Stoller Family Estates Pinot Noir and Summer Squash Salad
Wine pairing Weekend Assignment: Volcanic Soils. In Oregon the state soil, jory, is a volcanic soil. Finding a wine from volcanic soil – easy. Narrowing it down is another story.
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| Jory Soil Sitting Tall |
We decided on Stoller Family Estate 2013 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir. Dundee Hills AVA is often referred to as the “Red Hills of Dundee” because of the reddish volcanic soil. Stoller’s 337 acre property with 195 acres planted to vine is the largest contiguous vineyard in the Dundee Hills.
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| “Red” Jory Soils photo courtesy of Enobytes Wine Online |
We visited Stoller to help celebrate their 20 year anniversary. Bill Stoller shared wines from his own collection and lunch was catered by Nick’s Italian Cafe in McMinnville. Our favorite dish was a summer squash and bread salad topped with a poached egg. We tried to figure out the recipe and then just called Nick’s on the off chance they would share it. And they did! Well sort of. A list of ingredients without measurements and vague instructions involving a wood oven – which we don’t have. Oddly the person we spoke with asked not to be named. Did we get a secret recipe?
Matters not because our version tasted 100% different from Nick’s. It was still awesome and a great use for a bumper crop of squash. We will make it again and again.
We asked the team at Stoller which of their wines truly represented the jory soils of Dundee Hills and was widely distributed across the US. This estate wine from Stoller boasts fresh red fruit flavors and a bit of spice. Jory soil is known to produce Pinot noir with cherry and raspberry flavors, often black pepper spice, and elegant acid and tannin structure. An all estate Pinot noir from Dundee Hills is a steal at $30 and if you live in one of the few states without distribution you can order it online from Stoller.
The 2013 vintage in the Willamette Valley is known as a “winemaker’s vintage.” A perfect spring and summer pointed to a high yield, ripe fruit repeat of 2012. A deluge of rain came in the 3rd week of September. Some winemakers picked early while some took their chances on ripeness over rot. In the end the skill of the winemaker was crucial to coaxing the best out of 2013 fruit.
It may seem strange to pair a red wine with this salad. Indeed, we believe this dish could go with a wide range of acid driven wines with full fruit profiles – Gamay, unoaked Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, etc.. When we tasted the original dish it was paired expertly with a range of red wines from the 1980’s and 1990’s and we considered our pairing a success.
- 1½ cups sweet onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cups zucchini or yellow squash, ½ inch slices
- 2 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme
- 2 cups day old baguette in 1 inch chunks
- 2 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 Tbs. butter
- 1½ cups heirloom tomatoes, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbs. olive oil - We like Oregon Olive Mill
- ½ tsp. salt
- pepper to taste
- 2 farm fresh eggs
- Coat pan with olive oil and heat until oil shimmers. Toss onion in oil and spread across pan to caramelize. (Cook over low heat. After 10 minutes sprinkle with ¼ tsp salt. Continue to cook until onion is golden brown -approx 25 more minutes. Stir sparingly only to prevent sticking.) Once caramelized remove to large bowl. While onion caramelizes pan saute squash with parsley and thyme in olive oil in a separate pan until toasted but still firm. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove to a bowl. Brown chopped bacon in pan, remove with slotted spoon, set bacon aside. Melt 1 Tbs butter in pan with bacon drippings and gently salt the pan. Saute smashed garlic clove in butter until fragrant and remove. Toss bread in butter until toasted. Remove from pan and set aside. While bread toasts make vinaigrette (instructions below). Poach two eggs and remove to bowl of heated water.
- Puree tomatoes in blender. Add oil, vinegar, ¼ tsp each salt and pepper.
- Toss bread, bacon, onions, and squash. Divide into two serving bowls. Top with poached egg and vinaigrette.
- Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm will share #WinePW presents Volcanic Wine and Food Pairings
- Christy, the Culinary Diva, at Confessions of a Culinary Diva is posting Coastal Cuisine meets Volcanic Wines
- David at Cooking Chat paired Volcanic Cab, Potatoes and Beef
- Here at Culinary Adventure with Camilla you’ll find Wines from Scorched Terroir Around the Globe
- Sarah of Curious Cuisiniere wrote Australian Style Grilled Shrimp and Not So VolcanicAustralian Wine
- Lori at Dracaena Wines titled her post From the Ashes a Terroir Shall be Woken #WinePW
- Martin at ENOFYLZ Wine Blog gives us A Taste of Greece: Grilled Branzini with Ladolemono Paired with Hatzidakis Assyrtiko
- Jeff from foodwineclick thinks that Goats and Volcanoes are an Earthly Match
- Erin at Platings and Pairings whipped up some Pork Chops with Cherry Sauce
- Nancy at Pull that Cork made some Arancini Paired with Etna Rosso for #winePW
- Michelle at Rockin Red Blog is writing about Volcanic Wine: Erupting with Flavor
- Jade at Tasting Pour shared State Soil, Stoller Wine, and a Secret Recipe? #winepw
- Jennifer at Vino Travels went with a Sicilian volcanic wine pairing: Pasta Alla Norma with Nerello Mascalese
Thanks for joining in the #winePW #scorchedterroir fun, Jade! What a great pairing!!
I love the idea of this salad and how lucky are you to be able to celebrate with the winemakers private selection!! Can you see me turning green here?
What a unique pairing! We'll have to keep an eye out for Stoller here in WI.
Can't go wrong with Dundee Hill AVA Pinot Noirs. Stoller's sounds delicious. Love your salad too!
We love Pinot – I'll have to put this on our to try list, I don't think we have tried this one before. The salad sounds fantastic also! Cheers!
Jade, your salad looks great. We love Nick's Italian Cafe, and I'll bet their version is pretty good, too. We don't get Stoller here in Minneapolis, but we'll be sure to add them to our list for our next trip to the Willamette Valley.
Looks like a great pairing Jade. You've reminded me that (unfortunately) it's been too long since I've had Oregon Pinot Noir. I'll have to look for Stoller.
I am a fan of Oregon pinot noirs, but I just dont have enough of them. I enjoy lighter food pairings with wines that we sometimes forget about.
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Thank you for your kinds words.