Pigeon & Friends: Cellar Sale 6th Round 7 Packs – including All OREGON

Bundle #1: Oregon Sipper Pack, and it’s not just Pinot!  $125 each (48 for sale) 

We’ve been waiting to drop this sipper pack on you all for a few weeks. We are extremely excited to showcase some local producers that you may not know well. These 6 packs also display some of the variety of grapes our local producers are working with. We worked really hard on this one to not just show some of Oregon’s variety, and not just to introduce you to some new producers, but also to find these 6 wines that are such a smoking value. Buy these 6 packs from us, and then buy a case of your favorite of the wines direct from the producer. Support restaurants and our local small wine producers.

Sauvignon Blanc, La Frontière, Division-Villages, 201, Eola Hills & Columbia Gorge                         
Kate Norris and Tom Monroe founded their urban winery in 2010 after returning from France where they learned to make wine. Sauvignon Blanc is not the first grape that comes to mind for most people when they think about Oregon white wines…but maybe it should be? Pinot Noir is the red grape of Sancerre so why not Sauvignon Blanc in the Willamette valley? This wine is aged in barrels of varying sizes and stainless steel. It has tropical notes as well as notes of quince and wildflowers. 

Pinot Gris, Clover (Whistling Ridge Vineyard), Goodfellow Family Cellars, 2017, Ribbon Ridge           
Marcus Goodfellow has been a fixture in Oregon wine for decades, he left his job at the Heathman to found Goodfellow Family Cellars in 2002. Goodfellow is a member of the Deep Roots Coalition, a group of producers who exclusively make wine from dry-farmed vines, with the belief that dry-farming forces the roots to grow deep and better express vineyard terroir. This wine is fermented and aged in 800L acacia barrels which really brings out the floral high-tones to match flavors of spiced pear and apples. An incredibly complex wine, from a grape often dismissed as simple. 

Pinot Noir Rosé, First Man Vineyard, Violin Wines, 2019, Willamette                          
Will Hamilton has slowly grown his Violin label to just over 1,500 case production annually. It is a true one man show, and you can feel Will’s passion radiating through his wines. First Man vineyard is an organically farmed site located in the Coast Range. This rose is picked early to retain freshness and smells of berries and watermelon rind.  

Pinot Noir, Shiba Wichern, 2017, Willamette         
Akiko Shiba received her degree in winemaking from the University of Geisenheim in Germany. After school, she and her husband moved to America and eventually settled in Oregon. She had made Pinot Noir in Germany and was interested in Oregon because it’s cool climate lends itself to more balanced winemaking than California or Washington. Her first vintage was 2013 and the wines get better every year. The Willamette Valley bottling is earthy with aromas of red and black cherry fruit. This may be the very best Pinot Noir you have not heard of yet.

Gamay, Martin Woods Winery, 2018, Willamette     
We’ve been buying Evan Martin’s wines since his first vintage, and we knew him even longer as the assistant winemaker at Belle Pente. He and his wife Sarah are a wealth of knowledge about winemaking and farming and we learn something every time we see them. He takes Gamay very seriously. This wine comes from Tualatin Estate and Havlin vineyards and is fermented “semi-carbonically” which accentuates the bright fruit character of the Gamay grape. It smells of black cherries, wild strawberries and mulling spice and is best enjoyed a little bit under room temperature. 

Syrah, Brutto Nobile, Buona Notte, 2018, Milton-Freewater      Over the last few years, as assistant winemaker at Hiyu Wine Farm, Graham Merkel has had the opportunity to explore the incredibly diverse micro-climates and soils of vineyards in the Columbia Gorge.  This Syrah comes from “the Rocks” district of Milton-Freewater on the Oregon side of the Gorge.  This area gets its name from the baseball sized rocks that go 100 feet down before bedrock.  Classic Syrah notes of lavender, pepper, and smoky black fruits.  

