Eugenia Keegan

OK, I guess I have to acknowledge it. I am more sun sensitive than I like to admit. I have always believed that I could will my Vitamin D levels up…..of course I was living in sunny NorCal at the time.

But now I live in Willamette Valley, Oregon and it is very gray here…OK, so that is not news. We just broke some crazy record for number of days of rain, wettest March, all those kinds of things. But now that we have a bright sunny day (OK, diffused, but there are serious shadows), I am out of here.

Good thing that my lair has such engaging winter materials to absorb, enjoy. I’m still working through the goodies from Xmas (no, not the candies, those were gone ages ago); tons of new music, books, electronic keyboard……

Damned if by the time I hit the road there was nary a shadow in sight, but after a few minutes of doing my spoiled child routine I jumped in the car and headed out rain or no rain…ok, rain.

The destination was Left Coast Cellars in Rickreall. I am familiar with their wines and certainly their incredible estate (although I had only heard about it and seen photos) but just learned that they had a “truffle orchard” on the property planted in the early aughts. (Thanks Kimberley!).

I headed south on the Lafayette Highway through Amity:

Yeah, had to stop for one of those pies on the way home!

There is a small café at the Left Coast Cellars tasting room and I planned to end up there for lunch. In the same neighborhood are Cherry Hill Winery and Van Duzer. I did a drive by on both and then back to LCC for tasting, lunch, and conversation.

I had a chance to say hello to friend Mark Pape who started at LCC last August. Prior to that he was working at Witness Tree. AND had a great chat with Luke McCollom, winemaker and viticulturist. He clearly loves growing things. He currently has a black lab puppy in training to be a truffle dog.

As they had a white wine production meeting on the afternoon agenda I took my leave with an agreement to come back for an in depth discussion on growing truffles (both European and domestic) in Oregon.

No trip to rural Oregon is not without its moments.

Something For Everybody!

Winter in the Nursery

Beekeeping

Hand Carved

I should be apologizing repeatedly for not posting for ages, but something keeps me from getting this done (the posting, not the apologizing!). Not sure why. I am always pleased after I have chronicled what I am doing. But then there is this nagging sense that my days have no significance and this is egotistical bullcrap. Either way, I do enjoy it once I put my focus heretois*.

After working on the pruning videos I realized that the two styles of pruning shown were very useful and applied to many situations, but were not specific to the so-called premise of this exercise, Old Vine Grenache. The older bush pruned or spur pruned vines are fundamentally handled the same, but the look is very different. I asked my good friend (with whom I am having dinner this very evening….might be just the kick in the tuchus that I needed to post), if he would kindly help me demonstrate pruning for the style of growing common to most old vines (not just grenache).

Here is Jean-Marc Espinasse of Domaine Rouge-Bleu (http://rouge-bleu.com) with a demonstration of head/spur pruning in his outrageous Old Vine Grenache vineyard, Lunatique (the sound is a bit rough but the images are lovely; listen carefully for a first class pruning lesson):

*hertois: some knockoff of the legalese heretofore, heretowith, etc. But here, is is is.

While working on the pruning videos, Chad Vargas, Vineyard Manager at Adelsheim Vineyard came by to check on the aliens in the vineyard, and to be sure that I did not methodically murder all of his babies. The good news: an up to the minute look at the lead up to harvest 2011…yes we are thinking about that already!

And while we are here, let’s finish up that pruning lesson.

Read All About IT. Yes, I think that this warrants that kind of headline. Somewhere in the back of my mind was the obvious next step in blog survival, videos. What grabbed that video thought from the back of my mind and launched it into cyber space? It was a simple discussion of what we in the production side of the industry take in quotidian stride, the annual cycle of the grapevine. It was February for heaven’s sake, the winter sun was out and the countryside was full of activity. Vineyards were being pruned throughout the Willamette Valley, the first of many activities that will end in another harvest.
It became as clear as a lens with vaseline that it was the time to focus on video.

OK, so that was a ……. start. But please let me introduce you to my video guru Dan Kaufman.

He has been instrumental in taking these adventures from that above to this below. Video #1:

Happy Valentine’s Day!!  I realized the other day as I continue down the dark humid tunnel of cheese making that I forgot to update the effort of December 5th.  So what you see below is the end of the cheese wheel!  Sadly, my work is not yet what I am after….I want this stuff to run and oooooooze all over the plate when cut into.  So far this cheese is delicious in flavor but does not have the texture that I am aiming for.  Thankfully they are still wonderful to eat and truly GREAT grating cheese.  Full of umami and richness.

Almost The End of the December 5th Wheel

Beautiful, Delicious, Fresh Raw Cow Milk Ricotta from February 9th

Why the Picture of The Ravioli Making?

First Course, Ravioli Stuffed with Fresh Ricotta, Spinach, Secret Ingredient, EK cheese grated on top

February 9th found me yet again with a gallon of raw cow milk and a morning for cheese making.  This cycle I promise to be more proactive about updating the progress of these beauties.

New Batch of Cheese, February 9, 2011, Curds & Whey

The Beauties on Valentine's Day 2011