'living the dream'

If I had a dollar every time I heard folks say you guys are 'living the dream' I'd be able to plant vineyard and fence the back 40 : ) ... but at some point you just have to pause and think damn this is pretty darn good what we have going here.. yeah lots of work etc etc.. but at the end of the day the wine, food, art and farming life suits us just fine... as very well said in this very nice article written by Tiffany Stevens - thank you Tiffany!

the article 'living the dream'

Love this photo she took of Brian a rare site of him with one of my horses! : )

Come visit us and get your Big Table Farm Wines!!

Join us November 25-27, 2011 for the 29th annual Wine Country Thanksgiving event.

11am - 5pm If you are in the area the Thanksgiving weekend, come out and visit Big Table Farm!

We are excited to introduce you to our newly released wines. Clare will be showing new paintings as well. Please use our web site for directions to the farm.



Seems like this fall everything has happened just in its right time, from the weather during harvest to fermentations and finding mushrooms.

In keeping with that the Riesling and resonance have come together just in time for the big Thanksgiving Wine Weekend . We held these two wines back from our fall release as they were just not quite ready. They have come together beautifully and are ready to enjoy, of course, if you cellar these wines they will mature even more. We are excited to share this year's Resonance; it's quite elegant and the Riesling is beautiful with great acidity like last year. 2010 was a cooler year producing elegant, lower alcohol wines.


The 2010 Pinot Noir Resonance Vineyard was fermented with native yeasts, 75% whole clusters, and aged sur lie in 30% new French oak for 10 months. The aromatics display brambles, cola and red fruit with vanilla and oak. The mid palate is sweet with licorice, spice and brown sugar. This wine has balanced acidity that carries the wine through to a long finish. The label on this wine is a grown up version of last year's new-born calf illustration.

The 2010 Riesling Brooks Estate Vineyard features a drawing of a chanterelle gathered last year from our woods. This wine is barrel-fermented in neutral oak, fermented completely dry, and aged sur lie with batonage for 10 months before bottling without fining or filtration. Aromas of white flowers, hints of caramel, toasted almonds and lemon greet you, and transitions into a mid palate of lemon along with a rich coating mouth feel. The smooth-texture is nicely balanced with a bright acidity and spice. This wine was not cold stabilized which means, if you leave it in the fridge too long, tartrates (a harmless sediment) will form creating 'wine diamonds' -please take note.

Despite some initial fears about the 2011 harvest, the fruit came in perfectly ripe from our beautifully farmed vineyards. The Resonance vineyard has proven itself yet again this year as a stellar site with the fruit coming into the winery at 24.5 brix; not too shabby for a 'lean year'.
This harvest was punctuated by a wonderful harvest meal here at the farm.



It was a small 'thank you' to our amazing cellar crew and volunteers who helped this harvest season go beautifully. The meal featured the bounty of our farm along with porcini mushrooms, fresh picked just an hour before from our woods - look for these porcini on next year's Riesling label.

Finally, right on time just as the last ferments got rolling, Robert Parker's "The Wine Advocate" scores for our '09's came out giving us a nice little boost as we went into the final week of winery work. We are grateful for the scores we received:

Riesling 91pts 

Cattrall Brothers Pinot Noir 93pts

Resonance Pinot Noir 92pts

Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 92pts

Thanks for all the interest in the 2009's; yes, they are sold out but this is your chance to get the 2010 wines. That way when they hopefully start to get attention you can know yours are tucked safely in your cellar..

you can click here to order wine if you can't make it for the big weekend!

MIX the Oreogonain's food magazine printed a beautiful spread!!

Thank you Danielle and MIX Magazine!!

Click to read about an epic dinner here at the farm with some of Portland's best chefs!!!

Thanks gentleman - for making it so amazing!!!!

click here to read the whole story!!

photos by Clare Carver and Taylor Schefstrom

BIG GIANT Thanks go to our friends aka collaborators !!
I love you guys!!!

