Oregon is one of my favourite places in the world. I’ve been several times and always want to go back. From camping in the mountains, soaking in the hot springs, fly fishing the rivers (still bucket list), and touring the vineyards, it’s an outdoors paradise. Then you have Portland, one of the coolest cities in North America with a restaurant scene second to none which is conveniently located 1 hour north the Willamette Valley wine country…Oregon’s biggest gem and the epicentre of American Pinot Noir. And one of my favourite wineries is in a unique position of having one foot in both worlds: Division Wine Company. Division is an urban winery, based in the hip South East neighbourhood of Portland but they work with a who’s-who list of what could be considered ‘Grand Cru’ vineyards from all around Oregon. And as a special feature this week, I’ll have the man himself, Tom Monroe, a.k.a. Winestache, co-founder and co-winemaker of Division Wine Company on the Saturday Zoom with me, live from Portland to chat about Oregon and guide you through a tasting of their wines.

As usual, you just need to pick up any of their wines and you can join the virtual tasting for free. This week we have a variety of ways for you to get the wines, with all the individual bottles available at the Byward Wine Market in Ottawa, several of them at Pan Chancho in Kingston, or a special new mixed 4-pack directly from Lifford. See details at the bottom of the email.

DIVISION WINE COMPANY

I first met Tom on my initial trip to Oregon in 2013. While in Portland after touring the Willamette Valley, I happened across the Southeast Wine Collective just off the Division Street strip. It was new urban winery and wine bar that housed several startup wine labels that were making very interesting, small lot, low-intervention wine. Owned by Thomas Monroe and Kate Norris who had been living in France and making wine between Loire, Beaujolais, Burgundy, and Rhone then decided to set up shop in Oregon. The collective housed 5 or 6 labels, as well as Division Wine Company, their own label. I met Tom when I arrived, we chatted, toured their facility, and tasted bottles and barrels for a couple of hours. The wines were outstanding, but as a newer winery they had nothing to sell us for export to Ontario. We exchanged contacts and kept in touch, but I just chalked it up to a fun little surprise after a boozy brunch around the corner on Division. Fast forward to 2017 when I happened to be in Portland again and I reached out to see if I could visit—hoping they had enough wine to sell us in Ontario. Tom was away but I met with his partner Kate and tasted through their lineup. They had went from great upstart label to a top-tier producer in just a handful of years, and they were also game to starting working with us and by shipping small allocations to Ontario!

Division doesn’t own any vineyards themselves, but they have long-term contracts with some of the very best vineyards in Oregon. And they only work with pesticide-free, organic or biodynamic vineyards, making wine in a natural, low-intervention way. But don’t expect something super funky or experimental of the natural wine movement, they are still making classic Loire and Burgundy inspired wines (and Piedmonte inspired with the Nebbiolo), but they all have a complex raw edge that makes them so beautiful and interesting. These wines have impressed even the most serious of my Oregon and New Zealand Pinot Noir clients and they continue to push the envelope and evolve past the standard Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris staples. Since Tom and Kate’s time in France they’ve had a great love of Gamay, Cabernet Franc, and Côt, which they are producing in a way that is expanding the conversation about what works well in Oregon’s terroir. Tom has even sought out some old vine Nebbiolo from across the river in Washington that he’s made into his “Nightshade” label which produced an floral and elegant style Nebbiolo reminiscent of Barbaresco or Gattinara.

Kate Norris and Tom Monroe of Division Wine.

On top of all this they’re the nicest, fun-loving folks who had the greatest winery dog, RIP Butch Cassidy aka Cass. Tom and Kate have both visited Ottawa several times, had dinner parties with clients at my house, and hopped around to many of our favourite Ottawa restaurants. Looking forward to hosting them back in the Capital once Covid is over, but for now we’ll have to settle for a Zoom tasting with Tom and this nice selection of their wines. To make things a bit easier this week, we’ve created a mixed 4pack of these wines from Lifford directly for $189.19. This includes 1 bottle each of Chardonnay ‘Un’ 2019, Pinot Noir ‘Un’ 2019, Gamay ‘Lutte’ 2019, and ‘Béton’ 2019. Please email me directly if you’re interested in the mixed 4pack. Orders for these must be in before 9am Tuesday for Kingston deliveries, and before 9am Wednesday for Ottawa deliveries. Otherwise these individual bottles are available at the Byward Wine Market in Ottawa and Pan Chancho in Kingston. These 2019 vintages are brand new, so I haven’t been able to taste them yet, but here’s my tasting notes and memories of previous years. You can click each for a link to their own notes on their website.

DIVISION, CHARDONNAY ‘UN’
$50 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho, $44.99 x6 from Lifford Wines
It’s no secret I love a really great minerally Chardonnay. And their Chardonnay ‘Un’ always delivers that. But something you don’t see as often is that added bit of complexity called reduction. It’s this little hint of elegant funk that’s sometime referred to as flinty matchstick, or struck match, etc. Too much reduction can be seen as a flaw, but a little bit is so nice and is seen in some of the best most famous Burgundies. And some are famous for their measured use of it, like Coshe-Dury. I’m not suggesting that Division is an Orgeon Coshe, but they’ve got the vibes that hint toward that style with this outstanding Chardonnay that hits all the notes of vibrant green apple, baked pear, wet stone minerality, acacia and that flinty gun smoke reduction. Very much looking forward to trying the new 2019’s.

