Newsletter


Story Teller Wine Company
I loved living in Seattle in the 1980s. My wife was finishing her PhD at the University of Washington and I was having fun in the espresso, newspaper and magazine business at Bulldog News. One of our favorite things to do was to drive out to Sand Point to walk the trails through the wildlife refuge on the shore of Lake Washington. We particularly liked to hang out at this very strange metal statue in the middle of the park because it had a bunch of holes drilled in it so that it would make eerily melodic sounds when the wind blew though the park. But after about a year we started to notice a group of fairly intense and scary looking guys hanging out at the park. There were no cell phones in those days and the area is pretty isolated, so we pretty much stopped hanging out at Sand Point. One day I was walking to work at Bulldog News in the U-District and I turned a corner and there they were. The Sand Point hooligans, And they had some poor middle-aged guy surrounded in a menacing circle. I was trying to figure out whether or not to yell for help or run and all of a sudden they began to whip their long hair up and down while yelling “lame, lame” at the top of their lungs. As their heads were down to knee level I recognized their victim. It was John Keister, the host of Almost Live, a Seattle comedy program that regularly beat Saturday Night Live in the ratings. Turns out it wasn’t a mugging, they were shooting a bit for the show called “What’s Weak This Week.” And the hooligans we had been so wary of? Kim Thayil and the rest of the fine young men who made up the legendary Seattle band, Soundgarden. They had named themselves after our favorite Seattle statue. Those were heady days to be living in Seattle, surrounded by Doc Martens, Pendleton wool and something outsiders were calling “grunge.” There were great bands putting on great shows in every little dive bar, cafe, student union and record store you could name. But there was nothing better than walking down a street at night and hearing the distinctive wail of Chris Cornell’s voice blasting out of the dank catacombs of some club like a cheetah on crank. My wife and I were always pretty much broke in those beautiful days so we never got to see Soundgarden as much as we would have liked. We just figured they would always be around. Then we moved away to Washington D.C. and shortly after that Soundgarden broke up. Their breakup definitely left a musical hole in my life. Soundgarden was the yin to my Pearl Jam yang. So imagine my great delight when I read a few days ago that Chris Cornell and the boys have decided to reunite in 2010. There will be a new album, a tour and I am finally back in balance. By now you must be wondering what this has to do with wine, no? 2007 Bergstrom Wines Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir (65.00 at the winery…but see below!) Style wise, Josh Bergstrom’s Pinot Noirs are the Soundgarden of the Willamette Valley. A wall of flavors that don’t ask your palate for permission to be liked, they just launch a blitzkrieg to which you dreamily surrender. They are, just like Soundgarden’s second album, louder than love. When that album came out somebody at the Rolling Stone reviewed it and called the sound “dark, murky and buzzing.” A lot of people out there think Bergstrom wines represent the dark side of the valley, with their big, full throttle wines that are big on body and flavor. Good vintages, bad vintages, it doesn’t matter: you can count on Bergstrom wines to be big and rich wines that will provide optimal pleasure the moment you pop the cork. I never apologize for being a Soundgarden fan and I also enjoy classical music and jazz. So don’t be confused by the fact that I enjoy Bergstrom Pinot Noirs as much as I enjoy Eyrie or Evesham Wood. I will not allow dogma to prevent me from enjoying all spectrums of wine or music. Different moments and circumstances often require different inputs, both aural and oral. This particular Bergstrom Pinot Noir is made with fruit from the legendary Shea Vineyard. Grapes from this vineyard are highly sought after and a few years ago Wine Enthusiast Magazine placed it on a short list of American vineyards they considered worthy of “grand cru” status. Josh says he is now receiving fruit from five different clonal blocks within Shea Vineyard’s East Hill and that the 2007 vintage was the first time he could blend them all together. He also says the 2007 is pretty much his favorite Bergstrom Shea ever! Evidently wine critics agree as the 2007 Bergstrom Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir garnered some of Oregon’s highest scores in recent rounds of reviews, including 93 points from The Wine Advocate. But I just like it because it’s fun. The nose on the Bergstrom Shea is nice and intense, with fruit aromas that are as dark as Chris Cornell’s hair. To go along with all that dark cherry and black raspberry fruit, there are some equally heady notes of wet rocks, cellar floor dirt and a bit of toasted oak spice. The first sniff is like hearing the initial guitar chords from Rusty Cage for the very first time. It starts slow, but it is interesting. It’s like nothing you’ve heard or smelled before in quite that combination. Then it quickly builds to a throbbing crescendo and you are hooked for the big amusement park ride. The palate is a continuation of the same theme, with gobs of dark, dark raspberries and cherries to go along with fresh earth and brown spices. The word “plush” comes to mind with every sip. The 2007 Bergstrom Shea has that nice, elevated acidity the vintage year is so known for but there is a lot of tannic structure here as well. Josh says this version of his Shea is built to last, perhaps as long as 2020 if stored properly. And folks, this wine is in balance. Sure, there is a lot of fruit here, but there is more than enough acidity and tannins to keep things in balance. Matt Cameron’s drums and Kim Thayil’s bass backing Chris Cornell’s voice kind of balance. Without that balance Soundgarden would have been just another band doomed to play Tower Record openings and the Bergstrom Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir would be like a wine from, well, I don’t want to get sued. But why would anyone wait until 2020 to drink this wine. The Bergstrom Shea is about unadulterated enjoyment. Over the years I have been motivated by a Bergstrom wine to do many silly, fun things. Rarely did they involve threats to people or property. But there was one October evening in Illinois when Patrick Keating and I managed to consume a good bit of a magnum of Bergstrom’s Bergstrom Vineyard Pinot Noir all by ourselves. It was the end of a very long Saturday in November at the Corkscrew Wine Emporium and as we sat outside handing the magnum back and forth, we noticed that our Halloween pumpkins were still outside the front door of the store. So we decided to hold our own pumpkin bowling tournament down the gently sloping street outside our parking lot. Things were going quite well (Patrick had just rolled a strike) until an Urbana patrol car interrupted. Luckily it was dark, we were dressed all in black and we could run fast in those days. I share this story, confident in the knowledge the statute of limitations for any such misdemeanor in Urbana has long expired. But I urge you to buy some Bergstrom Pinot Noir and make your own fun. Life is too short to wait for all of your wines (or you) to mature properly. To make it easier for you to map out some Bergstrom fun, let’s knock that price down a bit. This wine sells at the winery for 65.00 a bottle. But how does 45.00 a bottle sound? Yup, 45.00 a bottle, which is close to what I used to pay wholesale for this wine. A six-pack may be had for 258.00 and a case of 12 bottles will be 480.00. Now that’s a lot of fun! Friday January 15 and Saturday January 16 Wine Tastings Yes, we will be having our regularly scheduled tastings, 6:00-9:00PM on Friday, 12:00-5:00PM on Saturday. There will be some newly released 2008 Oregon Pinot Noirs to try on Friday night, but that is all I know for sure right now. Instead, the focus on the two days will clearly be on the Third Annual Storyteller Inventory Reduction Celebration. It is our biggest sale event of the year, mainly because I am a one person inventory team and I hate counting bottles. On Friday January 15 Storyteller will be open from 10AM until 9PM and on Saturday January 16 we will be open from 10AM until 7:00PM. All wines not currently on sale will be either 15%, 20%, 25% or 30% off their regularly marked prices. Cheers, Michael Alberty Head Storyteller Visit www.StorytellerWine.com >> 5511-B SW Hood Ave, Portland \| (503) 206-7029 \| 1.800.753.2531

