I am not starting the newsletter this week and mentioning the weather. Nope, not going to do it. Instead, let's talk about what tonight is (February 25, 2023). It is Open That Bottle Night! In case you are unaware of the occasion, this wine holiday is the last Saturday of February. It is meant to open something special, a bottle you have wanted to open for a while but have yet to pop the cork.

I will be at the Oregon Chardonnay Celebration all day today (fingers crossed), so there will be a lot of outstanding Chardonnay, but I still need to figure out that special bottle after the Dungeness Crab Fest. Do you have any suggestions? What are you going to open? Let me know! Dobbes Family Estate has a Spotify playlist for Open That Bottle Night. Now you have zero reasons not to participate!

Micheal Alberty has an excellent piece entitled "Why Oregon Winemakers Are Embracing Dry Farming" for Wine Enthusiast you might want to check out.

The Oregon Wine Symposium occurred last week, and here is an excellent summary of the event. In addition, I may or may not have spoken with a guest I have wanted to get on the podcast. No names right now, but fingers crossed, things are looking good!

We all know Bill Gates. He recently bought nearly a $1B stake in Heineken, and supposedly, he's not a beer drinker.

Over at Wine Spectator, they mentioned a book titled, "Dinner with the President". It's going on my list to read this year. Along with another one coming out in March titled Undercooked: How I Let Food Become My Life Navigator and How Maybe That's a Dumb Way to Live.

There's a new Bed and Breakfast called Sosta House with ties to the Ponzi family opening soon.

One of the many reasons I enjoy doing the newsletter and podcast is the unknown. I never quite know what direction this journey will take me. There is a constant stream of unknown nuggets waiting to be unearthed.

For the podcast this week, this journey started in July at IPNC. It was hot, and one of the events before dinner was a tasting outside. The last thing anyone wanted was a Pinot, meaning whites and Sparkling were prized possessions to find! I approached the Stoller table, and Kate Payne-Brown poured something cold and Bubbly. We started talking, and what an incredible first impression! She wasn't just there pouring wine. She was engaging and enjoyed showing off her talents in the heat of late July. We passed along contact information, and I knew I wanted her on the podcast.

With IPNC occurring in July, I had podcast interviews set up until mid-September. I wasn't too worried about getting other interviews until it was too late, meaning there was no way I would disturb anyone during Harvest. I started getting my ducks in a row before Christmas to begin interviews for this year. Schedules and the Holidays played a part in getting this put together, but it was worth the wait! You need to listen to Kate recalling the story of her being on a Harley and deciding wine is the direction she wanted to take instead of being an optometrist. Outside of being the head winemaker at Stoller, she has her label called Dolores, where she makes Pinot and has a Sparkling of Pinot Blanc Gouges. Yeah, you need to listen to this interview. It rocks on so many levels!

Wait, what? Do you need another reason to listen to this week's podcast interview? Ok, I hear you loud and clear! This week I dove into what is Method Champenoise Sparkling highlighting Lytle-Barnett's pursuit of Oregon Sparkling. But, of course, it is never-ending once you start diving deeper into the rabbit hole of Sparkling Wine. So please take some time to listen to this week's episode with Kate Payne-Brown and support this week's Sponsor by visiting Lytle-Barnett's website and using the promo code WEINNOTES for 20% off. Also, if you missed the three-day tasting note over on Instagram of Lytle-Barnett's Brut Rose, you missed out, but lucky enough for you, here is Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 of how incredibly this wine evolved even though it took extreme willpower to savor the bottle that long!

Here are all of the links:

• ​YouTube​
• ​Apple Podcasts​
• ​Spotify​

Please subscribe, like, and comment whenever you listen to or watch the podcast!

With Gratitude,

A.J.