GTF Wine Dinner - Amuse Bouche with Emerson Pinot Gris

Continuing the series from the May 24, 2009 Gathering Together Farm wine dinner, following a rousing farm tour we quickly served the Amuse Bouche. While being served a mushroom soup with green garlic foam and brioche, a glass of 2007 Emerson Pinot Gris was poured for each diner. While some of my mushroom-averse compatriots less enjoyed this warm soup, I found it to be crisp and delicious.

Emerson Vineyards, a family-owned winery located in Monmouth, OR, produces Pinot Noir and Gris, Syrah, and Chardonnay while focusing on stewardship and sustainability as a core tenet. Elliot Johns, the winemaker, is a gradu

ate of Oregon State University's fermentation science program. Winery tasting notes on the 05 Gris note, "Emerson Vineyards Pinot Gris is silvery and brilliant. This vintage expresses gooseberry and honey aromas with flinty, minerally back notes."

We immediately detected the strong floral basket on the nose of this wine, with a crisp and tart lingering finish when consumed by itself. When paired with the soup, though, the finish was cut making a very refreshing and pleasant match. General consensus was very favorable for this wine, although Rick noted he would have enjoyed the riesling more with this course and Alyssa wasn't a fan of the whole course. Probably more of that is related to the aforementioned distaste for mushrooms.

The next course of the dinner didn't have a separate wine poured with it, and thankfully we made friends with the staff and ended up with an extra pour of the Gris to enjoy with the Salade Compose. The deconstructed salad of baby carrots, new potatoes, snap peas, Walla Walla onions, meyer lemon vinaigrette, and garden aiola also worked very well with the wine.

Keep your eyes on the blog for the next piece in the series, a look at the Roulade of Halibut matched with 720 Cellars Pinot Noir!