Story Teller Wine Company

I loved living in Seattle in the 1980s. My wife was finishing her PhD at the University of Washington and I was having fun in the espresso, newspaper and magazine business at Bulldog News. One of our favorite things to do was to drive out to Sand Point to walk the trails through the wildlife refuge on the shore of Lake Washington. We particularly liked to hang out at this very strange metal statue in the middle of the park because it had a bunch of holes drilled in it so that it would make eerily melodic sounds when the wind blew though the park. But after about a year we started to notice a group of fairly intense and scary looking guys hanging out at the park. There were no cell phones in those days and the area is pretty isolated, so we pretty much stopped hanging out at Sand Point.

One day I was walking to work at Bulldog News in the U-District and I turned a corner and there they were. The Sand Point hooligans, And they had some poor middle-aged guy surrounded in a menacing circle. I was trying to figure out whether or not to yell for help or run and all of a sudden they began to whip their long hair up and down while yelling “lame, lame” at the top of their lungs. As their heads were down to knee level I recognized their victim. It was John Keister, the host of Almost Live, a Seattle comedy program that regularly beat Saturday Night Live in the ratings. Turns out it wasn’t a mugging, they were shooting a bit for the show called “What’s Weak This Week.” And the hooligans we had been so wary of? Kim Thayil and the rest of the fine young men who made up the legendary Seattle band, Soundgarden. They had named themselves after our favorite Seattle statue.

Those were heady days to be living in Seattle, surrounded by Doc Martens, Pendleton wool and something outsiders were calling “grunge.” There were great bands putting on great shows in every little dive bar, cafe, student union and record store you could name. But there was nothing better than walking down a street at night and hearing the distinctive wail of Chris Cornell’s voice blasting out of the dank catacombs of some club like a cheetah on crank. My wife and I were always pretty much broke in those beautiful days so we never got to see Soundgarden as much as we would have liked. We just figured they would always be around. Then we moved away to Washington D.C. and shortly after that Soundgarden broke up.

Their breakup definitely left a musical hole in my life. Soundgarden was the yin to my Pearl Jam yang. So imagine my great delight when I read a few days ago that Chris Cornell and the boys have decided to reunite in 2010. There will be a new album, a tour and I am finally back in balance. By now you must be wondering what this has to do with wine, no?

