Portland Culinary Alliance

On a gorgeous fall day last weekend, a dozen or so PCA members made the trip to Panther Creek Cellars in McMinnville for an afternoon focused primarily on Pinot noir.

The PCA’s wine liason and host, Ron Kaplan, greeted guests with a tour of the facilities and commentary on the winemaking process as we watched it unfold before our own eyes. Ron satisfied our curiosity about how grapes go from vineyard to bottle by answering our numerous questions, and also shared a bit of history about Panther Creek, one of Oregon’s most established Pinot Noir producers.

After such an in depth conversation about winemaking, we were eager to taste. In the airy tasting room and winemaking facility, we sat down before a lovely spread of artisan meats and local cheeses and started sipping. Ron opened many bottles of Panther Creek Pinot, each made using grapes from one of the various vineyard sites they source their grapes from. Sipping the different wines side by side, we began to understand how greatly the region’s terroir influences the flavor and characteristics of each bottling. We compared tasting ‘notes’ on the spot and found that most everyone had their own favorite wine.

Next, Ron invited winemaker Michael Stevenson and assistant winemaker Bill Hanson to take a break from the harvest to come speak with us about their work at Panther Creek. They shared their thoughts on the wine we’d just tasted, responded to our questions about the winemaking process and lifestyle, and even gave us some pointers on other great area producers to sample from. And as a surprise, they invited us to try their lesser-known chardonnay to finish off the afternoon tasting. The wine had beautiful green apple aromas, cleansed our palate, and - for at least two guests - convinced them to buy their first ever bottle of chardonnay.