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“Terroir is Where it’s At” Talk and Tasting with Geologist Dr. Burns
Presented by renowned Geologist Dr. Scott Burns and Winemaker Jesse Lange
Get the Dirt Here!
Saturday August 3rd at 11 am
With intoxicating enthusiasm, Dr. Scott Burns will explain how millions of years worth of geology–in the form of volcanoes, tectonic shifts and massive flooding– created the unique soils of the Dundee Hills. Winemaker Jesse Lange will then present a guided tasting of our coveted 2010 Lange Estate, Freedom Hill & Yamhill Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs, paired with delicious appetizers.
LIMITED SEATING
RESERVATIONS BY ADVANCE TICKET: CLICK HERE
$40 per person
Cru Club $34 per person
*Scott Burns is a Professor of Geology and Chair of the Geology Department at Portland State University. He has been teaching at the University level for 43 years and has taught in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana before returning to his native Oregon 23 years ago when he started at Portland State. He is a 6th generation Oregonian. His specialties include natural history, geological hazards, the Missoula Floods, terroir (the relationship between geology, soils, climate and wines), Quaternary geology, geomorphology, engineering geology and environmental geology. His book “Cataclysms on the Columbia, the Great Missoula Floods” is in it’s third printing. It is an honor to have Dr. Scott Burns join us for this talk at Lange Estate Vineyards.
Wine & Spirits Special Edition- Top Wineries
Lange Estate Winery
Artisan
In the mid-80’s, Don and Wendy Lange joined the second wave of Willamette Valley wine homesteading-two idealistic artists (Wendy studied literature and ballet, Don is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an accomplished musician and songwriter) who fell in love with pinot noir tasting the wines of their neighbors, Eyrie and Erath. They planted a vineyard in 1987 and engaged in a by-the-bootstraps operation whose success coincided with the emergence of the Dundee Hills as a premier locale for pinot noir in the Willamette Valley. In 2005 Don’s son, Jesse, took over winemaking and management duties for the winery. Jesse brought what he calls a hyper-organized sensibility to the operation. “Not exactly Type-A” he says, “but pretty close.” Jesse has enjoyed the blossoming of resources not just for his winery, but also for the region at large, with more clonal selections and better trellising and spacing systems. The availability of new tools and equipment brought renewed focus to the wine program at Lange, even as the winery has expanded from 7,000 cases to 18,000. Jesse shepherded the purchase of two new Dundee Hills estate vineyard sites, Mia Block and Redside, to complement their original 30 acre estate, which is itself now in its third decade, planted to own-rooted Pommard and Wadenswil selections.
Don and Jess work together on blending trials; the wines reflect Don’s respect for Burgundian winemaking, informed by pristine fruit expression and Jesse’s prowess in the vineyard. Their 2010 Three Hills Cuvee Chardonnay reflects a Chablisienne character both linear and graceful. But their best wine this year came from the venerable Freedom Hill Vineyard, nestled in an out-of-the-way pocket of the valley northeast of Salem that has long been a source for several leading Oregon producers. The 2009 Pinot Noir it produced is nimble and fine boned in its texture, grippy and savory, poised for long life. –P.J.C.
Top Scouring Wines
93 points- 2009 Lange Pinot Noir Freedom Hill
92 Points- 2010 Lange Chardonnay Three Hills Cuvee
92 points- 2009 Lange Pinot Noir Lange Estate Vineyard
