Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Come out to the farm this weekend!




We are OPEN only two weekends a year to the public and this coming weekend is one of them

Come see us from 11am to 5pm - May 29th-31st

Big Table Farm
26851 NW Williams Canyon Road
Gaston 97119
503-662-3129

www.bigtablefarm.com

We will feature our new release wines the 2007 Syrah, 2009 Rosé

We will sample only a few bottles of the last few cases of the '08 pinot that we held out especially for this weekend... these are three bottles per person and will most likely go quickly.

The wines will be paired with pork belly fresh out of our smoker and home made bread. We Look forward to seeing you out at the farm! Cheers! Clare and Brian



A few recent reviews of our Rose -

This was the letter that went out From Jay at the Tasting room a few weeks back when he tried the rose... It was super nice write up - Thanks again Jay!

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I am still blow away.
I just consumed the best Rosé I have ever had.

Sure, you are thinking, who cares? Well, YOU should care. Not many are aware but Rosé wines, when made from the start, intentionally as Rosés, is the best juice there is, BAR NONE!

Rosé is the nectar of the grape. It is the pure essence of whichever grape you may be pressing, or not pressing at all, as perhaps you just letting the free-run flow as the grapes are processed. It is as unadulterated as wine can be. And really, isn’t that what we are after?

This is what the bees are after.

This is what the wild turkeys are looking for and this is what the fox is looking for in Aesop's fable:

One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."
It is easy to despise what you cannot get.
This Rosé might be a wine you cannot get as there were less than 100 cases made. With summer just around the corner, this is what you want to have available all summer long for not only your private times, but also for sharing with friends. This is a wine that works well alone or with any kind of meal. I highly recommend ordering at least one case per household. You WILL go through it that fast and here is why:

The nose is of fresh flowers and clean hot “just out of the drier” bed linens. The memory of the hot bed linens combines with the initial attack causing you to salivate from the sides of your mouth and then it escalates into gobs of Comice pear, ripe Mirabelle plums and lush wild strawberries. The mouth-feel is round and all due to fermentation techniques and not due to any residual sugar as this Rosé is bone dry. The finish has a stony flinty quality that is beautiful and clean like a high-elevation trout stream with clearly visible stones all along the bed of the river. You need to drink this wine to experience how great wine can be, Rosé or otherwise.

You might be a European Rosé fan and I am too. Those wines have been my favorite until today. I love the Rosés from Provence as well as Sancerre with their crispness. This wine has it as well, but is has something else. It has pure soul. Soul is becoming harder and harder to find in wines these days. If you want some soul, stock up.


---------------------------
This is what Darryl at Cork said -


Clare and Brian at Big Table Farm really have a good thing going. She draws the labels, he makes the wine, the two of them run a working farm in between all of the wine fun and they still find time and energy to run all over town tasting us folks in the trade on their latest creations. I'm not sure how they do it, but I sure am glad to be in on the latest releases.

This Pinot Noir Rosé really stands out from the current crowd of Oregon releases. A few winemakers are now turning to producing rosé from grapes picked just for this purpose, pressing them off and getting a lightness and aromatic quality that is making interesting wines. Others are doing saignée only, where they bleed the juice off of a red wine fermenter before there is too much time on the skins, resulting in the lighter color but giving a lot more body that you might want on, say, a 90 degree day. Brian has decided to combine both methods, using about 30% pressed Pinot grapes and the rest from saignée. He's also sourced the fruit from the Cattrall Vineyard, the first organically certified vineyard in Oregon with a long history of producing quality Pinot grapes.

The result is mouthwatering. Watermelon and cherry dance together and there's a hint of cotton candy in there, but the wine is in no way sweet. Just full of fruit and, served ice cold, a real refreshing way to kick off any party. Plus, with the laughing pig on the label, how can your guests not break out in a smile when you show them what they've been drinking.

As with all of the Big Table Farm wines, there production is tiny and supply is very limited. They made 100 cases of rosé and only a handful of places in Portland will get any, so if you like their wines, like their labels, need a great gift, love rosé and want to try it - any of these reasons, we suggest you hit the reply button quickly and secure some for yourself. We've got a case or so at each shop now and can reorder next week but after that, I have a feeling this will be gone.
Limit 1 per customer, subject to availability.


