Join us for a taste of several great items this weekend:

• Friday April 9, 4-7 p.m. – Henry from Fire Mountain Brewing will pour his Bad Henry IPA, Oregon Pale Ale and Steam Fired Stout.

• Saturday April 10, 5-7 p.m. – Taste Crowley Marsh Vineyard Chardonnay

• Sunday April 11, 5-7 p.m. – Sample Marques de Moral Crianza Tempranillo and Tres Ojos Old Vines Garnacha from Calatayud

As your temporary wine blogger, I’d like to introduce myself. Prior to working for Market of Choice, I attended culinary school. During the last eight years at Market of Choice, I worked as a chef for Market Catering for three years before I became a Wine/Beer/Coffee Steward. For the last three years, I’ve worked with fellow Steward Jim Colby, whose wine notes you normally see here.

I may not be as opinionated as Jim, but hopefully you will find this interesting and helpful. One of my strengths is my ability and passion for pairing beverages with food. When you come into the store looking for a wine to use for cooking, the first thing I will ask is: what are you making? Everything you put into the food you create, including wine, will be reflected in taste. So only cook with something that will enhance the flavor of your dining experience – the same is true with pairing wine and food.

This week’s wine selections are all food friendly:

Elk Cove La Sirene, WA Barbera, has notes of blackberry, currents and prunes, with a finish of herbal and spice that makes this wine really delicious with fresh goat cheeses, stuffed pork roasts, and even an Asian-inspired stir-fry. $9.99/750 ml.

2007 Tres Ojos, Old Vine Garnacha, Tinto, Calatayud, has dark berry aromas with blackberry and bitter cherry flavors with a nice grip of acidity. The finish is clean, leaving behind notes of sweet dark berry preserves and cracked pepper. Perfect with Manchego cheese, tomato-based pasta dishes and pizza. Tres Ojos is made at the Bodega San Gregorio, a cave co-op founded in 1965 that counts 160 members. The winery is located in the Ribota River Valley, some 15 kilometers north of the city of Calatayud. Tres Ojos hails from the D.O. Calatayud, located in Aragon. $8.99/750 ml.

2008 Cueva de las Manos, Old Vines Bonarda, Reserve has ripe black cherry, blackberry, plum and sweet vanilla on the nose. It is full-bodied, with soft tannins and juicy fruity flavors in the finish. Excellent with grilled meats, spicy dishes. The estate spreads over 300 ha (741 acres) in Agrelo and Lujàn de Cuyo, 34 km south of the city of Mendoza, at 950 meters above sea level. $13.99/750 ml.

Last week, I talked about color in wine, and tried to drive home the point that color is an aesthetic aspect of wine, enhancing one’s optical pleasure. As such, it is not necessarily that one color is superior to another but rather it’s optical clarity, highlights, and interplay of tints that are important.

Similarly with the perfume, or bouquet. Interplay of olfactory nuances are what give pleasure and satisfaction – being able to relate these sensations at first unfamiliar to perhaps something that one knows well, and that can be linked to pleasant memories and situations.

When I thrust my nose into a glass containing a well-made Pinot noir from the Cote d’Or, the perfume brings to mind underground limestone caves packed with barrels and fragrant with fermented grapes and wet wood and the smell of the roses planted at the end of the vineyard rows. Or perhaps there is a wafting headiness of fresh baked scones packed tight with warm raspberries, the loaminess of freshly turned dirt, or the spiky prickly scent of brambles when one is picking blackberries. Variation and interplay resulting in complexity are what make a wine’s perfume fascinating.

This week’s wine selections all exhibit clarity in color and complexity in bouquet.

Domaine Jean Vullien et Fils is located between Grenoble and Albertville in the Combe de Savoie, a valley with six hillside crus, four of which Vullien owns parcels. Soil is pebbly scree over black limestone and Jurassic marl. The Vin De Savoie 2008 Chardonnay exudes a perfume of stoney spring water; in the mouth it has crisp green apple layered with notes of pear and underlying mineral that drives to a crisp finish with some length. $15.29/750ml.

One of my favorites in the past has been Domaine Sainte-Barbe near Vire-Clesse in the Maconnais. The vines are planted on clay and limestone soils and are more than 60 years old. The Domaine Sainte Barbe Macon L’Expression 2007 Chardonnay is fermented in stainless with indigenous yeasts. Light green-gold in the glass; honeysuckle notes with apple blossom on the nose followed by light wood smoke in the mouth and melon and red delicious apple propelled by stony minerality underneath and a long luscious finish. $20.29/750ml.

Fattoria Di Basciano is owned by Renzo Masi and comprises about 30ha of vineyards on a 60ha estate near Rufina on the river Sieve north of Firenze. The vineyards are planted with Sangiovese, Colorino, Canaiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. Basciano Chianti Rufina 2006 is black and opaque in the middle with saturated purple red rims; aromas of cherry and plum keep up a lively interplay with notes of cedar; dark cherry with sour notes, baked scone; dusty intense tannins and good length complete this well-made Chianti. $12.79/750ml.

Just south of Padua, in the Euganean Hills, lies the estate of La Montecchia. Viticulture has been established in this area since the Middle Ages, and the owners, the Emo Capadolista family, trace their history back 1,000 years to the late 10th century in Venice. The current estate was replanted in the ‘90s, at the same time the buildings and equipment were renovated and improved. The La Montecchia Godimondo 2007 Cabernet Franc is opaque dark red in the middle tending to narrow ruby red rims; rose petal perfume; brambly in the mouth with red currant, dark berry, herbaceousness, plum and cedar notes; good grip and length on the finish. $16.99/750ml.

