The barrel will be auctioned off at the Oregon Wine Experience Medal Dinner and Barrel Auction on August 19 at Bigham Knoll.

Robert’s artistic wine barrel embodies the story and history of the Ledger David Brand and will be on display at Harry & David in the weeks leading up to Oregon Wine Experience.

By Regina Vaccari with Additional Content by Event Organizers

You know he can cook. You know he can talk wine. But did you know that he is also a multi-talented artist?

It is for this reason that event organizers selected Robert Trottmann as one of just a handful of local artists commissioned to design a wine barrel for this year’s Oregon Wine Experience. Robert’s barrel is a true inspiration that embodies the story and history of the Ledger David brand.

Robert, who holds a Masters in Fine Arts (M.F.A.), uses unique painting and carving techniques in this utilitarian piece that represents ‘the pictorial narrative tradition’.

“By utilizing various images and symbols I hope to tell an open ended story,” Robert says. “While the images I utilize have special and important meaning personally, each viewer can and will bring their own associations, memories and understandings to the work. In doing so it is possible to have a more expansive content accessible to a wide audience.”

The barrel will be on display at Harry & David Country Village in Medford in the weeks leading up to the event. The one-of-a-kind barrel will then be auctioned off at a special Medal Celebration and Barrel Auction, Wednesday, August 19 at 6pm.

You can also join Robert and the Ledger David team at Oregon Wine University for Wine 101: How to Choose, Pair and Serve Wine. This interactive class, which takes place Thursday, August 20 at 1pm at Bigham Knoll in Jacksonville, takes attendees on a journey through a brief overview of wine sensory and evaluation, what’s behind the tasting notes, and simple methods to help you pair your go-to wine with your favorite foods. Course is $49 and includes logo wine glass, wine flight and sample food pairings. For more information or to register, visit www.theoregonwineexperience.com.

The Oregon Wine Experience is Oregon’s newest destination event. The entire week-long event will be held August 17 to 23 at Bigham Knoll in Jacksonville. Sponsored by the Asante Foundation and Southern Oregon wineries, this will be a spectacular week of extraordinary wines and fabulous meals served in a backdrop of some of the Northwest’s most dramatic and beautiful wine country.

The Oregon Wine Experience will showcase what many critics have called the next great wine region. It will feature wine talks, tastings and sensory classes, intimate vintner dinners, wine competition, and auctions crowned by an outdoor salmon bake with music and dancing under starlit skies.

Proceeds from the Oregon Wine Experience benefits Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) and other healthcare programs supported by Asante Foundation. Asante Foundation organizes community support for quality healthcare in Asante’s nine-county region serving over 600,000 people in Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon and Northern California. As a CMN designated hospital, Asante provides the highest level of pediatric care in the region.

The Oregon Wine Experience grew from World of Wine, an annual Southern Oregon Wine event started in 2002 by three local vintners, Cal Schmidt of Schmidt Family Vineyards, Lee Mankin of Carpenter Hill Vineyard, and Joe Ginet of Plaisance Ranch. In 2014, Asante joined the event.

For tickets and information, visit www.theoregonwineexperience.com or call 541-789-5025.

Oregon Wine Experience Schedule of Events

Wednesday, August 19
Medal Celebration & Barrel Auction
6 to 9 p.m. at Bigham Knoll, Jacksonville
Guests will get the opportunity to taste extraordinary wines directly from the barrel and then bid on those wines’ futures. Art auction also included.

Thursday & Friday, August 20 & 21
Ultimate Vintner Dinners
6 p.m. at Various Wineries in Southern Oregon
Enjoy an intimate, one-of-a-kind dinner with vintners as they open their homes, wineries, vineyards, and cellars to guests.

Saturday, August 22
Miracle Auction & Salmon Bake
4:30 to 10 p.m. at Bigham Knoll, Jacksonville
Serving the most important aspect of Pacific Northwest cuisine, fresh Pacific Salmon. Buffet includes beef and pork carving stations, an abundant selection of top-of-the season fresh produce, gourmet salads, and hand-crafted delectable desserts. Gold and Silver award-winning wines will accompany this amazing meal.

Miracle Auction featuring Live, Platinum and Silent Auctions is followed by music, dancing under the stars, and the opportunity to exchange stories and share more wine around the fire embers.

