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Who knew that when I tuned into Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” on Wednesday night, a Oregon Winery would take the center stage. For those unfamiliar with “Top Chef” Bravo’s reality show, they take up and coming chef’s from around the nation and pit them against each other for the title of “Top Chef” not to mention the $125,000 going to the winner. On Wednesday night the cheftestants were put to task by Chef/Restaurateur Charlie Palmer for his “Pigs and Pinot” charity event.
The chefs had to pare Charlies favorite wine Pinot Noir with various cuts of porky goodness. Before hand the chef’s were taken to Chef Charlie Palmer’s “Aureole” restaurant in Las Vegas (this season of the show takes place in the city of sin) where the chef’s were to make their selection of Pinot Noir , to which they were to match with their selected cuts of tasty pig.
By now you’re wondering, when exactly are we going to get to the whole “Oregon Winery” thing. Trust me, we’re about there. Aureole’s Master Sommelier (one of only a handful in the United States) laid out an impressive line of Pinot’s for the chefs to select. He mentioned wines from Europe, California, and Oregon (which really got my attention.). Chef Kevin Gillespie from the Woodfire Grill in Atlanta selected the Oregon wine, a Pinot from Sokol Blosser Winery which is located in Dundee Oregon.
Chef Gillespie had mentioned that he had been to the winery several times as the Executive Sous Chef at Fife, up until last year when he and his wife decided to head back to Atlanta to be closer to friends. To say he was both familiar with the wine, and the winery in question was an understatement.
He made a pork leg pate (which is had enough to do under the time constraints the chef’s are put under), but he also went (as Top Chef Head Judge Tom Colicchio said) “Deep into the wine”, which to which Kevin replied with the fact he added hazelnuts to his dish because of the hazelnut trees the grow on the 87 acres of vineyard in Dundee.
Pinot Noir can be a picky grape and will take on notes of the things around them including; you guessed it hazelnuts. Kevin’s dish won the elimination challenge with his paring of Pig and Pinot. The vintage of the wine Chef Kevin used was a 2006 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, and according to Sokol Blosser’s blog – this was the second week in a row that a Sokol Blosser wine had been used.
I would like to be selfish and think that Oregon Wines are one of the countries best kept secret’s, but I’d just be kidding myself. Right now the west coast has the wine thing covered, from California and the Napa Valley right through the vineyards of Oregon Wine country. In a time where local and sustainable is the buzz word (Alice Waters was way ahead of her time in that aspect, and it’s really a shame it took this long to catch on) look no no further than Sokol Blosser as an example of this.
They’re a business that has been family run since 1971, when the first vines were planted – it’s now run by the brother and sister tandem of Alex and Alison Sokol Blosser. In 2005 the vineyard was USDA certified organic, they’ve also installed solar panels that supply the vineyard with 33% of it’s power.
Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 10am and 12pm they do a “Tour and Tasting” while reservations are not required, according to their website it’s advisable, it’s only $15 which includes a 20 minute tour of the facility including their LEED-certified barrel cellar. The tour is limited to 15 people per tour (hence it’s advised to make a reservation).
They were also featured Thursday night in a storyy on KGW News Channel 8, if you missed it they’ve posted the story on KGW.com.
For more information check out the Sokol Blosser website or give them a call at (503) 864-2282 you can also find them on Twitter: @SokolBlosser and on Facebook as well. Top Chef airs every Wednesday night on Bravo.
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