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

Let me just take a minute to say, “Wow!”  The delicious food served at last Friday’s dinner in the barrel room was my favorite yet. We all had such a good time- in fact Dundee’s very own Mayor Sundeen joined us for a second time here at the winery. I’m looking forward to the fantastic menu Chef Sarah will put together for August.

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 an extra special guest attend our big wine tasting event in May, Karl Klooster from the Yamhill Valley News-Register. Karl is a regional editor and wine columnist for the newspaper. He wrote a very complimentary article about the event that was published in the June 11, 2009 issue of the newspaper. See below for some of his kind words and then click this link to read the rest of the story.

“A recent tasting of wines from 12 different producers was testament not only to the considerable winemaking talents, but also substantial management skills, of Joe Dobbes… Combining winemaking ability with seemingly boundless energy explains how he can successfully coordinate so many projects at once – that plus long experience. ”

We are appreciative to Karl and everyone else who showed up to support Dobbes Family Estate and the 11 other Oregon wine brands featured at the event.

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.