2006 Erath Niederberger Vineyard Pinot Noir Dundee Hills

R-u-t…rut, that’s what I’m in. It’s the same routine everyday; work, write, drink wine. I know, rough life huh but I feel like I need to shake things up a bit. Craving something new, exciting and different, I decided it was time to reach for a wine that was a little older, dependable and consistent; 2006 Erath Niederberger Vineyard Pinot Noir Dundee Hills. It’s a bottle my husband and I picked up on our honeymoon in Oregon.

Black berries and hints of earth and spice in the nose. Medium bodied with flavors of vanilla, spice and an abundance of blue berries that carry through to a lingering finish. The bottle was purchased from the Erath tasting room in Willamette Valley for around $35.

Erath wines have been around for 40 years, longer than any other winery in the Dundee Hills area. Dick Erath, engineer turned viticulturist began winemaking in 1965 when he re-located his family from California to the Dundee Hills area of Oregon. Using an old logger’s cabin as his home on 49 acres of land he planted 23 varieties of grapes, the first wine grapes in Dundee Hills. The region is similar to France’s Burgundy with its iron rich soils, cool nights and warming sunshine giving Dundee the perfect climate to perfect Pinto Noirs, the wine this area of Oregon is most well known.

The Niederberger Vineyard, planted in 1988, is located on a southern slope of Dundee Hills. The intense flavor of the Pinot Noir is the result of surrounding firs that create a warm pocket on the hillside. What makes Oregon so conducive to Pinot Noir grape growing? Growers like Dick Erath realized the cool climate of Oregon could produce world-class wines with varietals like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. Pinot Noir makes up the biggest planting at 9,858 acres of all the grapes grown in Oregon. Most of the wineries are centered around or in the Willamette Valley and if you’re ever in the area, you have to stop and do some tastings.

Over the past week I saw two shows on Travel Channel profiling Portland, OR and I’m itching to go back. I even went so far as to look up housing pricing in Portland. Well let’s just say the housing market doesn’t seem to have fallen much in that area. I do have a vacation planned to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the near future. Hoping I can get out of my funky rut well before then and just enjoy some time at some Georgia wineries.

If you’re looking for more affordable Erath wines they do make an Oregon Wine selection which can be found nationally for around $16.

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