Unauthorized

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has desperately needed a luxury spa, hotel, and restaurant complex, and now they have it in the beautiful Allison and their open kitchen, top-flight restaurant, Jory, named after the Jory soils in which many Pinot Noir vineyards are planted. This resort opened in the Fall of 2009, and it should be a huge success given the quality of the rooms, the impeccable as well as creative cuisine, and the sensational wine list. The kitchen, which is surrounded by a bar, is very accessible and viewable, with a huge wood-burning (only wild cherry wood and mesquite are used) grill as its centerpoint. The courses were all top-flight. We started with wonderful fresh oysters on the half shell, a Japanese oyster called Kushi, which I had never had before and loved, and intriguing oysters from Cortez Island in Washington state. My favorite dishes including the pasta dishes, the rabbit agnolotti and the mushroom ravioli with Oregon white truffles. The crab-stuffed sole was also very good, and the quality of the rib eyes was superb.

Our wines started with a 1999 Rosé Champagne from Charles Heidsieck, which was very good. Since it was a large crowd, there were two bottles of each. We had non-oxidized bottles of Niellon’s 1996 Chevalier Montrachet. I have had spotty luck with this wine, but both of these bottles were outstanding. The Raveneau 2003 Chablis Montée de Tonnerre exhibited great acidity and freshness. No one would have guessed it was made in such a hot vintage. The 2000 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir Julia is aging beautifully, revealing lots of herbs, earth, and red fruits in a medium to full-bodied, fresh, lively, still youthful style. The real whopper in this tasting was the 2003 Clos de Tart. It is dense ruby/purple-colored, fabulously concentrated, full-bodied, and rich with 20 years of life ahead of it. I would not be surprised to see the top 2003s behave like 1959s down the road. This was a great showing for Clos de Tart, particularly after a recent bottle of the 2006 I had was largely undrinkable because of high acids and vegetal flavors. The 1999 Bois de Boursan Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Félix provoked mixed reactions. Some tasters thought it had too much brett (it did have some), and others loved the earthy, sassafras, beet root character intermixed with lots of kirsch and black currant fruit. My favorite red of the night (because it had some maturity) was the 1990 La Conseillante. Beautiful notes of mulberries, kirsch, violets, and spice box emerged from this full-bodied, opulent, fleshy wine. Seemingly fully mature, it is capable of lasting at this plateau for another decade in a cold cellar.