Ben Stien is a Genius with Metal

We have a new-old railing over the top of the stairs that go to the basement of our house. Some people call it the large space under our house a basement, I call it a wine cellar and the future home of the Vicar's Vault (where you can rent your own wine storage!) My friend, Ben Stein created the railing for me. I purchased some used railing at Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage. They have an amazing assortment of used items, and at a fraction of the price of the stores in Portland. It's a funky, fun place to visit. But the railing didn't look anything like this when I purchased it.

First of all it was in two pieces. Ben had to cut up the pieces and then add the larger three inch posts in between them to make the railing long enough. He then added the trim pieces to the top of each post. Finally he had to fabricate the bottom half circle section so that the railing was tall enough to pass modern code. The fact that you can't tell what Ben did to make this piece work is a testament to Ben's skill as a metal worker.

In Ben's other job he works as a millwright at Cascade Steel Rolling Mills. What that means is that Ben is responsible for making sure that everything keeps working. If it's broken he fixes it. If they don't have the part to fix it, he manufactures it on the spot. Ben is a genius at seeing the solution to a problem. I've gone with him to Mexico to build houses with Amour Ministries. I always dislike being on Ben's sight because they always give him the most challenging location--the one with insurmountable problems. I've seen Ben stand and look at a big problem for about ten to fifteen seconds, and then, presto-chango he's come up with the solution.
(To the right is Ben's beautiful wife, Liz helping to pick up the railing from the painters.)

When Ben delivered the railing my next door neighbor was admiring Ben's trailer (after he admired the railing of course.) "Where did you buy that?" He asked. "Buy?" Ben asked. No, he made it. He has jigs for the trailer so that he can carry up to five canoes at one time.

As we were unloading the railing Ben knew exactly how to lift it and carry it over. At one point he looked down at the railing and said, OK, let's lift here. "Why here?" I asked. It turns out Ben had put a mark on the railing to indicate the balance point, so if you're standing at that point, half the weight is on one side of you and half on the other. Those are the kinds of details that make Ben amazing at what he does. If you have a chance, come by and look at the railing. It is spectacular!

Bottling Before Harvest

There are crazy times in a winery. By far the craziest is harvest, but it is closely followed by the process of getting the wine into bottles. I really like to see the winery in full scale production. I tried to sneak into Maysara today to return the plates and forks that I'd stolen (inadvertently) when we did the Habitat Fundraiser up there. Tahmiene Momtazi, the winemaker was up to her armpits in hoses and equipment, but still took the time to say hello, and answer some questions about the process. In this picture they are bottling their 3 Degrees Pinot Noir label. All of the hoses are running down a long hallway, and then connected to a truck which actually bottles the wine. There are companies that do nothing but go from winery to winery and bottle their wines. Another company supplies the bottles for the process. Another has responsibility for the labels, and yet another for the closures for the wine (in the case of Maysara, aluminum screw tops.)

All of these things have to come together at the same time for the process to work effectively. There is a time crunch, because as you are finishing up the bottling process, the harvest is sneaking up right behind you. Most smaller wineries do not have enough room to store last year's wine and this years. They have to get last year's into the bottle, and then get the bottles off to storage. By the way, in our area the vast majority of that storage is provided by Catholic Monks who converted from book binding to wine storage at an amazingly blessed time.

For the starting wines in the line up Tahmiene simply pumps them from the oak barrels into the stainless steel tanks and then out the hall way to the bottling truck. For the most expensive wines they will do the impossible--raise the full barrels up to the top of the gigantic stainless steel tanks and gently load one by one. It's gentler on the wine, but can be treacherous for the winemaker. Tahmiene had been run over by a falling wine barrel during a recent bottling and all she could think to do was try and save the wine! She was having a heck of a day when we were up there. First the bottling truck had to reschedule, then the closures didn't arrive on time, then she was run over by a barrel. Tahmiene had a friend point out to her that it was always the bottling of the red wines that got her in trouble, never the whites. Not sure what to make of that.

Still, she looked a lot better than her dad. Moe had recently had a beam fall on his little finger and smash it. As a woodworker, it's the kind of accident that I have nightmares about. Sometimes I'll wake up from the middle of a dream frantically pulling my hands out from some machine or other. I like my hands, and I'd like to keep them attached to my body. So I'm sending prayers of healing to Moe and to Tahmiene this week. They are making such beautiful wines in an eccologically sustainable way and that is wonderful. So I hope they are kept safe from harm (or more harm anyway.)

If you want to see me cut off something or other, I'll be working down at Wednesday Wines this Saturday afternoon showing different way to use old wine barrels to make craft projects. At least if these barrels fall on me, they're empty.

Two New Additions At Wednesday Wines

I'm minding the shop which is a really dangerous situation. I can't believe my partners have left me alone in a wine shop with no one to supervise me. So . . . I've just opened a great new wine (new to us, it's been around for a while.) It's Siman Hackett Old Vine Granache. I've ususally tasted Grenache in a red blend. This unique wine from Australia is wonderful. The first aromas are of ripe plumbs and rich dark fruit. There is an earthy background with currents and black pepper. The taste is beautifully balanced and surprisingly long lived for a $15 bottle of wine. I bought a case after the first tasting.

Andrea of Abbie and Oliver's also has a brand new cheese that is amazing. It's called Cynthian from Fairview Farms in Dallas, Oregon. It's a raw goat's milk cheese with local herbs infused into the cheese. I haven't seen this creamery before, and I love their product. They are also the first goat dairy in Oregon with the "Animal Welfare Approved" certification for the humane treatment of goats. The cheese is a fairly hard white cheese with a sweet herby finish. It pairs up great with the Old Vine Grenache.

My friend, Tim Christensen said that I had to start reviewing more wines on my blog, so here you go. We have a few perenial favorites at the shop. Here are a few for you to try:

Cycles Gladiator '07 Central Coast Syrah--Beautiful, fruit forward, well balanced red wine at $9!

Canyon's Edge Winery Horse Heaven Hills Sagebrush Red--the best value you'll see from the now famous Horse Heaven Hills. At $10 a great mid week red wine.

Pascual Toso '07 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Mendoza, Argentina. We can not keep this wine in the shop. $12 a bottle, well balanced, beautiful fruit. If it was made in California the price would have to move over one spot to the three figure range.

Concannon '06 Central Coast Petite Sirah. I felt as though I'd passed my "Wines of the World" class final when my professor, Bob Sogge came into the shop and said this was one of his favorite wines. We love the big bold taste of this wine, and with a $14 price tage enjoy it on the weekends.

And for whites:

Montinore Estate '07 Almost Dry Riesling--I don't know how these guys are making an estate grown, organic Riesling for only $10, but I'm glad they do. Very nice fruit forward flavor. It has a very nice touch of sweet fruit and is perfect for a hot summer evening.

Sol et Soleil '07 Pinot Gris--Very small production of a wine made in McMinnville. Nice mineral notes and dry fruit. $16 and worth it.

Maysara '08 Roseena Pinot Noir Rose. Maysara recently won an international award for this wine. Dry and crisp with beautiful structure. $16 and buy it quickly, it will be gone soon (at least this one will!)

There, a list of wines for you to check out. If you can come by the shop it's easy, if you live somewhere else, the California wines are going to be easy to find, the others you may have to look for, or request from your favorite wine merchant.