A New Generation of Oregon Winemakers
Cody Wright & Matt Giannone's
Purple Hands
Also- Ken Wright's Only Blended Pinot noir - Roads End 05

Oregon's wine industry has launched a second generation of young winemakers. Joining them this month are Cody Wright (son of Ken Wright) and Matt Giannone. Both in their '20's, they founded "Purple Hands" Winery with zest, style, and youthful enthusiasm. Based on the quality of the Purple Hands wine, Cody's father, Ken Wright, clearly taught Cody a thing or two growing up around Ken Wright Cellars.

Purple Hands is "a creation between two young wine makers to begin a winery and make wine that is not about pretentiousness or class, but all about the spirit of making wine."

Purple Hands Red Wine $17.05/$18.95
Purple Hands' first wine, is a rollicking, fun red wine full of juicy and approachable flavors and scents. It's mostly Merlot from Southern Oregon's Del Rio Vineyard, with 5% Southern Oregon Pinot noir added for a touch of interesting spice. Drink this wine now through 2008 and just enjoy it. It's well made, balanced, and appealing, and shows a high level of winemaking skill, no matter the age of the winemaker, but particularly impressive for two guys just starting out.

Why "Purple Hands"?

Explaining the origin of the winery's name, Cody describes the time of year when everyone's hands (and much else of their clothes and bodies) are purple from the juice of the grape. He recalls it as a special time, describing the experience of walking into a store, a restaurant, a winery supply warehouse, seeing other people with purple hands, and recognizing their common experience in the harvest process.

Purple Hands is about connecting with the grape and its environment. It's about handcrafted wine, handpicked grapes, hand work as the wine is made, and a hands-on relationship to the vineyard, the vine, and the wine. Cody and Matt have a deep awareness of the environment in which the grapes are grown, and of the way their relationship to the wine grows in the process of picking and sorting the grapes, of handling, pressing, and working with the pressed grapes and juice during fermentation, and in choosing the blend and completing the process with bottling and labels.

Welcome Cody (at left, above) and Matt to the Oregon wine scene. We look forward to big things from these promising newcomers. Read more about Purple Hands Winery.

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Ken Wright's only "Blended" Pinot noir:
Roads End 05

As long as we're writing about the Wright family today, here's another wine worth more than a mention.

Carlton Cellars "Roads End" Pinot noir 05 $40.46/$44.95
is the one "blended" Pinot noir made by Cody's Dad, Ken Wright. All of the wines made under the Ken Wright Cellars name are single vineyard wines. Ken started making Roads End for his friend Dave Grooters in 2001. It's a blend of wine from Canary Hill, Nysa, and McCrone Vineyards, names you're familiar with if you know Ken's wines. The 2005 vintage was just released.

Amy, our new Customer Service Manager, (and holder of a Diploma from Le Cordon Bleu), says about the 2005 Roads End:

"Like picking blackberries on a summer day after it has rained. So lush and full of summer goodness with a silky mouthfeel and well integrated tannins. I found this to be truly lovely and my favorite of the wines I have tasted (which is pretty extensive) this year.

Mellow and slightly sweet shallots sauteed in fresh butter and deglazed with a little marionberry jam or port reduction over a rich piece of tenderloin with baked fingerling potatoes would be my pick of food to pair with the Roads End 05. "

Marcus, Avalon's General Manager, says:

"Lush and dark from the start. Loads of rich blackberry and hints of raspberry entwine with a floral medley of violet and subtle rose petal. The texture is so soft and round with the silkiest tannins. Then, a bright and juicy streak explodes before hints of toasty spice and gobs more luscious blackberry sail on the finish. A yummy, yummy Pinot."

And I say:

Color: Gorgeous deep, lush, glowing garnet- unusually worth mentioning
Scent: At first whiff, a lovely scent of sweet fat blackberries in my backyard on a hot summer day -very lush blackberry scent, with hints of raspberry and a spicy perfume. There's also a fondly nostalgic hint of the scent of Ken Wright's winery- a particularly appealing melange of oak and fruit.
Flavors: The silkiness of the mouth feel is the first thing noticed, then the flavors of juicy blackberry, juicy black raspberry, and hints of dark violets emerge, with totally integrated tannins anchoring the fruit flavors and adding weight to the wine.
Finish: Long, reflecting the flavors of berries, sweet pie spices, violets, and lifting the palate with vibrant, refreshing acidity that in no way diminishes the lushness of the texture and flavors.
Aging: Drinking beautifully now, but ageable for 4-5 years or longer.
Highly recommended for quality and value.

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We're available by phone at 541-752-7418
from 8 AM Pacific time until 5 PM Pacific time,
Monday through Saturday, and we answer email on Sundays.
Thanks for your support - we appreciate your orders and your suggestions.

Our customers always give us our best ideas!
Jean, Amy, Kevin, and Wendy, and Marcus

Avalon Wine
201 SW 2nd Street
Corvallis OR 97333
541-752-7418
www.avalonwine.com
store@avalonwine.com

Jean Yates
Owner
jean@avalonwine.com
541-424-8004 (direct line)

Amy Paul
Customer Service
store@avalonwine.com
541-752-7418

Wendy Brown
Accounting
wendy@avalonwine.com
541-752-7418

Kevin Hanscom
Shipping Manager
store@avalonwine.com
541-752-7418

Marcus is on vacation until Thursday afternoon
Marcus Looze
General Manager, VP Sales & Marketing
marcus@avalonwine.com
541-752-7418

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