Thanks to all who attended the 2008 Chateauneuf du Pape tasting and presale event last Wednesday. My picks:

• Domaine Olivier Hilliare Cuvee Classique

• Domaine Moulin-Tacussel Hommage

• Domaine Tour Saint Michel La Tour du Lion

• La Vieux Donjon

Our tasting schedule this week:

• Friday, March 12, 5 p.m. – Heater Allen Brewery

• Saturday, March 13, 5 p.m. – Le Drunk Rooster Grenache/Syrah; Chateau Mauros Entre-Deux-Mers; Artiasanal Cellars Viognier

• Sunday, March 14, 5 p.m. – Francois Chidaine Touraine Sauvignon Blanc

Last week, I was reminded once again that it is not the darkness or opaqueness of wine color that is the determining factor in making a judgment as to whether its full bodied with power, lithe bodied and elegant, or clunky and ponderous. Should a winemaker go to extraordinary lengths to ensure his Pinot noir is purple? Should Pinot noir even be purple? Or should there be minimal intervention, letting the chips fall where they may?

Barolo is a prime example. Last week, I talked with Mario Andrion, winemaker at Castello Verduno, in Piemonte. Extraordinary wines were sampled at that time: a clean, berry-inflected Dolcetto exhibiting all the freshness of grapes handled with minimal intervention by the winemaker. Fermentation in stainless steel, settling in the same, and bottling after a few months. Manual harvest. Seven days on the skins. Color is deep purple with wide transparent rims and a black core. Light, lively on the palate with zesty acidity and tang at the end. My point: Dark color in the glass, light and lively in the mouth.

In contrast, the Barolo Massara 2004: In the glass a transparent ruby red lightening to a narrow rim of sienna: on the nose an elegant perfume of white tea, rose, and cherry; in the mouth a complex interweaving of tea leaves, rose, cherry, tobacco shop with substantial tannins that creep up on the sides of the mouth and provide grip. Powerful acidity in the finish gives the wine length with what seems like unending flavor that lingers like a fine summer evening. Power, elegance, length, but very light color. To reiterate: There is no direct relationship between dark color and power, elegance, length, or depth, i.e. quality components in wine.

When looking at color, one needs instead to look for clarity, highlights, and tone gradation. Monotone color probably means the wine has been filtered and /or manipulated in the maceration or fermentation tank. High acid wines have higher concentrations of bright red anthocyans. Brown tones can mean desirable age or undesirable oxidation, again an unreliable sign of quality, depending on the type of wine. But above all, I think, color is interesting in itself and adds to the aesthetic dimension of wine appreciation.

For those of you who missed our tete-a-tete and impromptu tasting last Thursday with Mario Andrion, I have in stock from Castello Verduno the Langhe Nebbiolo 2008: Lively rose perfume, notes of baked pie crust, blueberry, dusty tannins with some earthiness and an elegant finish. $19.49/750ml.

Basedone 2007 Pelevarga: Sweet tobacco spice in the perfume, saddle leather, baked scone, berry notes interlaced with satiny tannins and a long finish. $24.99/750ml.

Barbaresco Faset 2001: Notes of sandalwood and sweet tobacco on the nose; baked scone, cherry, white tea in the mouth with gripping tannins and acidity. Long and elegant on the finish. $31.99/750ml.

New Zealand’s Wairau Valley is a renowned sub-appelation of Marlborough. I’ve been working on and off since about 1995 with the Goldwater estate wines and have always liked the Sauvignon Blanc. The 2008 Goldwater Sauvignon Blanc features ripe passion fruit and notes of guava on the nose, creamy in the mouth with tropical fruits and plenty of length on the finish. $15.59/750ml. through Feb.

Carlo and Julian in Carlton, Ore. just keeps on making delicious, affordable Northwest wines, primarily from Oregon but with occasional help from Walla Walla. Felix Madrid’s latest release, the Carlo and Julian NV Three Grapes red blend is from 2008 Carmenere grown in the Walla Walla AVA, and 2007 Tempranillo and Pinot noir from the Carlo and Julian estate vineyards. Notes of cedar on the nose; cedar, red currant, baked pie crust, vibrant acidity and a medium finish with some very pretty fruit. $11.99/750ml.

Alvarez y Diez Luna Blanca Toro Tinto 2008 is Spanish country wine at its best. Lively nose with red currant and saddle leather, medium body with some leathery tannins, notes of baked clay, blackberry and black pepper with weight, and some length on the end. $9.79/750ml.

Our tasting schedule this week

• Friday, Feb. 26, at 5 p.m. – Cascade Lakes Brewing Co.

• Saturday, Feb. 27, at 5 p.m. – Shadow Mtn. Winery

• Sunday, Feb. 28, at 5 p.m. – Ippolilto 1845 Res Dei Bianco and Abrazo 2008 Garnacha Carinena

Weekend coffee cuppings: Peet’s Usuri African Blend, Organic Gaia, and Garuda Blend.

Special Wine Tasting Event

Join us Wednesday, March 3 at 6:30 p.m. in our Community Room on the mezzanine where Earl Cramer Brown from C&G Wines and I will host a Chateauneuf-du-Pape preview of the 2008 vintage:

• Clos des Brusquieres

• Domaine de la Charbonnieres

• Chateau Fortia

• Domaine Olivier Hilliare

• Domane Moulin-Tacussel

• Domaine Tour Saint Michel

• La Vieux Donjon

Pre-orders are being taken at pre-arrival prices! All wines have been recently bottled at the wineries. Price is $30/seat. Food will be served. RSVP at 541-338-8455, 541-510-1616 or on the ‘net at jimc@marketofchoice.com.

Wine case discounts of 15% on unmixed cases of 12/750ml. and 10% on mixed cases. Call 541-338-8455, 541-510-1616, or on the ‘net at jimc@marketofchoice.com.