Asheville’s Best Free Wine Tasting 5/2/18 Montinore Estate
Please welcome Montinore Estate
Carlo and Rosa Marchesi loved, tended and respected the land in their hometown in Northern Italy. They grew and produced their own food, made their own wine, and thrived on their sustainable lifestyle. When they immigrated to the northeastern United States, they continued this tradition while instilling this same love for the land in their grandson, Rudy Marchesi.
Rudy grew, made and sold wine on the East Coast while raising his own family, but became captivated by Oregon wine country. Oregon was a place, he believed, that fostered creativity. It was a place where the beauty of the land could be developed in the grapes and showcased in the wines.
After overseeing operations and serving as vineyard consultant for several years at Montinore Estate, Rudy became proprietor of the 200-acre estate in 2005. Today, his grandparents’ legacy is alive and well. In the ground, in the vines, and in the bottle.
Rudy presides over the estate with his daughter, Kristin, who is carrying on the family tradition of land stewardship by serving as General Manager of Montinore Estate. Together they uphold the family vision of sustainability through a commitment to Biodynamic® and organic farming, and sustainable winemaking. They have assembled an experienced and passionate vineyard and winemaking team who expertly nurture the land and the vines and who turn these raw materials into beautifully crafted wines.
Montinore Estate wines are a celebration of a place and a culture where wine is part of the every day. They are firmly rooted in the values of a well-lived life, one that includes the enjoyment of food and wine with friends and family. Made to enjoy now, with fresh and lively flavors, Montinore’s wines are also crafted with age-worthy structure and complexity.
Montinore Borealis
Mouthwatering and multi-dimensional, this perennial crowd pleaser is a blend of our favorite cool-climate whites: Müller-Thurgau (38%), Gewürztraminer (32%), Riesling (19%) and Pinot Gris (11%). Crafted from several harvests in order to display the unique qualities of each variety, heady scents of orange blossom, ripe honeydew, guava and kiwi offer a vibrant introduction to this aromatic blend. The palate is sumptuous and round, bursting with stone fruit, Meyer lemon and juicy pear drizzled with caramel. This plushness yields to a clean, bright and uplifting finish.
Montinore Pinot Gris
Seven different vineyard blocks on our home vineyard contribute to this wine’s complexity, texture, and character. The 2016 Pinot Gris is a lovely example of the great balance that we can achieve in the Northern Willamette Valley with this variety. It emerges with aromatics of pear, Meyer lemon zest and fresh mint. It opens up on the palate with a silky and light texture to offer a foundation of stone fruits, melon and bright citrus, with zippy acidity. It finishes with stony minerality and white pepper, with lush and rich texture. As people have come to expect from our Pinot Gris, the 2016 is an excellent food wine that pairs well with anything from salads and seafood to grilled chicken and light meats. Made with Demeter-Certified Biodynamic Grapes Certified Organic by Stellar Certification
Montinore Almost Dry Riesling
The 2016 Almost Dry Riesling is fresh, clean and flavorful. Abundant fresh fruit aromas greet the senses with bright key lime, honeydew melon, nectarine and pear mingle with fragrant white flowers. A plush mouthful of Meyer lemon, tangerine, Rainier cherry and green apple leads to a vibrant and clean finish that is refreshingly satisfying. This is a wonderful expression of Willamette Valley Riesling.
Montinore Estate Pinot Noir
This is a carefully constructed blend of wines produced from different geographical areas and soils from within the Willamette Valley appellation. Predominantly Laurelwood soils, this wine also includes grapes grown in volcanic and marine sedimentary soils. We utilized French and Hungarian oak storage vessels for maturation and development. Nearly half of the blend was completed in puncheons while the remainder was aged in barriques. This has allowed for a nice oak structure, while not overpowering the fresh fruit overtones. The end result is a bright and attractive, vivacious wine that is destined to please.
*tasting free with purchase of $10 or more per guest