I can’t believe my good fortune, this is the first January I have ever spent not wearing leather down mittens, fifteen layers of clothing and not thawing out until May. The temperatures here are in the low forties in the mornings and the highs for the day in the high forties to low fifties. Awesome! I can feel my toes and actually enjoy walking the dogs. It’s almost a miracle. But in the spirit of winter, I’m still cooking like it’s cold out. For dinner I fixed spicy chicken breasts and for the wine I opened an Oregon Pinot Noir.

The wine, Willamette Valley Vineyards, Whole Cluster Pinot Noir, was a real treat. It was a young wine, vintage 2014 with an alcohol content of 13.7%. The wine was a medium dark red color in the glass, not as dark as a Cab, but still a nice dark reddish purple color. I could smell the alcohol, but it didn’t have that bite or tartness with a high alcohol wine. The wine was smooth and dry with a full finish. It didn’t have a big fruit taste like the California Pinots have, this had a drier taste that I felt on the back of my mouth.

This wine, a Whole Cluster wine, means that the whole grape clusters are fermented uncrushed. This is to make the wine ready to drink upon release without any added aging, or so the back of the bottle claims. There was also an added note at the bottom of the back label:

“PS. Please return this bottle to the winery for a 10 cent refund. Thank you for recycling.”

The first thing that came to mind, “Road Trip!” Awesome. Now I have an excuse to drive to Turner, Oregon, to get my 10 cents back.