The Celebration Oregon Was Missing
When eight wine women stop waiting for someone else to throw the party.
Six weeks ago, a handful of Oregon wine women came over to my house for brunch.
As tends to happen when girlfriends get together and more than a few bottles are opened, the afternoon quickly became part group therapy, part attempting to solve all the world’s problems, part giggle fest and part dream session. Time disappeared, and before we knew it, brunch had quietly become an all-day affair.
Afternoons like that feel more and more rare.
When you work in the same industry, it’s alarmingly easy to let time slip away while only seeing one another at work functions, winery dinners, tastings, and events. We spend so much time working together that we forget to carve time to simply be together.
More than once, between fits of laughter and another cork being pulled, someone remarked,
“Why don’t we do this more often?”
That question led us to bemoaning the loss of IPNC and, in particular, the legendary Salmon Bake. Whatever your thoughts on the larger festival itself (and its demise) there was something undeniably magical about having one weekend—and really one night—every summer, when the Oregon wine community gathered with no agenda beyond eating, drinking, and celebrating together.
It wasn't really IPNC we were missing. It was the excuse to gather.
The four of us who had just returned from Champagne started telling everyone else about Printemps and its epic events. If you’ve been subscribed here for a while, you’ve heard me rave about it (and if you haven’t, check it out here).
Every spring, one little alley in Reims fills with people carrying bottles of Champagne. A DJ thumps beats off the cobblestones. Friends bump into friends, strangers become new friends, everyone opens something special, and somehow the whole evening feels elegant and completely unpretentious at the same time.
As we were describing it, someone looked around the table and said,
“Why don’t we just do that here?”
Cue everyone laughing.
Until we realized...
Wait.
Why don’t we?
Fast forward six weeks, and somehow that brunch conversation has turned into a real event.
On Saturday, July 25, we’re throwing the very first Dose.
The idea is simple. We wanted to create the kind of wine party we’d all be excited to attend ourselves. Tickets are $25 and include your glass, which you’ll then fill with amazing bubbles. We’ve asked some of our favorite Oregon sparkling producers to dig deep into their cellars and bring bottles they love—special cuvées, back vintages, and wines you don’t often get the chance to taste. We’re pricing the bottles at retail scale because the goal isn’t to make money on the evening. It’s simply to throw a really great party that pays for itself and hopefully becomes a tradition.
The best traditions have to start somewhere, right?
We announced Dose this past Friday and sold half the tickets in the first 24 hours, which tells me we probably aren’t the only ones who think Oregon has been missing a great party.
So if you’re free on July 25, I hope you’ll join us!
Make a day of it. Book a hotel room in McMinnville. Go wine tasting. (If you’re looking for double bubbles, Method Oregon’s Grand Tasting is happening that afternoon.) Eat at a great local restaurant. Then come party the night away with us.
And if this becomes a tradition that Oregon looks forward to every summer, I’ll be thrilled to say it all started with brunch in my backyard.
One more invitation...
Speaking of gathering over wine, this Thursday (July 2nd) is our monthly virtual tasting club, and we’re heading to the Adriatic.
If last week’s love letter to the Adriatic had you dreaming of that coastline, I hope you’ll join us. For this one, we’re keeping it simple: bring any bottle from somewhere along the Adriatic and we’ll explore the region together.
That could mean a skin-contact Ribolla Gialla or Ramato from Friuli, an Albana from Romagna, Verdicchio from the Marche, Primitivo or Negroamaro from Puglia, Rebula from Slovenia, Pošip or Plavac Mali from Croatia… the Adriatic is your oyster!
Grab a bottle, pour a glass, and I’ll take care of the rest.
⚽ World Cup Pour of the Week
Well... you all did your job. Thank you to everyone who helped manifest Argentina winning its group, because I’m officially headed to Miami to watch the GOAT himself, Lionel Messi, play in what will likely be his final World Cup. So this week’s recommendation simply has to be Argentine. And if we’re talking about the GOAT of Argentine wine, my vote goes to Carmelo Patti.
Patti has become legendary for his beautifully restrained, old-school red wines. Much like Messi, the wines only get better with age. Patti refuses to release them until he believes they’re truly ready to drink, often aging them for years before they ever leave the winery. The result is some of the most elegant, long-lived Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec I’ve ever tasted. Think left-bank Bordeaux with just a touch of Napa sun thrown in. If you happen to come across a bottle, snatch it up - they are hard to find.
And in the meantime… Vamos, Argentina!