I was privileged to be one of the judges at the 35th Greatest of the Grape wine festival March 11th and 12th in Oregon's Umpqua Valley.

Greatest of the Grape is Oregon's oldest wine festival and showcases some of the best food and wine from the Umpqua Valley. This was my first time to the festival and it is an excellent event!! In addition to the professional judging, guests at the festival vote for their favorite wine and their favorite food and wine pairings from 28 local wineries matched with 14 regional restaurants. The vote determines the "Greatest of the Grape Award". The food, wine and people are terrific.

Now, I admit to not paying enough attention to wines from southern Oregon in the past, but I won't make that mistake again.

The Umpqua Valley AVA is really a network of hillsides and river drainages, located between the Coast Mountains to the west and the Cascade Mountains to the east. It is generally drier and warmer than the Willamette Valley wine region to the north, and cooler than the Rogue and Applegate regions to the south. We were fortunate that we were still experiencing all that dry sunny, early March weather, and the natural beauty of the valley shone through.

There are some exciting developments taking place in the Umpqua these days. I tasted some outstanding wines and visited a few wineries that are bringing the region the attention that it deserves. A few of the wineries that I felt stood out were:

Brandborg Vineyard & Winery: Across the board these wines were exceptional. I thought Terry Brandborg's Pinot noir's and Rieslings were especially outstanding, with unsurpassed textural elements and purity of fruit.

Abacela Vineyards: This is a winery that you may be familiar with. I have used many of their wines on various wine programs. Earl & Hilda Jones grow Tempranillo, Syrah, Merlot, Dolcetto, Malbec, Grenache, and other varietals carefully matched to the unique microclimates of their three vineyards. These are terrific wines. Their work with Tempranillo is particularly superior and worth seeking out.

Hillcrest Vineyard: This is Oregon's oldest winery, established in 1961. It was purchased a couple of years ago by Dyson Demara. He and his family operate the farm themselves. Even though I was only able to taste a few of the wines here, I thought they were the most exciting wines that I had tasted from Oregon. These are low yielding, dry farmed vineyards. I don't think I tasted anything with over 12.5% alcohol and all the wines had low pH. Very Old World, definitely unique, natural products with great integrity. Dyson is someone to watch.

We'll be featuring more wines from Umpqua Valley as they become available in our market.