Remy Wines: Italian Grapes in Oregon and a Winery After my Heart

This month our Italian Food, Wine and Travel group (#ItalianFWT) is exploring Italian grapes around the world.  Always an intriguing search and fun experimentation to see what other states or countries around the world are growing Italian grapes and why they choose these particular grapes to grow in their particular place in the world.  The winery I sampled wines from, Remy Wines, holds a particular place in my heart as my first born son’s name is Remy.  He was a big fan seeing his name on the bottle!

Remy Wines is located in the Pacific Northwest of the US in Oregon.  The vineyards are located in the Dundee Hills AVA of the Willamette Valley.  The owner and winemaker, Remy Drabkin, had a lifelong dream and passion to work in the wine industry starting at the young age of 8.  By the age of 14 she had worked her first harvest and by age 17 she was already studying winemaking abroad. 

Being a native to McMinnville, Oregon where the winery is located, Remy holds strong roots to the area.  She began Remy Wines in 2006 and over the years has added a couple tasting rooms including baR (pronounced R Bar) in 2011 and her latest tasting room added in 2017 at the family’s Lone Madrone Vineyards site in Dundee.  Although Remy’s winery is small production, she prides herself on innovation as she works with Italian grapes that are very outside the norm for Oregon’s wine country.  Her focus is on Lagrein, Sangiovese, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo and Barbera.  She also has another label called Three Wives Label that she experiments with from vintage to vintage playing with blends. 

The Wines

2017 Remy Wines Jubilee Dolcetto:  These grapes are grown in the Jubilee Vineyards in the Northern part of the Eola-Amit Hills AVA in the Willamette Valley.  Dolcetto is a grape widely grown throughout the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy.  The Jubilee Dolcetto is barrel aged 16 months in neutral oak.  Ruby in color with aromas of black licorice and blackberries.  This wine was dry and balanced with juicy acidity showing blackberries on the palette. The subtle tannins showed on the finish with a hint of vanilla finishing with nice length.  Only 206 cases are produced.  SRP $35

Chicken, broccoli and sun-dried tomato over brown rice

2017 Remy Wines Estate Lagrein: These grapes are grown at the family vineyard in Dundee Hills.  Lagrein is such a fantastic red grape that is native to the Alto Adige region of northeastern Italy.  It’s a beautiful area surrounded by Dolomite Mountains.  Remy was the first to bottle Lagrein in Oregon.  Deep in color with purple hues.  A hefty wine with jammy fruit, notes of chocolate and a hint of herbs with chewy tannins.  I wish I had opened this when I grilled some rib eyes a couple weeks ago.  The Estate Lagrein is aged 2 years in 50% new American oak.  Only 125 cases were produced.  SRP $58

Join my fellow Italian food and wine lovers on Twitter this Saturday @ 11am EST at #ItalianFWT as we share many other Italian grapes around the world.

• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla: “Cheesy Bites, a Colorful Board, and a Barbera...from California”
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm: “Italian Grapes Grown Outside of Italy and Served Out of a Box? Che Diamine!!!”
• Andrea at The Quirky Cork: “Tuscany Meets Turkey with Chateau Murou Montepulciano Sangiovese”
• Marcia at Joy of Wine: “Exploring Italian Grape Varieties Down Under with Zonte's Footsteps”
• Jeff at foodwineclick: “Italian Grapes from Unti Vineyards at the Winter Grill”
• Martin at ENOFYLZ: “A Splendid Cal-Ital: 2016 Giornata Nebbiolo Luna Matta Vineyard”
• Terri at Our Good Life: “Italian Grapes in Lodi Paired with Grilled Salmon Tacos”
• Nicole at Somm’s Table: "2 Italian White Wine Blends Born in California"
• Gwendolyn at wine predator: “Italy in California: from Aglianico to Zinfandel” and “Italy in California: Nebbiolo from Humbolt's Terragena and Santa Barbara’s Silver”
• Susannah at avvinare: “Vermentino, A Star In and Out of Italy”
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass: “Native Italian grapes find a home in the land of Pinot Noir”

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*These wines were provided as samples, but opinions are always my own.