2007 Bergstrom Wines Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir (65.00 at the winery…but see below!)

Style wise, Josh Bergstrom’s Pinot Noirs are the Soundgarden of the Willamette Valley. A wall of flavors that don’t ask your palate for permission to be liked, they just launch a blitzkrieg to which you dreamily surrender. They are, just like Soundgarden’s second album, louder than love. When that album came out somebody at the Rolling Stone reviewed it and called the sound “dark, murky and buzzing.” A lot of people out there think Bergstrom wines represent the dark side of the valley, with their big, full throttle wines that are big on body and flavor. Good vintages, bad vintages, it doesn’t matter: you can count on Bergstrom wines to be big and rich wines that will provide optimal pleasure the moment you pop the cork. I never apologize for being a Soundgarden fan and I also enjoy classical music and jazz. So don’t be confused by the fact that I enjoy Bergstrom Pinot Noirs as much as I enjoy Eyrie or Evesham Wood. I will not allow dogma to prevent me from enjoying all spectrums of wine or music. Different moments and circumstances often require different inputs, both aural and oral.

This particular Bergstrom Pinot Noir is made with fruit from the legendary Shea Vineyard. Grapes from this vineyard are highly sought after and a few years ago Wine Enthusiast Magazine placed it on a short list of American vineyards they considered worthy of “grand cru” status. Josh says he is now receiving fruit from five different clonal blocks within Shea Vineyard’s East Hill and that the 2007 vintage was the first time he could blend them all together. He also says the 2007 is pretty much his favorite Bergstrom Shea ever! Evidently wine critics agree as the 2007 Bergstrom Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir garnered some of Oregon’s highest scores in recent rounds of reviews, including 93 points from The Wine Advocate. But I just like it because it’s fun.

The nose on the Bergstrom Shea is nice and intense, with fruit aromas that are as dark as Chris Cornell’s hair. To go along with all that dark cherry and black raspberry fruit, there are some equally heady notes of wet rocks, cellar floor dirt and a bit of toasted oak spice. The first sniff is like hearing the initial guitar chords from Rusty Cage for the very first time. It starts slow, but it is interesting. It’s like nothing you’ve heard or smelled before in quite that combination. Then it quickly builds to a throbbing crescendo and you are hooked for the big amusement park ride. The palate is a continuation of the same theme, with gobs of dark, dark raspberries and cherries to go along with fresh earth and brown spices. The word “plush” comes to mind with every sip. The 2007 Bergstrom Shea has that nice, elevated acidity the vintage year is so known for but there is a lot of tannic structure here as well. Josh says this version of his Shea is built to last, perhaps as long as 2020 if stored properly. And folks, this wine is in balance. Sure, there is a lot of fruit here, but there is more than enough acidity and tannins to keep things in balance. Matt Cameron’s drums and Kim Thayil’s bass backing Chris Cornell’s voice kind of balance. Without that balance Soundgarden would have been just another band doomed to play Tower Record openings and the Bergstrom Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir would be like a wine from, well, I don’t want to get sued.

But why would anyone wait until 2020 to drink this wine. The Bergstrom Shea is about unadulterated enjoyment. Over the years I have been motivated by a Bergstrom wine to do many silly, fun things. Rarely did they involve threats to people or property. But there was one October evening in Illinois when Patrick Keating and I managed to consume a good bit of a magnum of Bergstrom’s Bergstrom Vineyard Pinot Noir all by ourselves. It was the end of a very long Saturday in November at the Corkscrew Wine Emporium and as we sat outside handing the magnum back and forth, we noticed that our Halloween pumpkins were still outside the front door of the store. So we decided to hold our own pumpkin bowling tournament down the gently sloping street outside our parking lot. Things were going quite well (Patrick had just rolled a strike) until an Urbana patrol car interrupted. Luckily it was dark, we were dressed all in black and we could run fast in those days. I share this story, confident in the knowledge the statute of limitations for any such misdemeanor in Urbana has long expired. But I urge you to buy some Bergstrom Pinot Noir and make your own fun. Life is too short to wait for all of your wines (or you) to mature properly.

To make it easier for you to map out some Bergstrom fun, let’s knock that price down a bit. This wine sells at the winery for 65.00 a bottle. But how does 45.00 a bottle sound? Yup, 45.00 a bottle, which is close to what I used to pay wholesale for this wine. A six-pack may be had for 258.00 and a case of 12 bottles will be 480.00. Now that’s a lot of fun!

Friday January 15 and Saturday January 16 Wine Tastings

Yes, we will be having our regularly scheduled tastings, 6:00-9:00PM on Friday, 12:00-5:00PM on Saturday. There will be some newly released 2008 Oregon Pinot Noirs to try on Friday night, but that is all I know for sure right now. Instead, the focus on the two days will clearly be on the Third Annual Storyteller Inventory Reduction Celebration. It is our biggest sale event of the year, mainly because I am a one person inventory team and I hate counting bottles. On Friday January 15 Storyteller will be open from 10AM until 9PM and on Saturday January 16 we will be open from 10AM until 7:00PM. All wines not currently on sale will be either 15%, 20%, 25% or 30% off their regularly marked prices.

Cheers,
Michael Alberty
Head Storyteller

Visit www.StorytellerWine.com >>
5511-B SW Hood Ave, Portland | (503) 206-7029 | 1.800.753.2531

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