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If it’s July — and it is — and we’re getting hot — and we are — then, it must be time for pink wines. Years ago, when Mole and I launched our investigation of pinks, we were both skeptical. I had tasted too many insipid pinks. He took a kinda Italian view: “Pink wines. Why?” For one, because they’re so pretty, in the glass, in the sun and across the palate. Continue reading
A new brewery will be joining the Eugene beer scene this fall. ColdFire Brewing will open by the end of October at 263 Mill St. near Rye restaurant and The Gallery at the Watershed. Brothers Dan and Stephen Hughes will be running the brewery. The duo has been homebrewing since 1999. Continue reading
Today marks the first day of Oregon Cider Week, June 18-28, and beergarden. (777 W. 6th Ave.) is teaming up with WildCraft Ciderworks for Snakebite Night. Don't worry, it doesn't involve any actual snakes — snakebites are alcoholic beverages composed of equal parts beer and cider. According to its Facebook page, beergarden. is tapping four snakebites, all made with WildCraft Ciderworks cider, tonight (June 18) from 6 to 8 pm: Continue reading
A mole in a pout is a sight to behold, rare, and slightly scary. Thinking I was early, I had ridden the wheezing Otis to the 15th floor of Eugene’s oldest high-rise, shuffled down the hall to our office, Wine Investigations, found Mole already in our lab, in a mope. “Hey, Sleut’,” he said, “whatcha got from all yer trackin’ wit’ out me?” Continue reading
What better way to spend a day of Eugene Beer Week than a little botanical exploration? Continue reading
My pal/sidekick Mole always tells me the truth. One day last week, he leaned into me and, in a soothing voice, said, “Sleut’” — he calls me Sleuth, it’s an honor and I dig it — “youse gots a tulip jones.” Continue reading
According to recent data, wine now generates $3.5 billion annually and accounts for 17,000 jobs in wine and related businesses in Oregon. Now, that’s impact. And it seems to be growing. Consider our (fairly) recent history: Continue reading
Oregon’s best wine? Seems a silly question, at first. Pinot noir? Pinot gris? Nah. One very wine-savvy professional is ready to offer a rather shocking response: chardonnay. Say what? If it’s even partly true that chardonnay rates as one of Oregon’s best wines, the phenomenon could be called a renaissance, a revival, even a re-birth, because Oregon chardonnay had effectively died in the ’80s. And it wasn’t a pretty demise. Continue reading
Many a romantic notion is attached to wine, like zooming past the city limits, wind in your hair and finding a sunny patio nestled into the rolling hills of a country winery where you can sip vino and take in the vistas. Continue reading
I’m no oenephile. Don’t get me wrong, I like wine, but its niceties are lost on me, perhaps because in my college years my idea of “good wine” was strawberry Boones Farm, preferably after it had sat in the freezer long enough to give it a certain Slurpee-like texture. I’m still that chick who, when asked what I’d like to drink at an elegant restaurant, responds, “Give me your cheap red.” Continue reading