John G for the pasta, for flying up for the meal and for being YOU!
Chris DiMinno of Clyde Common
Rebecca and David Padberg of Park Kitchen
Jason French of Ned Ludd
Lester and Sara - 'the glutan free cowgirl'
Matt and Angie - Love and Squalor Wine
Kurt and Natalie of Beaux Freres and Lemelson
Johanna and Laura for the flowers!
Chris and Amy of Square Peg Farm

Big Thanks and some new wine reviews!!!

Wow!! Memorial day weekend was awesome - so many fabulous wine lovers came to the farm and took home wine we had our best weekend ever both from number of folks visiting and sales! Thanks so much to all!!!

Special thanks go to our friends that helped get ready and keep things humming all weekend!- Amber, Laura and Sarah you guys are the BEST!!!!

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Also we got some rockin' reviews and scores form Gary Vaynerchuk !! thanks Gary!!

2009 Big Table Farm - Willamette Valley - Pinot Noir - 90 Points

Gary's tasting notes

Top soil, dirt... we're talking straight up earth aromas are what hit you right on the nose. I mean, really heavy, heavy soil components. A little musty mushroom, and a touch of a potato popping out of the ground on the nose. On the palate, this wine really shows its pedigree. Fresh and vibrant, weaving subtle cranberry and black raspberry fruit with an intriguing creamy mushroom soup flavor. The structure and finish is long, strong and persistent. Look for this wine to last another 10 years but drink happily now while pairing with Terrine Au Foie Gras.

2008 Big Table Farm - White Hawk Vineyard - Syrah - 90 Points

Gary's tasting notes

Smokey burnt cedar and cigar box aromas are met by ripe raspberry and chocolate covered strawberry on the nose. Elegant red fruit is surrounded by coconut and leather flavors on the palate. While those flavors are interesting, it's the balance of this wine and the overall structure that make it a real treat. Look for this wine to last another 10+ years, and it will pair tremendously with everything from sophisticated pigeon dishes, down to simple BBQ ribs. Many of Cali's Syrah producers should take a good, hard look at this wine because they're making Syrah slightly more interesting again... dare I say, even a hint of Northern Rhone character despite its sweet, new world fruit.

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In farm news the new baby calf is doing GREAT we named him jessie -

La Weekly!

Big Thanks to Jenn Garbee a writer for the LA Weekly this is a link to her article

Big Table Farm: From Pigs to Prosciutto + Really Great Pinot Noir

Nicely written Jenn thank you!!

the Prince

The 'prince of pinot' is Rusty Gaffney and he writes a very well regarded pinot only newsletter called the PinotFile and he has written some very nice reviews of our wines over the last year and he has just included us in his end of year "All American" list these are his top eleven wines (ten producers) coming out of Oregon in 2010!! Big Thanks again to Rusty!

Once again very grateful to be recognized for our work and most importantly we hope you are enjoying the wines!!! here's to more great wines in 2011...

http://www.princeofpinot.com/article/1001/

Big Table Farm Resonance Vineyard Yamhill-Carlton District Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 94 cases, $45 Rich, deep, brooding dark red fruits with a savory underpinning of chanterelle mushrooms, loamy earth and cardamom spice. This wine has impressive intensity on the mid palate, a pillowy texture, and a finish like a three hour movie you don’t want to end. Still a little closed, seemingly possessing more hidden charm waiting to get out. Cellar this wine for at least two years for ultimate gratification. Love the low alcohol (13.1%). A very heavenly and sensual pleasure.

the other wineries in the top 10 line up!! congrats to everyone!!

Antica Terra

Carabella

Lange Estate

Laura Volkman

Lenné Estate

Privé Vineyard le nord

Shea Wine Cellars

St. Innocent White Rose

White Rose Estate

puppies, ponies, pigs and prince of pinot in that order

Went caroling around our small town saturday wit duane and the girls good times!




We slaughtered our fall pigs and de-haired meme which is always a process... but the procuitto is worth it!



This was a rainbow the morning of slaughter...


The Prince of Pinot gave us some very nice reviews in his latest issue abotu which we are quite pleased!!

