End Summer with a Crisp Kiss of Bliss: Crowley Willamette Valley Pinot Blanc 2013

Coastal Camping, Breathtaking Sunsets, Grilled Oysters and Crowley Wines 2013 Willamette Valley Pinot Blanc

Crowley 2013 Pinot Blanc – the perfect summer-at-the-beach wine with grilled oysters

If a person were to be described by a season, I am most certainly a late summer/early fall person.  I love Oregon’s late summer cerulean blue skies, cool breezy light winds, and miles of beaches where there’s no one else as far as the eye can see.  Each year, we spend the last week of summer in our trusty pop-up camper at our favorite coastal campground.  We book the same site every single year for many reasons; one of them being that the site’s fire pit is situated in a spot that has a view of the ocean like no where else in the world.  Each evening, while sitting fireside with a glass of wine and making s’mores with our two young boys, the sun sets out over the Pacific Ocean with breathtaking brilliance as the four of us watch in awed silence.  Witnessing the expressions on my boys’ faces as the sun lights up the sky in hues of pink, orange, yellow and red is just as satisfying as watching the sun dip slowly below the gloriously lit up horizon.

The view from our favorite beachside campground site

Several days before departing for our annual end-of-summer coastal camping trip, we set aside time to pack, collect firewood, plan meals and select wines that we know will pair well with seafood, sunsets and fireside down-time.  From Pinot Blancs to Pinot Noirs, wine is undeniably an essential highlight of every coastal camping vacation.

Home sweet home for our annual beach camping trip

A favorite campfire meal we enjoy each year is simply tossing freshly harvested oysters directly onto the grill grate of the firepit.  They remain on the grill until we start to see their juices bubble through the cracks, remove them with tongs, shuck them, then slip them out of the half shell onto a platter where melted butter with lemon, garlic and parsley gets drizzled all over them.  It has become a tradition that even the kids love. But for the adults, this meal is, without a doubt, the absolute favorite – simply because oysters are heavenly with select Oregon wines (especially Bruts from the Willamette Valley).  But this year, we tried something new, and it was a blissful pairing with the grilled oysters: Crowley Willamette Valley Pinot Blanc 2013.

Campfire grilled oysters

Super fragrant and alluring tropical aromas of orange zest, Key Lime Pie, lemon and pineapple were highlighted by papaya and star fruit.  The zesty, minerally entrance mellowed mid-palate, displaying an elegant mouthfeel, and then citrus fruits burst on the lengthy, beautifully well balanced finish.  The sweetness of the tropical fruits neutralized the saltiness of the oysters while the lovely, zippy acidity sliced through the greasiness of the melted butter – ending in a food and wine pairing that deserves a trophy.

Excited for dinner with a view

Crowley vs. Crowley

Quite often, when introduced to someone new here in Oregon, I’m asked, “Crowley? as in Crowley Wines? Are you the winemaker or related somehow?”  Although I share a last name with this revered Oregon winery, there is no relation there.  Ironically though, if I were to have a winery of my own, I’d be making wine very much like they do at Crowley Wines – our winemaking philosophies are nearly identical.

• Crowley Wines focuses on pure vintage-driven winemaking. <—> My favorite style of wines are pure vintage focused and earth-driven wines.
• The folks at Crowley Wines favor older clones of Chardonnay and the classic Wadenswil and Pommard Pinot Noir clones – due to their late ripening nature and acid retention. <—> I am what what many call an acid hound – I love wines with solid acidic backbones; for this reason, I  have always preferred the older clones of Chardonnay and I am head over heels for the classic Wadenswil and Pommard Pinot Noir clones. In tastings where I’m sampling multiple Oregon Pinot Noirs, I’m always amazed when I look back at my notes and find that the wines I rated highest are (approximately 9 out of 10 times) Pommard and Wadenswil.
• Crowley Wines prefer cooler, higher elevation sites <—> I prefer fruit from cooler, higher elevation sites because of the greater concentration of fruit and higher acidity.
• The family owned vineyards that Crowley Wines works with are committed to non-irrigated and low-impact farming <—> If I were a wine grower, I would have the same commitments.
• As noted on the Crowley wines website, “In the winery our highest priority is to create the most direct evidence of both vintage and place while making elegant and exciting wines. This means (wine geek alert!) minimal acid additions, no extraction enzyme, employing native yeasts, extended aging in mostly neutral oak and minimal fining or filtration. We value purity of expression over stylized wines and hold essential the belief that we cannot improve on nature.” <—> Again, this mirrors my philosophy – precisely.  I am a firm believer in expressing wine through its purest qualities and characters, and nature will do what it does best – year in, year out.  Even if it is sometimes a nail biter for winemakers.

Crowley Pinot Blanc 2013

It’s somewhat prodigious knowing that every sip I savored  from a bottle of Oregon wine that boasts a label bearing my last name, but to know that their wine producing philosophies wholly mimic mine, makes it all quite exceptional.

Visit crowleywines.com

A perfect summer break ending