Monday, May 24, 2010

1800 lbs of recycled paper pulp

I got to help with the last step in the process of insulating the attic after literally months of work on Brian's part - The final 'blow in' was quite frankly was icing the cake.. He's been up in the attic for months!! -

First he cleaned out all the old 'crap' and loose attempts at insulation with things like newspaper and packing peanuts I'm thinking the r-value on Styrofoam peanuts is pretty low! that was like 100 trips up and down for that part alone.

then he prepped it with blocking so the Air Crete guys could blow in the expanding foam in the eaves and managed that process... my office is now a hell of lot quieter as well as warmer from that alone...

then there was a whole host of things that had to happen BEFORE the insulation went in: re-wiring, replacing the upstairs fixtures and switches, installing a hardwired fire alarm system, a new bath room fan and whole house fan with vents AND a sprinkler system.

When he finished ALL that there was the 14" wood plywood forms up there to block the insulation away from said fans openings and create the space for it to go.

It makes me exhausted just re-counting it.... This project ended up having SO much more infrastructure work than I ever imagined... and that Brian he dosen't ever do any thing half way... so the final day of 72 bags of insulation and the blower spraying the paper into the awaiting little walls I'm sure had to have felt good for him... it did for me and I didn't do any of the work...

So here's to a warmer house this winter!!! - and cooler in the summer too!!

Thank you Brian - the warm wife

Monday, May 17, 2010

Art opening This Saturday



This Saturday May 22nd

The Tasting Room in Carlton

will be hosting an art opening of my most recent work
from 5-7pm

I'll be showing oils and silver point drawings -

This will be a nice evening of art and wine.
The Tasting Room will be pouring Swine Wine along side of the PRE-RELEASE of EIEIO & Company 2008 Cuvee E Pinot noir.
There will also be some nice pre-release opportunity's on these wines.

For those of out of state, the work will be up for your viewing all year long and will be changing on a regular basis as the paintings are sold and hung in the new owners homes.

So come out out to Carlton and check out what is happening. We look forward to seeing you all here.

Thanks again for your continued support.




Sunday, May 16, 2010

crazy sweet

Our Friend Laura (who has been 'workin' the boys with me for a while now) came out Saturday to help around the farm she helped spread compost in the garden and was generally a good sport as we hooked up the tiller, moved plants etc etc... but even more exciting and to our absolute delight she surprised us with an amazing gift! she made us this!!!





yup she MADE it hand made just for us complete with little viewing windows in the back and he he even our logo !! Laura is a beekeeper and woodworker she has built many bee hives and even helped us to find the best spot for it on our place and 'install' it!! so incredibly sweet she baited it for us so if we are lucky a swarm will move in and if not we will keep our eyes and ears out for a swarm!! so exciting to think we may have bees this season!!! THANK YOU LAURA!!!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Fellow Farmers

Chris and Amy of Square Peg Farm - I love these guys - went over to their farm yesterday and took these photos... they have some of the best pork and veggies around - if you can't get my pork buy it from Chris!!! and Amy's veggies are the best you'll find!

http://www.squarepegfarm.com/















Thursday, May 13, 2010

one reason I live here!



I went to visit my friends Chris and Amy - at there farm (I'll post those photos next) and saw this on the way there!! it's the 'crimson' and they call it that for a reason...I may have to go back over with brushes!!

Monday, May 10, 2010

little trouble maker already!



well she's healthy nursing and doing great! - BUT ... She did give us a bit of a fright... we got home from pouring wine all day today and she and momma where outside the fence but luckily near by the pasture... so we put her back and kept and eye out - doing a little training to the hot fence... we thought we'd made progress so we put here in the cow shed in a nice bed of straw and watched her for a bit and then figured she was down for the evening (its about 9pm at this point and I've still got work to do and have been at a wine event all day... so went up to my desk and Brian went out to check about 15 min later ... he came back in and said the baby was missing!! and we hear coyotes!! NOT good so we went out with flash lights tromping all over nothing... abotu 15 min in of tromping all over hell and gone hearts racing we decided to let momma out to see if perhaps she could help find baby... momma called a bunch and then jsut stood near by the pasture not really making any noise - we keep searching ... then I look over at momma and think humm why is she so stock still I go over and sure enough 12 feet from the fence hidden in the tall grass right where we had walked several times with our lights right under mommas nose was the little trouble maker!! -- whew!! so we put them back in the shed and put a gate to lock them in for overnight... we'll let her out in the morning when we can keep a close eye and do a bit more training on the fence.... sleep well little heifer...