Bundle #2: Bojo, Bojo, Beaujolais… and Chalonnaise Whites – Burgundy’s Deep South $175 each (18 for sale)                                      
Who does not love a glass of Beaujolais? Well, if you don’t you probably are not reading the rest, but if you do then you’ll be excited about these 6 packs. We are in Burgundy’s deep south where the Gamay grape is king. We are also including a couple whites. from the Côte Chalonnaise which is north of Beaujolais, but south of the famed vineyards of the Côte d’Or – think Mason-Dixon territory. Each one of these wines is startlingly unique to the next and made by growers that are tops in their area. Even Bojo fans may find something new and surprising here.

Aligoté, Domaine Dureuil-Janthial, 2017, Côte Challonaise             Vincent Dureuil is one of the best winemakers in Burgundy…period.  Luckily for us, he is located in the Cote Challonaise so his wines present a much better quality to price ratio than those of his neighbors to the north.  The Domaine has been farming organically for over 15 years and this Aligoté is made from a tiny one-acre vineyard parcel.  It exudes all of the qualities that we love in Aligote, like zesty lemon-tinged fruit and notes and crisp green almonds. It is fresh and light on its feet. 

Rully, 1er Cru Mont Plaisir, Domaine Jaeger-Defaix, 2017, Côte Challonaise                                                             
Helene Jaeger-Defaix has strong roots in the village of Rully in the Cote Challonaise. Grape growing in her family dates to the 16th century and her great-grandfather was instrumental in establishing Rully as an AOC in the 1930s. Meticulously farming her 4.5ha is of the utmost importance to her, and the Domaine received organic certification in 2012. It is possible that her winemaking style is influenced by her husband Didier Defaix (who makes excellent Chablis) because her wines show great restraint and precision that is not always found in this appellation. 

Beaujolais, L’Ancien Vieilles Vignes, Domaine Terers Dorées, 2018, Beaujolais 
Jean Paul Brun is known for his “low intervention” winemaking style. This style is not born from laziness but is an effort to prove a point that Beaujolais wines can be made seriously without adding commercial yeast, sugar, or the flavors imparted by excessive carbonic fermentation. This cuvee comes from his home-village of Charmay where the soils consist of limestone with heavy bands of iron. They are known locally as Terres Dorees or “golden stones”. This bottling is dark-berried and silky with subtle notes of sweet pipe tobacco.  

Morgon, Domaine Jean Foillard, 2016, Beaujolais                            Jean Foillard was a member of a group of vignerons who decades back rebelled against the established norms of winemaking in Beaujolais, and are responsible for the renaissance of estate bottled high quality wines we have today from Beaujolais. They believed that various production trends were stripping their wines and region of their identity and heritage; they vowed to return to the “old ways” of winemaking. To make great wine Foillard believes in the importance of old vines, organic farming, minimal sulfur, and harvesting fruit when it is ripe so that chaptalization is unnecessary.  His wines have tons of soul and are archetypal Morgon.  If an alien landed on Earth and wanted to know what a great Beaujolais should taste like, this is what we would give as a sample.  

Brouilly, Croix des Rameaux, Jeane-Claude Lapalu, 2017, Beaujolais                                      
Although Jean-Claude’s family had a long history of growing grapes in the Brouilly area, the family had always sold their fruit to the local co-op. His curious drive lead him to begin vinifying and bottling his own wine when he took over the Domaine in 1995. Like the other winemakers featured in this pack he also believes in the supremacy of quality fruit and low-intervention winemaking. What stands out about the Lapalu wines is the unique terroir from which they come. Brouilly is the farthest south of the Beaujolais Cru villages, it is warmer and this particular vineyard parcel has excellent sun exposure. This wine shows the darker side of the Gamay grape with notes of cassis, black cherries, licorice, and spice.                                              

Fleurie, Les Morieres, Domaine Chignard, 2017, Beaujolais         
Contrasting the darker nature of Brouilly is the village of Fleurie, where Domaine Chignard organically farms a densely-planted parcel of vines that are over 70 years old. Their Fleurie is lighter, and smells of red cherries and strawberries with lots of pretty floral notes. “Les Morieres” is derived from the French word for “mulberry”. Extra Trivia: there used to be a flourishing silk industry in the area and mulberries are the preferred food of silk worm.