stir constantly until the wine is absorbed, you’ll know it’s time to add more broth when you can see the bottom of the pan as your spoon passes through.

Keep adding the broth by the ladleful, stirring and stirring – contrary to popular belief, you can walk away for three to five minutes at a time during this process. Just don’t get too distracted! Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, each time stirring till the addition is absorbed, until the stock is gone. This will take about 20 – 30 minutes total.

Remove from the heat and stir in the lobster, a splash more wine, minced chives, the piment d’esplette, 2 tablespoons butter and peas. This is the right time to add the meyer lemon zest, if you’re going to. (I like meyer lemons because they are tart, sweet and herbaceous all at once, if you’re not familiar with them, seek them out in these winter months – you’ll be glad you did.)

Taste risotto for seasoning – salt? pepper? lemon juice? You be the judge. I know you can do it!

Even though our Italian friends would be horrified – cheese with seafood, never! – we love a dusting of fresh, excellent quality parmigiano on top of this dish. Serve immediately (risotto waits for no man!), and happy new year!

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