It's a GIRL!!!

more later today with photos - Josephine had a little baby heifer calf this morning at 9:45!!! her name is Mary B. !!!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

If you live in Portland!!



Come out and taste the newly released Big Table Farm Syrah and so many other great wines at The Sixth Annual Portland Indie Wine Festival is a delicious experience that pairs wine lovers with the Northwest’s top 40 artisinal wineries in the heart of Portland.

This year’s Grand Tasting will showcase 40 jury-selected, Oregon craft wineries and 15 of Portland’s creative culinary talents in an intimate farmer’s market-style setting. General Admission tickets are $75/person and include one tasting glass, festival passport and access to pours from all wineries and food from all featured restaurants.

The Portland Indie Wine Festival is your only chance to meet these off the map wineries all at once.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Grand Tasting Event
2:00 - 6:00 PM
Bison Building
419 NE 10th Avenue
Portland, OR 97232

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Introducing our 2007 Syrah and the 2009 Laughing Pig Rose




Dear friends and wine enthusiasts,


Thank you for your continued interest and enjoyment of our Big Table Farm wines. Thanks to you, the ’06 Syrah and ’07 Rosé sold out quickly. The ‘08 Pinots are also sold out except for the last few cases that will be available at our Memorial Day weekend event.


We are very excited to announce the release of our 2007 Syrah from the White Hawk Vineyard . This wine, like the ’06 is made with some whole cluster, all natural fermentations and aged sur lie. As usual, Brian uses a very hands off winemaking style that really let’s the vineyard speak through the wine. The 2007 vintage in California has already garnered huge accolades and this vineyard has proven to be no different. When the grapes came into the winery they had a notably beautiful aroma even as just fruit. This wine enjoyed a little longer élevage to really give the tannins a chance to soften and the structure of the wine to fill out. We expect this wine to age gracefully for years to come.


In addition to the Syrah we are also releasing our Pinot Noir Rosé. The ‘09 Rosé fruit was sourced from the Cattrall Vineyard, farmed by good friends and very respected organic growers in our region. This is the oldest certified organic vineyard in Oregon, we are excited about the red wine we made from this site as well. Like the ’07 Rosé, the ‘09 Rosé is barrel fermented to dryness, completed malolatic and aged sur lie until the day before it was bottled. If you liked the last Laughing pig we think you’ll love this one even more!


The labels on the Syrah, like our pinots, were made by hand using a letterpress and thick printmaking paper, hand cut and glued on each bottle. While very labor-intensive, this makes for an elegant package that not only befits its contents but also produces less waste than traditional label printing. This year’s Syrah features one of our pigs in another form as one of Brian’s farm cured hams. As many of you know our label designs reflect the food we enjoy here on the farm and the animals that make it possible. With baby cows this spring who knows what the fall labels will hold.



You can click here for the order form. We will be shipping the wine in May. We also invite you to come out to the farm to pick up your wine and feed an apple to a pig!


Once again, thank you for your interest in our wines – you are welcome visit the farm to taste by appointment, or just visit our web site and blog to keep in touch with the goings on at the farm and with the wines. We’re even on Facebook.


Cheers from our table to yours,

Clare Carver and Brian Marcy



Sunday, May 2, 2010

snapshots of the weekend!



I'm to delirious, happy and tired to write much but an amazing weekend --- And as always deeply grateful to Duane, Sara, Julia and so many others who where part of this weekend with me and the boys!! (the photos are by Julia and Joseph)




Lisa who I deeply admire!


Duane with his team! to whom I'm forever grateful!




the beautiful double tree Duane made for me!!!


Julia taking the boys with the clod buster


Day 2 when we worked down the plowed ground


getting a little sage advise






miss sara who did some beautiful plowing!! and in a dress... what a woman!



thank you hummer as always a rock star!!

and after plowing we kicked around and had some fun with the boys!!










a great weekend!