Sunday, August 23
Grand Tasting
2 to 5 p.m., Bigham Knoll, Jacksonville

Winemakers and owners from 50-plus wineries will showcase more than 100 of the best wines unique to the region. This event offers the ultimate wine tasting experience accompanied by an array of tasty food samples provided by local caterers and restaurants.

Monday through Friday, August 17-21
Oregon Wine University: Wine discovery series
Various times each day at Bigham Knoll in Jacksonville and at the Southern Oregon Wine Institute in the Umpqua Valley.

By Owners Lena Varner and David Traul

Never a dull moment. Seriously. The typical “busy-ness” of a family with small children, careers and the unyielding entrepreneurial spirit. Still, some experiences at Varner-Traul vineyards have been a bit unique even for country living. The recent visit of Uncle Donald (David’s brother), allowed us to gain this insight at the end of May as we reflected back to recent events.

A brief recap, perhaps? Starting with the addition of our youngest and first little girl, Hudson Jo, during harvest of 2014. Yes, October 17th. Near the end of harvest, and for us, almost a tradition following in the footsteps of her oldest brother Ledger, who was born during our first harvest in October 2009. Her first ride on a tractor, bundled up next to mommy at just a week old. Her first visit to the winery only a few days later.

Uncle Donald, David and baby girl Hudson Jo tour the vineyard.

Next, Petit Verdot, a stubborn grape came in last during the harvest of 2014. With our first vintage (2013) varietal being released this month, we have grown to love David’s few rows of this wine grape in our vineyard. A truly opulent wine.

Harvest ended abruptly after the red varietals were in as a black bear and her cub cleaned up several tons of late harvest white fruit (mainly Chenin Blanc). Luckily we had picked some Malvasia Bianca for our newest dessert wine production. Still those grand paw prints, and holes under the fence (large one for mother, small for baby) were amazing to see. Even more impressive the bears’ ability to devour rows of fruit overnight, without disturbing the vines, as polite as they were.

This spring, we noticed a momma bobcat and her kittens. The mother seen several times in our “wilderness” landscaped area, David noticed the pointed ears of a baby bobcat about 50 feet from our front door, sitting under a tree at sunset just a few weeks ago—what a sight!

Then the impromptu visit from Uncle Donald at the end of May. He was last here when Ledger was only a few months old. Of course, we spontaneously “cleared” the schedule. Taking Uncle Donald on our evening vineyard walks, feeding the neighbor’s rescue horses, introducing him to grilled Rogue Creamery cheese sandwiches and Viognier under the tree at the tasting room. Then ending the day with toddler wrestling, mini pool waterfights, and summer grilling.

Uncle Donald’s visit a treat? Yes. One of those impactful moments? Definitely. For the newest addition, Hudson Jo, the Traul boys, Ledger and Slater, and the proud mom (vineyard manager and tasting room owner)? Invigorating. The quiet moments shared between David and Donald, most likely spent remembering the vineyard and wine dreams with their father? A gift.

Thank you Uncle Donald & to our Ledger David Family.

Join Ledger David Cellars for our summer Primoris Wine Club pick up party June 19, 20 & 21 at Le Petit Tasting Room. Celebrate the new release of our 2013 Malbec. The premiere 2011 vintage of this exciting varietal took home a gold medal at the 2014 LA Int’l Wine Competition. Only 73 cases of this stellar 2013 vintage produced.

Other wine club selections include a pre-release of our popular Vouvray-style 2014 Primoris Chenin Blanc and our elegant 2012 Sangiovese. Enjoy these new wine releases with Latin-themed small bites paired with saucy sides.

Private Wine Club Hours: Fri & Sat | 5-8pm (RSVP Requested)
Regular Hours: Sun | Noon-5pm

BILLING INFO:
Please let us know if your billing information has changed. Call Heather Davis at (541) 664-2218 or email [email protected] and she would be delighted to update your payment information before processing your wine club order. For your convenience, you can also now update your credit information online with our secure wine club form.

WINE CLUB DISCOUNTS:
We will be processing orders on Monday, June 15. As a reminder, 3-bottle members receive a 15% discount, 6-bottle members 20% and 12-bottle members 25% discount on all wine club selections.

OTHER PICK UP OPTIONS:
If you are unable to join us during this event weekend, your wine club selections will be available after Monday, June 22 at the tasting room in Central Point (next to the Rogue Creamery) any time during regular hours.