DIVISION, PINOT NOIR ‘UN’
$50 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho, $44.99 x6 from Lifford Wines
The Pinot and Chardonnay are called ‘Un’ because it’s their first wine, the main representation of their style with a mix of vineyards from across the Willamette Valley. A blend of the whole region they work with. They also have higher-end Deux, Trois, Quatre labels of old single vineyards. But this Pinot Noir ‘Un’ for example blends together a bunch of what could be considered Grand Cru Oregon vineyards like Temperance Hill and Eola-Springs. This is a Pinot Noir with some pedigree. It’s made with a slight fruit forward style, with bright cherries interwoven with classic earth and Oregon terroir. It’s a natural wine masquerading as a refined classic Burgundy-esque Pinot.

DIVISION, GAMAY ‘LUTTE’ 2019
$50 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho, $44.99 x6 from Lifford Wines
This is a newer Gamay to their lineup, a bit more classic and structured in style than their “Nouveau” and “Les Petits Fers” which are on the juicier and funkier side of Gamay. Here’s their online tasting notes:

“exuberant, sappy and lithe on the palate! The wine has a nice depth in color and texture with notes of white pepper, ripe strawberries and raspberries, and a splash of high-toned energy. Brimful of Old World charm, we believe this wine will be a no-brainer any lover of Gamay (or anyone looking to get into it!)”

Béton, and it’s Paris Metro-inspired label, for all the similar Loire Valley wines they drank across the city.

DIVISION, ‘BÉTON’ 2019
$50 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho, $44.99 x6 from Lifford Wines
This cuvee is a tribute to the quaff-able red blends of the Loire Valley. It’s Cabernet Franc (55%), Gamay Noir (16%), Pinot Noir (13%) ,Côt (11%) & Syrah (5%). They’ve been making this wine since nearly the beginning in 2010 or 11 and is further to their exploration of what does well in Oregon. The Cab Franc and Syrah come from the Applegate Valley AVA in the very south of Oregon, close to the California border. A little warmer there, thus the Cabernet Franc, Côt, and Syrah, which is blended with the Pinot Noir, Gamay from the Willamette in the north. Côt, in case you’ve never had, is sometimes known as Loire Malbec. It’s from the Loire valley and is genetically the same as Malbec, but lighter and fresher in style. A very cool varietal to explore on its own, and adds an interesting nuance to this blend. Here’s their notes on it:

“the wine is spry, but with plenty of depth and darkness. The aromatics scream Cabernet Franc with violet floral overtones, graphite and red currants. The pallet is juicy, clean, fruity, but balanced with Cab Franc notes of pepper and fall leaves, stewed pie cherries, nutmeg and clove. We love the elegance and focus the earthy, mineral notes, contrasting with the red berry fruits, and are truly ecstatic for this vintage!”

Nighshade Nebbiolo paired perfectly with some Lasagna and Caesar Salad at home last fall.

BONUS WINE!
DIVISION, ‘NIGHTSHADE’ NEBBIOLO 2017
$89 per bottle at Byward Wine Market
This bottle is sold out at Lifford and there are just a few bottles remaining at the Byward Wine Market. If you’re at all interested in Nebbiolo (Barolo, Barbaresco, Gattinara) I’d highly recommend grabbing a bottle of this super cool Washington version, made by Division in Oregon. Tom is a huge Nebbiolo lover and always wanted to see if a top level domestic version was even possible, as it has always seemed to be a variety that only seems to work well in Piedmont. The wine comes from the original 1996 plantings of Nebbiolo on the famed Ciel du Cheval Vineyard on Red Mountain in the Columbia Valley. He consulted with a few of his favourite winemakers in Barbaresco for advice and used their notes and comments as a primer for how to approach Nebbiolo. It was aged for 18 months in older Austrian and French oak barrels and then aged in stainless for two months before bottling. It turned out great with an elegance that reminds more of Barbaresco or Gattinara than a powerful Barolo and looks like will nice nicely with some age.

If you’re interested in joining myself and Tom Monroe for Saturday’s tasting, please let me know ASAP if you’d like the Lifford mixed packs. OTTAWA DEADLINE is 9am Wednesday morning and KINGSTON DEADLINE is 9am Tuesday morning for the mixed 4pack from Lifford. Otherwise individual bottles of all 5 will be available at the Byward Wine Market, and the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay ‘Un’ will be available at Pan Chancho in Kingston. Then just email me that you’d like to join the tasting!

Tom and Kate amidst blending trials in the winery.

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The Byward Wine Market is fully open for in person shopping, as well as online orders offering curbside pickup or local delivery within Ottawa. And just a reminder that the order deadline for Friday case deliveries is Wednesday at 9:00am. Reach out if you have any questions, and check out the archive of past FEATURES if you’re interested in other recommendations. Lastly, please feel free to forward this to anyone in Ontario who may be interested in home wine delivery and follow us on Instagram for daily wine content at @bywardwinemarket and @capitalwine.ottawa!