Whats-Happening: Page 578

Brandborg Blooms

Building an out-of-the-way winery in Oregon’s newest American Viticultural Area

Drink
Photo by Trask Bedortha

The tiny town of Elkton, Ore., boasts just 200 people but six wineries. Its cooler climate, atypical of the Umpqua Valley, means that wine grapes that won’t grow in most Southern Oregon vineyards flourish in Elkton. Grape-growing regions are known as American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs. Based on climate and geography, AVAs tell winemakers and connoisseurs a little bit about what to expect from the wine. As of 2013, Elkton is Oregon’s 17th AVA, just an hour southwest of Eugene. Continue reading →

Esther the Lionhearted and Twinkle-Toed

Ballet Fantastique’s rock gospel ballet goes biblical

Dance
Ballet Fantastique company dancer Leanne Mizzoni as Esther

A local mother-daughter team is pushing the limits of ballet by finding inspiration in the most unlikely of places. For The Book of Esther, Ballet Fantastique’s Donna Bontrager and her daughter Hannah Bontrager go way, way back — to approximately 486 BC — for the finale of their 2013-2014 season. What better way to end the company’s “New Legends” series than with a story from one of the oldest existing works of literature: The Old Testament? Continue reading →

East Side Wines

Viticulture outside the Valley

Drink

Valleys aren’t the only places for making wine. While most of Oregon’s 450-some wineries are located in cooler, more temperate climes, central and Eastern Oregon are in on enology culture, too. For a treat on your next road trip east, drop by one of these wineries to get a taste of Oregon’s east side.   Volcano Vineyards  930 N.W. Brooks St., Bend, OR 97701 • 541-390-8771 • volcanovineyards.com Continue reading →

A Wine for Every Equation

Eugene’s first urban winery, Eugene Wine Cellars, ages to perfection in the Whiteaker

Drink
Photo by Todd Cooper

Bruce Biehl, the owner of Eugene Wine Cellars (EWC), once dreamed of being a cowboy. He became a winemaker instead. With a soft spot for European wine culture, influenced both by his travels and a brother who makes wine in southern France, Biehl brought the first “urban winery” to Eugene in 1999. It was a family effort, with Biehl siblings Beverly and Brad, which made EWC the first licensed winery within city limits. Continue reading →

Bad Chemistry

Cork disease can taint wines

Drink

Every once in a while, a bottle of wine — even a very good wine, from a reputable producer — breaks bad. Excuses abound, but reasons are harder to find. Bad chemistry. The sequence is predictable: We buy a decent wine, treat it well until we pull the cork. We pour the wine, bring it to our lips. First, we’re assaulted by nasty aromas: moldy, musty, damp basement, mildewed stacks of old newspapers … Descriptors vary. Flavors, too, remind us of soggy basements. If the condition is advanced, the wine is undrinkable. Continue reading →

May Holiday Event Listings

Drink

Eugene Wine Cellars 255 Madison St., 342-2600 May 23-26 Memorial Weekend Celebration, Sunday urban wine circuit  noon-6pm Saturday-Monday.   J. Scott Cellars  520 Commercial St., Unit G, 514-5497 May 23-25 Memorial Weekend Celebration, music, food truck, guest wineries, 4-9pm Friday, 1-9pm Saturday, noon-6pm Sunday.   Noble Estate Vineyard & Winery 29210 Gimpl Hill Rd., 560 Commercial St. Suite S, 954-9870 Continue reading →

Project Runway

Fashion

Nothing makes art come alive like seeing it strut down the runway. Sunday, May 4, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art hosted St. Vincent de Paul’s Metamorphose Upcycling Design Challenge — in a nutshell, Eugene’s own Project Runway. Ten designers had eight weeks to transform $40 worth of materials from SVdP into three catwalk-ready looks — Ready-to-Wear, Evening, Designer’s Choice — to be judged by a panel of local fashion-forward celebrities. Here are the winners by category, plus an EW pick. Continue reading →

Can you dig it?

Film

Hang high in Colorado, Robert Redford, because we have another film festival worth digging into here in Eugene May 9-11. The Archaeology Channel is hosting its 11th International Film and Video Festival at The Shedd and just like the subjects depicted on screen, the festival is aging into something to behold, showcasing 18 films from around the globe.  Continue reading →

Adam and Eve

Film

Languid, elegiac, mournful and unexpectedly funny, Jim Jarmush’s Only Lovers Left Alive introduces us to the ancient Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), a pair of vampires who’ve been married so long they think nothing of living on opposite sides of the world. He lurks in Detroit, a reclusive, black-clad musician whose work quietly slips into the world via his human friend Ian (Anton Yelchin, shaggy and game). Continue reading →