Merry Christmas!

Enjoy the holiday with a glass of your favorite Torii Mor Wine!

Cheers!

The Torii Mor Team

Christmas in the Valley

Christmas in the Willamette Valley is a truly beautiful time of year. Driving through the hills (especially the Dundee Hills!) is a treat as most vineyards and wineries get into the spirit of the season. You'll see Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and special Christmas promotions! 

Another special event in the Willamette Valley is the Willamette Cares Food Share during the months of November and December. Until the end of the year, participating wineries (including Torii Mor!) are accepting food and monetary donations to support food banks in the area that help people in need. We'd love to have you participate! 

More information here.

Mulled Wine for the Holidays

The Christmas season means many things, but one thing the cold and festive holiday brings is an abundance of delicious warm beverages of all flavors and varieties. Today we're sharing a recipe for mulled wine that is sure to warm up any cold winter evening. 

Spiced Mulled Wine

Ingredients: 

1 bottle of full-bodied red wine (we recommend Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, or Merlot)

1 vanilla bean, slit down the middle

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise pods

2 cardamom pods

4 whole cloves

1 tsp ground nutmet

1/4 cup honey or white cane sugar

1 sliced orange OR 1/2 cranberry juice

1/4 brandy (optional)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a slow simmer. Let rest for about an hour. This recipe gets better with time, so don't worry about letting it sit on the stove all day! 

Cheers!

Alexis Truitt

Social Media and Marketing Assistant

Christmas Gift Guide 2016

Ah Christmas shopping. It can sometimes be hard to find the perfect gift, especially for the wine lovers in your life. We've narrowed down our top ten best gifts for your favorite wine lover...or for yourself.

1. Wine Pearls - $24.95

2. Wine Bites: 64 Simple Nibbles That Pair Perfectly with Wine - $15.91

3. Wine Tasting Flight - $64.82

4. Corksicle Air 4-1 Chiller, Aerator, Pourer, Stopper - $39.95

5. Hex Champagne Bucket - $260.00

6. Modular Wine Rack - $90.00

7. Wine Wars!: A Trivia Game - $22.95

Cheers!

Alexis Truitt

Social Media and Marketing Assistant

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Torii Mor. May your day be spent with your nearest and dearest and plenty of delicious food and gorgeous wine. 

Cheers!

The Team at Torii Mor

Red Wine Hot Chocolate

Temperatures have dropped and evenings spent curled up in front of the fire are now the norm. For today's blog post we have a quick recipe for a delicious evening indulgence: red wine hot chocolate.

All else that's required is a cozy fireplace. 

Red Wine Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

2 Cups 2% or whole milk or milk substitute of your choice (we recommend almond or soy, as these froth up the most!)

1/2 dark chocolate chips or a dark chocolate bar finely chopped

1 cup to 1 1/3 cup of red wine (use a fuller body wine, like a Cabernet or a Syrah)

Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Do not let it boil. Once the milk steams add the chocolate and stir until thoroughly combined. Stir in red wine to taste. Remove from heat and pour into mugs. Garnish with marshmallows and/or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Alexis Truitt

Social Media and Marketing Assistant 

Gift Guide Round Up

Can you believe it's getting to the holiday season? Before you know it, Christmas carols will be playing malls, we'll be bustling about finding gifts for our nearest and dearest, and we'll be planning our holiday soirees. 

Over the past year, we've published several wine-themed gift guides, so today we're sharing all of them with you here. Be prepared for ideas galore for gifts for your family, friends, and associates. Just click on the photo to be taken to the original blog post for all the details!

 

Cheers!

Alexis Truitt

Social Media and Marketing Assistant

Tasting Room Experiences

A trip through wine country is a precious experience. Not only do you get to taste fantastic wine, eat delicious food, and see an area of the world that is famed for its beauty, but you get a peek into the inner workings of the daily life of a winery. 

No matter which wine country you visit (especially here on the West Coast) you'll encounter a variety of tasting experiences. Here are a few of the most popular tasting experiences you can encounter in your journey through wine country. 

1. A stand-up tasting

This is the most common tasting experience you'll encounter in wine country. Most tasting rooms have a bar, where you'll stand during your tasting, chat with your server, and enjoy the wine. Most every winery offers this experience. It offers you the freedom to walk around the tasting room, stroll through the deck or patio (if there is one), and get photos with points of interest. These tasting fees are generally on the lower end of the spectrum, although some wineries will offer a "reserve" tasting of higher priced, upper-tier wines. 