Here's a link to the full article and write up on the 'prince of pinot's' web site

2009 Big Table Farm Cattrall Brothers Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

13.7% alc, 100 cases, $45. Label features a grape delivery truck owned by the Cattrall Brothers, a 1947 Ford. From the oldest certified organic vineyard in Oregon, planted in the 1970s. Unfined and unfiltered. · Moderately light reddish-purple color in the glass. Lovely aromas of cherries, strawberries, red roses and sandalwood. Delicate but tasty core of red fruits with strawberry flavor at the forefront and toasty oak and baking spices adding interest in the background. A charming wine with admirable balance that is drinking nicely now. Very Good.

2009 Big Table Farm Resonance Vineyard Yamhill-Carlton District Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

14.8% alc., 190 cases, $48. Label sports picture of Haley the cow with first calf born at Big Table Farm spring 2010. Pommard, Wädenswil and Dijon 777 clones. Fermented with natural yeast, some pigeage, and aged sur lie in French oak. Unfined and unfiltered. · Moderately deep garnet hue in the glass. Boisterous and alluring aromas of dark, rich Pinot fruits that just won’t quit. Delicious attack of dark berry jam with ever changing additional layers of flavor that include anise, lavender and Asian spice. This is a wine of discovery, revealing more interest with each sip. The tannins are reigned in making for approachability now and the succulent fruit is hard to resist, but this wine will get better with cellaring. Fabulous goût de terroir.

Other people's blogs : )

This past Thanksgiving weekend was so much fun we had such amazing, fun, interesting people come out... It was GREAT - I guess when you live this far down the gravel road it weeds out folks that don't have a little "Chutzpah" and a good sence of adventure especially when they see my hand made wooden sign and and pull into the drive way of a farm looking for wine...

Here are some fun posts from other folks' blogs that wrote about the weekend ... It was fun to read an account other than mine I hope you enjoy it too.. it's also fun to see other peoples photos they are also always different from my perspective....

Panther Creek Cottage Blog

Running Towards Eden Blog

Chasing The Tarahumara Blog

this blog post is not specifically about t-day weekend but is a WONDERFUL story about Big Table Farm written by one of my favorite foodie blog writers Kathleen Bauer of the Good Stuff Northwest Blog

oh and speaking of other people taking photos and in the spirit of other peoples input to this blog post ... here's some photos from our new friend Gabriel who helped us this weekend...

come share thanksgiving weekend at the farm...

We'd love to see you this weekend ... as would the cows.

Friday Saturday & Sunday 11 - 5pm

This Thanksgiving weekend we are celebrating the 2010 harvest, all the wines being in barrel and some great reviews and press that came our way this fall.



there's a great winery map here
and directions to the farm are on our web site





All our current releases will be available to taste. This is one of only two weekends in the year when you can come out to the farm without an appointment and taste the wines and take some home for the holidays. Brian will have the smoker fired up and we will be pairing the wines with his irresistible fresh smoked pork belly, homemade bread and an assortment of beautiful cheese.








hope to see you this weekend - Clare and Brian



Here's a snipit of just some of the reviews out there.. I've posted more press and reviews on our web site...

94 points - Robert Parker's The Wine Advocates Oct 2010 - 2008 Pinot Noir - Resonance Vineyard

94 Points and Top 100 Wines of the year - Nov 2010 – Wine and Spirits - Wine and Spirits names it's picks for top 100 wines internationally for 2010 -- yup Big Table Farm Pinot Noir !! not bad company .... Williams Selyem, Flowers, Evening Land...

93 points - Robert Parker's The Wine Advocates Oct 2010 - 2008 Pinot Noir - Willamette Valley

94 Points and Best Buy - Oct 2010– Wine and Spirits Big Table Farm Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

The Pinot File - "truly exceptional"- Pinot Geek Icon

The San Francisco Chronicle - (one of 13 wines chosen out of 80 Oregon Pinot Noirs)

The Oregonian - Nov '10 - 2009 Big Table Farm Brooks Vineyard Riesling - "One of the best white releases I've tasted from Oregon is this bottle of bone-dry Riesling from Big Table Farm."

The 2008's are all sold out but the 2009's are beautiful and now's the time to get them before they're gone - For those of you on this list that live out of town of course you can order wines and we can ship them to you.