Weisinger’s Winning Wines

Eric Weisinger

You may know of the Weisinger Family Winery as this Rogue Valley Appellation of Southern Oregon has won numerous prestigious awards from the San Francisco Chronicle – double gold for their 2017 Tempranillo and 2019 Sauvignon Blanc. Wine Enthusiast gave them 91 points for their 2018 Tempranillo! Eric Weisinger is a second generation winemaker and is truly humble and passionate about winemaking.

I had the opportunity to taste their wines during a couple of occasions as a Rogue Valley pre-conference attendee from the 2021 Wine Media conference. Weisinger was one of our gracious sponsors.

2018 Tempranillo chocolate pairing

My first sip of the winning 2018 Tempranillo yielded nice juicy rich fruit with medium acidity.  This was a fabulous pairing with a sampling of Scharffen Berger 70% bittersweet chocolate.

Gewürtztraminer – Orange Wine

When our group had an opportunity to visit the vineyard, we started by tasting the 2019 Gewürztraminer. These grapes were planted in 1978 and are all self rooting and dry farmed – which is amazing during these warmer climes. Ponds during winter, and possible 12 foot deep ground water may help here! This is a gem of an Orange wine that will be available to the consumer November 2021. Delightful and fresh, It was a hit, and a bottle came home with me!

This winery location is in the lower Rogue Valley, in Bear Creek Valley which is 2000 feet above sea level.  The property is surrounded by the Siskiyou and Cascade Mountains that create a rain shadow making it drier than other areas in Southern Oregon. Even if it’s 100 degrees during the day it cools down to 60 degrees at night for a diurnal effect, which helps to maintain the acidity of the wines.  Many different types of grapes can be grown here due to this microclimate and soil variety.

The range of wines offered by this winery is impressive.   The 2019 Viognier is Barrel fermented that helps to preserve the fresh acidity. Nice melon and honeysuckle notes with a rich texture.

The 2020 Roussanne is interesting as this grape stands alone versus usually being blended with other grapes. This rich wine was slightly floral, reminded me of lemon curd with medium acidity. I purchased a bottle of this to enjoy with my wine media colleagues at a party, and these wine aficionados were disappointed when the bottle was finished.

We also sampled the 2018 Grenache which is another star in this valley. This grape does well on the higher elevation. Cherry on the nose with strawberry/raspberry pepper on the palate.

The 2017 Mourvèdre had some nice acid with a touch of savory and strawberry tart.

The 2018 Malbec is an Inky blackberry colour with a hint of licorice and spice on the palate. Soft tannins and nice balance.

I enjoyed all the wines here and I suggest you take a trip to the Rogue Valley to visit the winery. If you can’t make it out there, then I hope you can experience tasting these wines at home! Let me know how you like the wines!

 

 

 

2 Comments

I’m a fan of Eric Weisinger and his wines and approach to winemaking as well as vineyard management. I sat down with him recently for an interview that I’m looking to sharing soon.

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