720 Cellars 2006 Pinot Noir with Roulade of Halibut

Next up on the docket at the Gathering Together Farm Wine Dinner was a Roulade of Halibut perfectly matched with the 2006 720 Cellars Pinot Noir. The halibut was wrapped in pork belly over israeli cous cous, with almonds and quince pasta. We all agreed that the almonds added a ton to the dish, and greatly enjoyed the pairing.

720 Cellars describes itself as a "gravity-flow winery to produce 1,000 cases of ultra-mega-double-secret-super-premium wine in 720 square feet of workspace." I suspect this is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek description, but what I do know is that 720 produces some quality wines in Philomath, OR. OK, so they're actually a small lot production winery that works out of a garage of sorts, but Nick does some equipment sharing with them and has been lucky enough to visit the facility and taste out of the barrel and has nothing but amazing things to say.

In describing the 2006 Pinot Noir, 720 says "The range and spectrum of this wine is a swirl of the bright raspberry and cherry end of the spectrum finishing with a foundation of darker elements of blackberries and cola." We found this to be a very traditional Oregon Pinot with a nice earthy nose and a bit sharp on the finish. It really worked with the halibut. Rick thought it was "really good", and this pairing reminded me how versatile Pinot Noir can be. With a production of only 400 cases, better pick some up while you can.

Next up on the journey of the wine dinner we'll look at short ribs with Seven Hills Vineyard Syrah and wrap up with Harris Bridge Winery Pinot Noir Dessert Wine and dessert. Beyond this series, we have a ton of exciting things in store for the blog. We have posts queued up for a delicous Col Solaire red wine, a review of a oregon wine book, and plans in the works for a Tour de Vino celebrating the Tour de France. It should be a great summer!