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News of Et Fille Wines Reviews of Our Wines 2007 Crush __________________________________________________ ThanksgivingWine Tasting Event November 28, 29, and 30 11:00 AM-5:00 PM 128 W. Main Street, Carlton, OR Joint Tasting with Barking Frog Please come to lovely Carlton where we will be joining Barking Frog at their tasting room for the Thanksgiving weekend. Try the Et Fille 2006 Elton Pinot Noir, 2006 Kalita Pinot Noir, 2006 Maresh Pinot Noir, 2007 Viognier Deux Vert, and 2007 Rosé. These single vineyard Pinot Noirs come from the Dundee Hills, Yamhill-Carlton, and Eola-Amity Hills AVAs. Join us to taste how these areas yield a diverse spectrum of flavors, aromas, and textures. __________________________________________________   Tasting of our 2006 Wines: On Dec. 1, 2007 we held our annual tasting of our previous vintage's wines. There was snow in the morning and a monsterous wind and rain storm in the afternoon, so we were particularly grateful to Friends of Et Fille who braved the elements to celebrate our 2006 release with us. As usual, a good time was had by all. Flowers from Hawaii and chocolates from Majestic Chocolate enhanced the atmosphere and the flavors. Imported labor from Hawaii, California, Bend, Gresham and Portland enhanced the good cheer. Flowers from Hawaii, arranged by Ikebana Instructor Mona Mozeico A day or two before the event, the Dec. 31 Wine Spectator came out along with ratings and a full page story on Et Fille. The large flowers in the background were arranged by Sensei Mozeico Now, if we are this particular about the glasses for the tastings, just think how we treat the wine - from grape to bottle. The operative idiom here is "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" The Portland Work Crew of Courtaney and Matt Morton Cindy Helbig of Barking Frog tries some Pinot Noir At the end of the day, the help crew goes to the cellar and samples the 2007s in barrels and drums (viognier) Dear friend Martha Samco can't wait for the viognier Courtaney Morton gets her turn, but mom is throwin' elbows for seconds 2007 Crush: We sourced fruit from Palmer Creek, Kalita, Blakeslee (new to us), Maresh, and Nicholas for Pinot Noir, and Deux Vert for Viognier in 2007. Our production went up by about 1/3. A challenging vintage, 2007 saw an inversion of the usual first and last two weeks of October. The rains came first, then the sunny weather. And did the rains come! Jim Maresh told us his rain gauge has 9" of rain for October, all in the first two weeks or so. Temperatures were cooler too, which helped to keep down the botrytis that might have accompanied the rain. The Maresh and Nicholas vineyards were fortunate enough to ripen just before the rains. The others all had higher acids, less sugar, and more water, creating several decision-making ordeals for winemakers. Fortunately, the flavors were fully ripe or very ripe in all cases. 2007 won't be a big year like 2006 or 2003. But it promises to showcase wines of complexity and restraint. More Burgundian, perhaps? It was a notable vintage for us in another way. For the first time, we had someone helping us during the entire time of insanity called crush. Dylan Benedict sorted fruit, punched down, sanitized barrels, helped rack, measured, cleaned, carried, conveyed, connected/disconnected, all the while with care, curiousity and competence. Well done, Dylan. Click here for additional photos of the 2007 Crush Waxing is Waning: The final touch after bottling has been applying the wax. With our 2006s, we have switched to capsules. With our 2005s, friends and family helped to apply the wax to the bottles as they came off the bottling line. With six people waxing simultaneously, we actually kept up with the bottling line. Here are some photos of the Wax On! Gang: