Joe the Winemaker – The Official Blog of Oregon Winemaker Joe Dobbes

In honor of the origin of our beloved grape variety, Pinot Noir, we are celebrating France’s Independence Day here at Dobbes Family Estate. Bastille Day is the French national holiday, held on July 14th of each year. As a tribute to all things French, we’ll have a Petanque demonstration and Citroëns on display. We have plenty of great Burgundy here, so bring some brei and a baguette and enjoy the show. I look forward to seeing you all here at the winery on Sunday. Berets are encouraged!

Several members of  the Portland Bouligans have agreed to participate in the Bastille Day Celebration and perform a Petanque demonstration. Petanque is a form of boules where the goal is, while standing with your feet together in a small circle, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (jack). The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel, but can also be played on grass or other surfaces.

Citroën is a French automobile manufacturer. Founded in 1919 by André Citroën, it was the world’s first mass-production car company outside of the USA. Citroën had a keen marketing concept-he used the Eiffel Tower as the world’s largest advertising sign, as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. Today, classic Citroën automobiles are collector’s items and members of the Citroën Club of America are bringing a Citroën to display at the event.

Quick Links:

Portland Petanque Club

Citroën Club of America  

We had our third private vintner dinner in the barrel room on Friday night. I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the evening and the warm company of my guests. And don’t let me forget the amazing food. I continue to be impressed with each unique menu. Thank you Chef Sarah for creating such delicious and diverse dinners. I’m looking forward to the next!

My beautiful wife, Patricia, with our guests Jason and Jeff, enjoying Viognier and appetizers in the tasting room.

Honey tomato bruschetta with creamy ricotta.

Grilled artichokes with a lemon aioli and mustard dipping sauce.

Grilled vegetable gazpacho topped with fresh lump crab.

Mixed Grill featuring rack of lamb, beef rib eye, pork loin chops, and organic sausage. We paired this with Skipper’s Cuvee and Griffin’s Cuvee Pinot Noir.

Is anyone else getting hungry? I’m surely ready for seconds, or thirds! Our next dinner will be in mid-July. We’ll keep you posted. Until then, I hope to see you in the tasting room. We’re barrel sampling the 2008 wines these days, and let me tell you, this is an amazing vintage that I look forward to releasing.

Memorial Day Weekend Picnic
May 23rd & 24th, 2009

Visit Dobbes Family Estate from 11-6pm for a picnic on the lawn and to enjoy three newly released wines with NO ENTRY FEE. Huckabee’s BBQ fare will be available for purchase. Complimentary and reserve flights available. For more information contact Charles at 503-538-1141 or email: charles@dobbesfamilyestate.com

Memorial Day Weekend Flight List:
2007 Wine By Joe Pinot Gris
2006 Wine By Joe Jose’s Rose
2006 Dobbes Family Estate Viognier
2007 Dobbes Family Estate Grande Assemblage Pinot Noir
2007 Dobbes Family Estate Skipper’s Cuvee Pinot Noir
2005 Dobbes Family Estate Grande Assemblage Syrah
2005 Dobbes Family Estate Fortmiller Vineyard Syrah

The “Meet the Extended Family of Dobbes Family Estate” Event was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who came out to the winery yesterday. We appreciate the support and hope you all had as much fun attending the event as we had hosting it. For those that missed it- we hosted 12 wineries and they poured a total of 40 wines. Trying 40 wines for $15 bucks? That, my friend, is a recession-proof afternoon of wine tasting!

All of the clients were pleased with the turnout and the results. We’re 99% sure that we’ll make this an annual event.

Thanks to all Winemaking Clients, Club Members, and Valued Guests who attended. We’ll see you again.

I’ve been travelling a lot recently to spread the good word about how great Oregon wines are…. especially our wines…

Since I’m out meeting new people, I wanted to ask everyone to meet our new people at Dobbes Family Estate.

Charles continues to manage the finest and friendliest tasting room in Dundee, and he has an entirely new “crop” of staff-members to help.

Linda Wyborny: our newest face might seem awfully familiar… Linda and her husband live in Dundee and have been Club Members of Dobbes Family Estate nearly since Day One! With her personal experience enjoying our wines throughout DFE’s history, she can probably tell you about our vintages and their ageability nearly as well as I can!

Michelle Bolliger: A similar story- Michelle and her parents (Grace and Drew) have been members for ages. Michelle has spent countless hours studying wine and viticulture. Michelle’s background as a local realtor has made her remarkably travel-savvy for the area and makes her a great go-to person for nearly any question about travelling in Wine Country.

