Dispatch · Saturday, May 4, 2024
Red Electric, After the Plate Hit the Carpet
Stories of survival, thanks to the first Block 55 wineries, and a tasting with Doug Ackerman of Red Electric, the Ribbon Ridge winery A.J. met mid-spill.
I have been consumed with stories lately involving surviving against the odds lately. It all started when I introduced my daughter to Lost. Then I started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy and finishing up “The Fallout” on Amazon Prime. I have no clue why this theme is currently running, and I have to say, when I went to pick up my daughter from school the other day, the lyrics, “Oh yeah, they said life goes on. Long after the thrill of livin’ is gone” caught my attention. I have heard John Cougar Mellencamp sing those lyrics so many times over the years, but they struck a chord with me the other day for some reason. Different seasons of life bring us different joys and sorrows. Speaking of where life takes you, my latest interview with Seth Morgen Long was pretty darn special. Here are all of the links for you in case you’re interested (YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify) Varnum Vintners has made the first nonalcoholic Oregon Wine Magic in the Mountains is coming up on June 1st Do you know which wines were recently poured at the White House? It's time to start thinking about Thursday Night IPNC Dinners. Audeant will be pouring at NYSA with NYSA of course! You have got to check out SOMM TV's Behind the Glass with Andy Lytle featuring Lytle-Barnett and Aubaine Vineyards are sharing sheep The NYTimes has a nice writeup on Channing Frye (Paywall) There's a new CA Bottle Law Speaking of Lytle-Barnett and Aubaine, their new tasting room is opening up next week! David Adelsheim on the Evolution of the Willamette Valley Are you a Swiftie and enjoy wine? International Wine Report on Oregon's 2019 to 2021 Wines Another James Suckling report. There are some good ones in Wine Enthusiasts Best WV Pinots to Drink Right Now, but you really need to pay attention to Walnut Ridge. There are some incredible coming from their vineyard. Before diving into this week's story, I would like to express my immense gratitude to those wineries using Block 55 for their reservations. Having a vision and making it happen has been quite the journey. There is still a lot of road to travel on this journey, and I enjoy every step of the way. It would mean the world to me if you were willing to show these wineries some love.
Remember a few months ago when I talked about the Oregon Chardonnay Celebration? If you do, can you recall me spilling my plate of food on the carpet on the way to speak to a winery? Just in case you don’t remember or are a new subscriber, this is what I wrote: Once everything was cleaned up, I went over and talked with Doug Ackerman of Red Electric. It turns out they are in Ribbon Ridge. Stay tuned for more information about them in the future. I am coordinating a time to visit, and I am sure you will read all about it here in the newsletter! Thank goodness Doug didn't see me dump a bunch of food onto my shoe. Well, today is the day I dived more into Red Electric. After OCC, I reached out to Doug to set a date and time to meet. I could barrel taste in Eola-Amity or meet at GC Wines' tasting room in Portland. I chose Portland for a couple of reasons. First, it was closer, and I had also read about this tasting room, which was also on my radar to check out. Side note: This is how things work out for me. I read about the GC Wines tasting room. They were also at the Equinox event I wrote about last month. The winemaker at GC Wines is the winemaker for Red Electric. There is a connection with Vincent; to top it off, he used to race bikes. Who is this mysterious winemaker I keep running into? His name is John Grochau. This guy is all over the place! Here is a super quick bio I found on the net about John: John Grochau was first introduced to wine and the winemaking landscape in his early 20s while racing bicycles for a French team in the Loire Valley. After more than a decade selling wine in some of Portland’s finest restaurants, Grochau plunged into winemaking. He spent a year in Sonoma before returning to Oregon to work at Erath Winery, and then worked alongside winemaker Doug Tunnel at Brick House Vineyards for four years. His first vintage as owner and winemaker at Grochau Cellars was in 2002. Can you imagine working side by side with Doug Tunnel at Brickhouse? These wines are going to be something else! I wonder what racing team John rode for? It was a Sunday in mid-March when I met Doug and John. In fact, it was the day after the Equinox event. It was one of those false Spring days where you think Spring is here, but no, not really. In either case, I enjoyed the sun and soaked up every single bit. The GC tasting room was in a Portland neighborhood, and I would go back in a heartbeat!