2. An informal seated tasting

This sort of tasting is becoming more and more common. Similar to a restaurant environment, a host will seat you in the tasting room for your tasting. These are very similar to the stand-up tasting experience in that you can enjoy your flight, explore the tasting room and deck, but different in that you can relax at a table or in a comfy couch while you taste through your flight. The price point of these is generally the same as the stand-up tasting.

3. A formal seated tasting

Normally appointment only and slightly more expensive, these tastings offer you a more intimate experience. You get to taste through a special flight of wine and get the undivided attention of your server. We host these every Thanksgiving Weekend at our winery in Dundee and they're such a treat. Very often you'll get served a charcuterie board alongside your wine. 

4. A tour and tasting

Whether it's a tour of the vineyard, the winery and production facility, or all of the above, a tour and tasting is a premier experience. While enjoying the winery's wines, you also get an inside peek at the vineyard, production, and barrel rooms of the winery. Oftentimes, this experience will include barrel tastings and/or a charcuterie board to pair. Before you go, check the websites of the wineries you'll be visiting and see if they offer any special tours. They're the highest end tastings you can get, but the experience is well worth it. 

Regardless of what tasting experience you go for, your time in wine country will be full of memories you'll treasure. Be sure to take lots of pictures!

Cheers!

Alexis Truitt

Social Media and Marketing Assistant

2016 Harvest Update/Fall in the Vineyard

Every quarter we ask Jacques to write up an update on the state of the vineyard and the winery. Our fall update is always a treat because Jacques shares his reflection on harvest and crush and his hopes for the vintage! Read on for the insider scoop on the 2016 harvest at Torii Mor from the winemaker's perspective.

As expected, harvest had a very early start, we started seeing picking bins on trucks at the end of August, mostly for sparkling and the younger vines. At Torii Mor we stretched the start of harvest to September 7 when Hoy vineyard next to Rex Hill, reached 24 + brix with good flavors.

The cooler summer (compared to previous years) and the cool down at the end of August and early September allowed for great flavor development, the sugar came in high. The last Pinot Noir grapes came in on September 23rd with Kolb vineyard in the Dundee Hills. Olson Vineyard was picked on the 20th, and the Olson Chardonnay on the 29th, which was our last fruit for Torii Mor.

We have almost finished pressing the Pinot Noirs, a couple fermenters have slowed down and needed some heat and TLC, and they are on their way to be done in a few days. All the Pinot Noirs have great flavor, a cross between the jammy 2012 vintage and the fresher 2014 vintage.

The harvest crew is still active, starting the last step of harvest, cleaning all the equipment before putting it in storage until next harvest. It’s time to button up the winery for winter.

Cheers,

Jacques Tardy

Winemaker

Three Steps to Opening an Aged Wine

The holidays will be here before we know it and generally, holiday parties mean opening up those hidden gems we have in our cellars: old wines. Whether you've aged them yourself or bought them years after they were released, this post will help you through three steps to successfully open your precious aged wine. 

Step 1: Prepare

Ideally, the aged wine you want to open has been stored on its side in a cool, dark, humid environment for its whole life. If you bought a wine already aged, then you can bet it's been stored well. With an aged bottle you've just received, let it sit for a few weeks before opening it to let the sediment settle. 

When you've decided on your event at which you want to open your wine, stand your bottle upright to let the sediment sink to the bottom. How long you do this depends on how old your wine is: anywhere from a few hours to a month. If your wine is less than twenty years old a few hours or days should do the trick. If it's up to forty years old, let it stand for closer to a month.

Step 2: Open

When you're ready to open your wine, you have a few options. Make sure the liquid in the bottle is clear; you can do this by shining a light (like a bright flashlight or a candle) through the bottle. 

If your wine is under twenty years old you can still easily use a normal corkscrew with little trouble. If it's older, or you suspect the cork is degraded, use an Ah-So. This two-pronged gadget wiggles in between the cork and the bottle and gently lifts it out in one piece. 

If the cork gets pushed into the bottle whole or the cork crumbles into the bottle, don't panic. Your wine isn't ruined and there is still a way to enjoy your aged bottle. 

Step 3: Pour

Depending on the type of wine you're opening, a great way to separate the sediment from the rest of the liquid is to decant it. Gently pour your wine into a decanter, shining a flashlight or candle underneath the neck so you're able to stop pouring once sediment reaches the neck of the bottle. 

If you're enjoying a bottle of wine that is a less-tannic grape, it's advisable to not decant, as the extra oxygen could dilute flavors and cause the wine to flop. Old Burgundy are a good example of this. However, you can easily separate sediment from the wine without decanting. Strain the wine through unbleached cheesecloth if you have high amounts of cork crumbles or sediment, or it's a less tannic wine. 

What bottles are you hoping to open this holiday season? Let us know in the comments on Facebook! 

Cheers!