Orion Leguyonne: Orion was raised in Oregon, then he was spoiled working in prestigious Napa Valley tasting rooms. Back home now, we hope to fully re-acclimate him to real people and real wine (we’re mostly kidding). Studying to be a winemaker, Orion knows his stuff. If he’s not too busy in the tasting room- try to stump him with wine trivia!

David Fish: another wine veteran, David has more than 20 years experience in wine and hospitality. He is also one of our Custom Winemaking clients. Now living in Dundee, he is probably the most random, casual, practical joker that you’ll see in any tasting room anywhere. He knows the facts about wine, but if the fiction is funnier, he might go that route. Our wines are serious- David isn’t…

Stop by our tasting room and meet our new crew. While you’re there- consider tasting some wine!

Last week was our first of many Monthly Wine Dinners here at the winery. This dinner was prepared by our friend Sarah from The Red Hare Catering. I think that the Griffin’s Cuvee Pinot was the star of the night.

I’m unashamedly proud of our wines, but I have to give credit and say that Sarah’s food got nearly as many compliments as my gorgeous, sexy, perfectly-balanced, flawless wines: From the killer mushroom bisque, heirloom beet salad, and the lamb through to dessert- Sarah knocked us out! All of our future guest-Chef’s will have big shoes to fill…

Charles and Michelle made for a seamless night of service. With that kind of talent on staff- we’re very confident that we’ll host many more dinners. We dined in the barrel room and it was a fun mix of guests: Club Members, Vineyard Owners, Custom-Winemaking Clients, two Wine Retailers, Patricia and myself. It was 15 happy campers, lots of wine, lots of jokes and many hours of camaraderie.

There were many who wanted to attend, so we’ll host monthly wine dinners until we get close to crush. Our wine dinners will be available for the first people to respond to the email invitations. Please check your emails early and often- this dinner sold out in less than 90 minutes- I’m sure that future dinners will, too!

Here are some pictures of Matt doing a second racking of the 2008 Pinot Noirs (which I might add are phenomenal).

The process of  racking is essentially cleansing the wine. Racking removes the wine from barrel or tank and separates it from the lees and sediment that form.

Rinsing the pump and hoses to avoid any cross contamination  between different lots of Pinot Noir and different aged barrels.

Celebrate the completion of filing your tax returns on April 15th, 2009, with a glass of wine in the Dobbes Family Estate Tasting Room from 5-7pm. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served. An H&R Block representative will be on hand to give tax tips for an easier return next year!

We’ve had a wonderfully busy weekend, and only now can I sit to write about our April First Thursday “Local’s Night”. Patricia and I were there throughout, and the room had a good feel to it. It is always nice to see our members there- and it was doubly nice to see so many new faces! Patricia was the unofficial “Madame du Chais” of the evening, and she encouraged everyone to try the 2005 Cuvee Noir Pinot by the glass. It was probably because the wine is absolutely stunning, and probably not because that wine is going to be renamed as “Patricia’s Cuvee”! Local guitarist John Harr entertained us, playing classical guitar. If you listened closely, you noticed that he sometimes threw in a classical interpretation of a rock ‘n roll song- that’s thinking outside the box! All wines were available at the Member’s Discount of 20%, for Member’s and Locals alike. Everyone saved and savored, and most attendees took a bottle or two home with them… Malia, Michelle and David were busy all evening. Rather than limit our guests to a handful of selections, we had every wine (and we mean every wine) available buy the glass and by the bottle. It was so successful, that we think we’ll make that the standard format for Local’s Night: we will serve flights (which of course are complimentary to Members) until 6pm, and then after 6PM we will serve glasses and bottles ONLY (at Member’s discounts). That will allow us to better serve all attendees to our increasingly popular Local’s Night Events. Thanks again for all of your support- please join us for flights of Dobbes Family Estate and Wine By Joe every day until 6, and for First Thursday Local’s Nights for 20% off ALL bottles and glasses.

Visit Dobbes Family Estate Winery all weekend and see what the Easter Bunny left hidden in the Tasting Room for you! For each flight of wines purchased, pick an egg out of a basket and find special treats inside. Grand Prize winner will receive a complimentary 6 month Dobbes Family Circle Wine Club Membership. Other prizes include generous wine discounts, select wines for $1 per bottle, and free tours and tastings.