In the late afternoon, cellar club members began to arrive for the opening day celebration. They were treated to a welcome and presentation by the Ponzi family in the winery, then walked over to the new space for hors d'oeuvres and wine.

Thank you to all who came out on our first day!

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HOW TO WIN
Enter to win by following @ponziwines and retweeting or using the hashtag #TastePonzi when talking about the new Ponzi tasting room opening June 15th in Sherwood. You will automatically be entered to win one of the Taste Ponzi prizes.

Winners will be selected at random after June 30th, notified and then announced July 9th via Twitter and on ponziwines.com.

PRIZES
Grand Prize
The Vintner’s Tour and Tasting experience for two guests
Includes a seated Reserve wine tasting with complementary pairings, and a hosted tour of the state-of-the-art winery.

1st Prize
Progressive tour and tasting for two
Includes a tasting and walking tour of the four-level, gravity-flow winery.

2nd Prize
Seated tasting for two
Includes reserved seating and a tasting of current releases

Other Prizes
“Taste Experience” t-shirts (5)
Love Peace Pinot decal (10)
Ponzi Vineyards keychain (10)

By Andy Perdue and Eric Degerman — Wine Press Northwest

An astonishing number of Pacific Northwest wineries are now making rosés — and Oregon’s Willamette Valley is making some of our region’s best. In our judging of Northwest rosés, those made by Willamette Valley producers using the region’s signature Pinot Noir quickly rose to the top, capturing the top three positions and seven of the 17 wines to earn our “Outstanding” rating. Dai Crisp, owner of Lumos Wine Co., said making a pink Pinot Noir is not necessarily easy. “There’s a lot that can go wrong fast,” he said. “Pinot Noir is tricky to grow and make into a beautiful wine. White wines are particularly tough because it is so challenging to keep the delicate aromas. If the fermentation goes too fast, you can lose those aromas.” Crisp said the difficulty of making a high-quality rosé likely resulted in 23 of the 99 wines not making the cut — an unusually high number. “It’s difficult to make an expressive rosé that is clean with no microbial problems,” he said. “It can reveal winemaking faults (more than red wines).”

Rosés are a hot category now, which likely led to so many being entered in this competition — about twice as many as we expected. Crisp, however, wasn’t too surprised, especially after a recent sales trip to New York City. “New York and other cities on the East Coast are serious about drinking rosé,” he said. “As soon as it warms up, it is rosé season.” He recounted one small New York City wine shop owner who said he will typically go through as many as 600 cases of rosé each spring and summer. For the most part, Northwest rosés are dry. In fact, the 99 wines in this judging averaged 0.59% residual sugar, which is below the threshold at which most wine lovers can perceive sweetness. Add in crisp acidity, and most of the wines came across as bone dry. Just 19 wines exceeded 1% in residual sugar, and eight were higher than 2%. This bodes well for pairing with food. The rosés we tasted would match well with a wide variety of cuisine. It’s especially good with summer dishes such as barbecued ribs, pasta dishes, Asian cuisine and Tex-Mex.

The competition was conducted in April at the Clover Island Inn in Kennewick, Wash. The judges included: Heather Unwin, executive director of the Red Mountain AVA Alliance; Ken Robertson, Wine Press Northwest columnist; Dave Seaver, Wine Press Northwest tasting panelist; and Andy Perdue of GreatNorthwestWine.com.

It was moderated by Eric Degerman of GreatNorthwestWine.com.

Ponzi Vineyards 2012 Pinot Noir Rosé, Willamette Valley, $20 This Oregon Pinot Noir pioneer continues to produce some superb wines, and this rosé by second-generation winemaker Luisa Ponzi is brilliant, with inviting aromas of cherry, red currant and raspberry, followed by beautiful flavors of Benton cherry, peach and raspberry. This is a perfect wine to enjoy with grilled or baked salmon. (1,000 cases, 13.3% alc.)

Read article online at winepressnw.com

As one of Oregon’s pioneering wine families, the Ponzis have moved steadily forward developing new vineyards and refining winemaking styles to reach a pinnacle where only the finest wines are found. Daughters Maria and Luisa Ponzi run the winery today while parents Dick and Nancy remain active owners. The Willamette Valley bottling is a superb example of quintessential Oregon Pinot Noir with complex aromas and flavors of cran-cherry and spice with nice accent notes of anise, earth and hints of creamy vanilla.

Read article online at winesnw.com.