By Kiley Evans, Winemaker

David and Kiley toured the wine barrels of Leonetti Cellar.

A relentless pursuit of quality. This mantra guides every winemaking activity at Ledger David Cellars. The pursuit of quality takes many different forms, as well. Scientific research, vineyard experiments, and cellar trials have merit in the pursuit, but the wisdom handed down from those with more experience has its place, as well. When that wisdom comes Gary Figgins, who planted the first commercial vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley and with his wife founded Leonetti Cellar as the first commercial winery in the Walla Walla Valley nearly 40 years ago, it takes on serious weight. Leonetti Cellar is a legendary vineyard and winery whose focus has always been on quality. Their exceptional wines, consistently reviewed and rated as among the very best in America, combined with a very limited supply creates an undeniable mystique, as evidenced by the 3+ year wait to get on their mailing list. While justly revered for monumental, collectible, impossible-to-get Cabernet Sauvignons, what many may not realize is that Mr. Figgins produces arguably the best, and most highly respected, Sangiovese on the planet that isn’t from Italy.

Owner David Traul and I had the great fortune to meet Gary and Vineyard Manager Jason Magnaghi recently and when the opportunity arises to sit with the Master and his benchmark wines one seizes the chance to take proper objective measure of one’s efforts. We tasted the Ledger David Sangiovese from multiple vintages. The comments were encouraging (deep, ripe, effusive fruits with great weight and acid/tannin balance). We also were fortunate to taste the Leonetti 2005 and 2010. Both were beyond impressive for their balance, integration, presence, and personality. Trying to choose between the two would be an exercise in futility as they were so different, yet so utterly delicious.

We toured the winery, cellar, bottling room, and barrel cave. We discussed, among other topics, all things Sangiovese from trellising to crop loads to fermentation to blending to aging. The questions, answers, and discussions were lively and the wealth of knowledge offered was astounding. What we learned is that we are doing quite a few things right in the vineyard and winery. Our crop loads are in line for the variety when considering our spacing and site. Solid vineyard management. Our wines are showing a good balance of fruit, oak, and spice with the variety’s typical dustiness. The intensity and concentration are there. Varietal character? Check. What we also learned is that there are some areas of experimentation we should explore that could have potentially huge impact on wine textural quality, length, and longevity. No, we’re not going to spell it all out in this short blog post, but trust us when we say the bar is about to get raised…again.

By Regina Vaccari

Calling all fine cheese and wine lovers! Kick off spring with Ledger David this weekend at Le Petit Tasting Room in Central Point as we celebrate the 11th Annual Oregon Cheese Festival. It’s always a busy, fun time during this annual event, held this year at the Rogue Creamery, Saturday, March 14 from 10am-5pm. To complete their culinary experience, event attendees make it a tradition to stop at the Artisan Corridor’s neighboring wine and chocolate shops. That’s where we come in!

We’ll be open from noon-5pm to greet you with a selection of your favorite wines paired with warm tomato soup and clam chowder, and fresh baked bread. Don’t miss live music from local artists from 1-4pm. If you’re heading over to the big tent at the Creamery, stop by and see David & Deanna!

Ledger David is honored to have been selected as one of four wineries featured at the pre-event Cheese Maker Dinner the night prior to the festival, on Friday, March 13. Our 2011 Orion’s Nebula is being paired with Braised Kurobuta Pork Cheeks with a Bing Cherry Infused Pan Jus, Fresh Mozzarella (Face Rock Creamery Curds), Grilled Ciabatta, Arugula & Hazelnut Oil.

We stopped to talk to event organizers about the event. We found out that Southern Oregon (actually Central Point) is the birthplace of the Oregon Cheese Guild, which was founded in 2006. Rogue Creamery was the site of the first Oregon Cheese Guild Benefit Dinner and the first Oregon Cheese Festival.

The event features a unique menu, an opportunity to learn about some of the finest cheese in Oregon directly from the cheesemakers (OSU Creamery, Face Rock Creamery, Ancient Heritage & Fern’s Edge Goat Dairy) as well as an opportunity to learn about Oregon wines from the winemakers. All event proceeds benefit the Oregon Cheese Guild.

For more info, visit www.oregoncheeseguild.org.

Cheers!