There was some small talk, but we dove into the wines. The first wine was the 2018 Alpine Lily Chardonnay. Doug mentioned how the nose reminded him of a white flower and the Oregon Alpine Lily. This wine is very Chablis-like, and I adored the nose on it. I was able to sit with this one for a while later in the day, and here is what I thought. The 2018 Red Electric Alpine Lily Chardonnay gives off fantastic fruit on the nose that continues to show off on the mid-palate. The acidity is perfectly balanced and does not overwhelm your mid-palate, allowing the fruit to continue to shine through and through! On the finish, this is scrumptious! All the fruit translates into a singular razor focus of spice lingering for an eternity. Sipping this wine and chatting a little with Doug told me a little of his back story. In February, he was retired from the medical field. He went to med school at OHSU and worked at Kaiser. He used to be a beer guy and ended up taking a Lake Oswego wine class because he didn’t know what to do with his time after 5:00. As we all know, once you start down the wine rabbit hole it keeps getting deeper and deeper. Doug used to be a Burgundy guy and looked down at Oregon Pinot. The wine bug was so strong with Doug that he decided to buy property. In 2007, he planted vines, and in 2010, the first vintage of Red Electric was produced. He has 16 acres under vine, with 13 of those acres planted to Pinot. The next wine was the 2021 Evening Primrose Chardonnay. 2021 was a fantastic vintage. I need to dive deeper into my cellar and see how many 2021s I have. This particular bottle had no new oak and what I enjoyed about this wine was how linear yet very subtle it was. I don’t have any more notes on it. Giving the wine my full attention while talking is like chewing bubble gum while walking a tightrope between two New York City scrapers. It’s doable, but geez, I prefer not to. Somehow, we got on the subject of what John was doing after this tasting, and wouldn’t you know, he was going for a bike ride. In June, he is training for a gravel bike in Flint Hills, Kansas. I did a little looking, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he were taking the 150-mile route. John has a biker bod. Yes, there is an insider joke, and I know some of you are cracking up right now. Sorry you don’t get the inside joke. If you see me out and about, ask me about biker bods. I have a note in my journal that says, "Vincent 2010, so many birds." I can’t remember 100% what this translates to, so don’t hold me to this. With 2010 being the first vintage of Red Electric, I think Vincent was the winemaker. Vincent is one heck of a winemaker, and did you hear he just released his California Cab? The next wine we tasted was the 2015 Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir. 2015 was the first vintage John took over as winemaker. Owen Bargreen’s notes on the 2015 vintage are, “Very hot vintage which led to consistency across the board for Pinot Noir and slightly more challenging conditions for Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.” I could tell this was a special bottle to Doug. He slowly took in every bit of this wine from nose to mid-palate. With 2015 being a hot year, I would have loved to revisit this bottle a few hours after it was opened. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every sip of it. Everything was nicely in place, and it still had the ability to age quite nicely. I feel like it would have shined brighter a couple of hours in. The name Red Electric has a nice little backstory. Doug went to the Newberg library and did some research. He found a train line referred to as the Red Electrics. They were built in 1913 and began service from Portland on January 17, 1914. You can read more about them here. Next up was the 2021 Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir. In my journal, I have found that the retail price of this bottle is $35. I mention this because, as I was saying earlier, 2021 is one heck of a vintage, and a solid Pinot at $35/bottle is a steal! My notes on this wine are, “A classic 2021.” I am telling you, the price for quality here is quite something! The final wine we had was the 2021 TGV Pinot Noir. If you are not aware, the TGV is a bullet train in France. My now 26-year-old stepson schooled me on all things TGV when I first moved to Oregon. He was obsessed, and he eventually got to ride an orange TGV train in France. Because of my backstory, I had high hopes for this wine, and I wasn’t disappointed! I also had the opportunity to sit with this wine, and here is what I thought. Looking into the glass, my emotions are all giddy. I see how dark this is and immediately know I am in for a treat of deep, dark red fruits. That first sniffy sniff reinforces my assumptions. Upon entry, those dark fruits expand, sliding effortlessly onto the mid-palate. The tannins are nicely integrated, allowing all of the spices to take over into a blissful taste, making you wish you were on a TGV in France speeding away into the heart of Paris for a midday croissant.
My time with John and Doug was coming to a close. I am sure John was ready to get on his bike and Doug was eager to take the 2015 home for dinner. Hearing people’s stories and where life takes them will never get old. After practicing in the medical field for 36 years, I feel Red Electric will get a lot of attention, and you will hear more about this brand. Doug told me they will start doing tastings at the Ribbon Ridge vineyard this Summer. That will be quite the treat! Be sure to visit their website, and schedule a tasting. When you see John or Doug please tell them, “A.J. sent me!” With Gratitude, A.J. PS - This week, I will leave with a short paragraph from Tim Atkin’s newsletter. I’ve had more great bottles of Chardonnay in 2024 than ever. And the striking thing is that they’ve come from lots of different places – not just Burgundy (I’m eking out the last of my 2014s), but also Argentina, Australia, California, Chile, England, Japan, Jura, the Languedoc, New Zealand, Oregon, South Africa and Spain. In fact, I’d argue that Chardonnay makes more brilliant wines, in a greater range of countries, than any other white grape. AJ A.J. Weinzettel Wine journalist & podcaster covering Oregon wine country |
