I was out on this glorious day looking for some wine. Not just any wine would do. These are wines to celebrate the life of my mother, Gloria Pederson who died Monday afternoon. She lived to be 93 years old, and died peacefully surrounded by four of her five sons. I'm headed up for a family celebration, and there is no way we could celebrate my mother's life without some wine! But where to go, which wines would be appropriate?
The first stop was easy. My mother loved the wines of
Coeur de Terre Vineyard. She was always interested to hear about my experiences of participating in harvest there. I'd brought her up to the vineyard on several occasions. Today, Jacques, the tasting room manager, had a few 2007 Oregon Pinot Noirs on hand so I got a few of those, and a few of their Late Harvest Rieslings. (I also grabbed a couple of the 2011 Estate Pinot Noirs, but those are for the cellar to be enjoyed later.)
My next stop was pretty easy as well. My mom loved
Maysara Winery, and I think took her up there more often than any other winery. My got to meet and talk with the three sisters who run the place. I had the pleasure of talking with Hanna today. I had heard a rumor that they had a few bottles of their 2007 3 Degrees Pinot Noir still available. The 2011 sold out, so they found a few cases of the 2007 to sell in the tasting room. 2007 was a vintage which was panned by the critics, but I am loving these wines more than almost any other. They are doing magical things in the bottle. 3 Degrees is the wine that these three young women are making under their own label. It features wine made from Momtazi Vineyard estate Pinot Noir grapes at a very attractive price. I felt a bit bad because I followed the two same young women from Coeur de Terre to Maysara. It was as though I was stalking them, but they were great sports about it.
I actually made one stop before these two vineyards. The first winery I thought of when I thought of my mom was
Remy Wines right here in town. There are several reasons for that. First of all my mom liked larger red wines. I think Remy's Sangiovese is one of my favorite non-Pinot reds which is created locally. You can tell by the photo below that Remy's tasting room is located in an actual wine production facility. The tasting room sometimes has to be the wine storage area. Remy is a great wine maker, and a good small business owner. In that way she reminds me of my mom. For years my mom owned and operated a small gift shop in Parkland, Washington called, Gloria's Scandinavian Gifts. She knew what it was to run a small business--all the many hats that you must wear to keep things going. She also harbored plans to take of the gift shop of the Tacoma Lutheran Retirement Community, but was never quite able to pull off the coup.
Our church held a worship service at Remy's for a period of time. I also held my book release party there. I'm sure it wouldn't be appropriate to hold my mom's memorial service there, but it's a thought. It would be appropriate to stand around and eat some wonderful food, drink some beautiful wines and share some stories. Laughter would be included. There is no way to remember my mom without wine and laughter. I am my mother's son.
