Posts Categorized: News

Simplifying New Year’s Eve: A Sparkling Batch Cocktail

Underwood Bubbles French 75

Whether you are entertaining at home or just pre-gaming before a big night out on the town, perhaps at the Local & Legendary Tony Starlight’s Soft Seventies Rockin’ Dinner Show (it’s amazing BTW) it’s always fun to get New Year’s Eve started off on the right foot with a delicious cocktail. And since there is bound to be a few bottles of Bubbles around the house, we thought the classic French 75 would be a great suggestion.

A relatively simple drink to make, the French 75 got its start around WW1, when it was said that the drink had the kick of being shelled by a powerful French 75mm Field Gun. Here at Union, we believe in drinking responsibly, even on New Year’s Eve, but just one won’t hurt.

And we figure you won’t be drinking alone, so we decided to set you up with a batch cocktail—one who’s base can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge. That way, when your guests arrive, just stir with ice, strain, and top off with Union’s Underwood Bubbles. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

You can use your favorite Gin, but we recommend Portland’s own women-owned-and-run craft distillery, Freeland Spirits Gin. We have been loving this locally made brand lately and highly recommend checking them out.

Underwood Bubbles French 75
French 75
(This recipe is designed to make 4 drinks.)

6 oz Freeland Spirits Gin
3 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice*
2 1/2 oz simple syrup
2 C ice cubes
1 bottle Underwood Bubbles

*Since Meyer lemons are in season right now, we recommend them, but regular lemons are fine too.

***********

STEP ONE:

Measure out the first three ingredients into a glass mixer and place in the fridge until your guests arrive. When ready to make up the cocktails add the ice and stir well.

Underwood Bubbles French 75
STEP TWO:

Strain the chilled base into 4 coup or other stemmed glasses. No need to be super fancy or even have all matching glasses—sometimes its fun to mix and match your vintage-ware.

Underwood Bubbles French 75
STEP THREE:

Top off all the glasses with some ice cold bubbles and you are ready set go! It’s that simple.

So, from everyone here at Union, we would like to wish you and yours a safe and happy new year! Whether staying in by a roaring fire, or heading out for a night on the town, have a blast but please stay safe, keep those pinkies down, and for gosh sakes, take a LYFT!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Underwood Bubbles French 75
Photography and Text by David L. Reamer.  (@dlreamer)

New Traditions: Christmas Tree Hunting in Mt. Hood National Forest

Mt. Hood is an icon of Portland and the Willamette Valley. The mountain that sits at 11,250 feet in elevation can be seen from numerous parts of the valley. Whether you are stuck on I-5 traffic, on a leisurely drive in the gorge or hiking up in forest park, Mt. Hood peaks through on clear days.

Union Wine Co Christmas Tree Hunt

The Mt. Hood National Forest, which stretches around 1,067,000 acres around the base of the mountain, is a treasured playground that we Oregonians try to take advantage of all year round. Summer activities include camping, swimming at the many lakes and rivers and going on long warm hikes. In the winter there is snowshoeing and skiing, and for those looking for the perfectly unperfect tree, Christmas tree hunting.  

Union Wine Co Christmas Tree Hunt

For some of us who have grown up in the Pacific Northwest, a holiday tradition has been to go out into the woods to find your tree rather than heading to the local tree farm or tree lot.   

Union Wine Co Christmas Tree Hunt

Union Wine Co Christmas Tree Hunt

Union Wine Co Christmas Tree Hunt

We believe the holidays are about spending time with friends and family. So, this year we are sharing new traditions with friends and their young families.  

If you haven’t gotten a tree already, we suggest switching things up this year and start a new tradition. When the weather is just right, it’s a perfect day to get some fresh air and create new memories for your family that will hopefully be passed down for generations. Don’t forget the sled, a few cans of Underwood Bubbles for mom and dad and your $5 permit for the tree. Cheers!

Union Wine Co Christmas Tree Hunt

Our Newest Adventure: Underwood Nouveau

Underwood Nouveau

At Union, we often joke that we work hard and play harder, but the truth is our work is fun, so it’s more of a play hard, play harder situation. We get to pioneer new ideas, celebrate our successes, laugh at the mishaps, and be among friends while we do it all. Which brings us to our newest adventure: Underwood Nouveau.  

Our Underwood Nouveau is a riff on a Beaujolais Nouveau, which is traditionally made from Gamay grapes (also called, Gamay noir à Jus blanc grape) in the Beaujolais region of France. Always looking for an Oregon angle, we decided to use our Pinot Noir grapes in the Underwood Nouveau for a fresh take on our traditional Pinot noir. The Gamay grape is actually a cousin of the Pinot Noir grape and flourishes in very similar climates.  

Normally, it takes us a year to make our Underwood Pinot Noir, while our Nouveau takes just over a month — from pick to sip. We created it to celebrate our first grape harvest of the year and introduce the true expression of our 2019 vintage. It’s fruit-forward, light, and fun, meaning we had a lot of fun making it, and you’ll have a lot of fun drinking it. Nouveau is known for being a fresh, fruity wine that celebrates the first pour of the season. 

(image credit Blue Heron Vineyards)

Underwood Pinot Noir Nouveau grapes

The first step to creating our new wine was to pick the grapes. We started hand-picking the grapes for this year’s Nouveau batch on the early morning of September 24th and the fruit arrived at our winery and was unloaded by sunset. It was an all-hands on deck situation here to get it done in one day, but we prevailed. We picked the grapes in whole clusters. No crushers or de-stemmers were used.  

Underwood Pinot Noir Nouveau

Underwood Nouveau Pinot Noir

Underwood Nouveau Dig Out

Union Wine Company

To ferment the grapes, we used a process called “carbonic maceration,” a fancy name for a straightforward, natural process that can produce vibrant, lively, fresh, and also some very serious wines. Here’s how it works: the full bunches of grapes are placed into stainless-steel, temperature-controlled vats, which are then sealed and filled with CO2 to remove the oxygen. This triggers a process within the grapes known as intracellular fermentation. Once alcohol levels reach around 2% abv, the grape skins split and release their juice. This takes about 10 days.  

During this time, the grapes at the bottom are gently crushed under the weight of the others and begin to ferment, releasing more CO2. This gentle, yet speedy, process releases the berry flavor without releasing the bitter tannins from the grape skins. The carbonic maceration process is stopped when the fruit is removed from the tank and pressed.  

Underwood Nouveau

The process was a success! In the end, our Nouveau tastes bright and fruit-forward with notes of cherry, plum, and currents. 

Underwood Nouveau Canning

To introduce our Nouveau with the proper fanfare, we worked with a designer to create a can that would speak to the beauty of art nouveau. He nailed it. We love the design.   

A can made perfect sense for this project because a Nouveau is meant to be sipped right away, not stored. Our Nouveau should be popped open anytime, anywhere during the fall season it honors.   

We’re excited to have the opportunity to introduce a wine that embraces the spirit of Union — don’t take yourself too seriously, have fun, and enjoy the moment. Just remember to do it with your pinkies down.  

Union Wine Company Nouveau

A Delicious Collaboration: Pinot Noir Salt

Here at Union Wine Co., our main focus is obviously on making amazing wine, but we always have our ear to the ground in search of new and interesting ways to use our wine.

Even if you are not from the Portland area, chances are you have heard of, or maybe even use Jacobsen Salt. Ben Jacobsen, owner, purveyor and the genius salt guru behind Jacobsen Salt, has been making fine flake, kosher and finishing flavored salt for almost 8 years. Ben takes the water right from Netarts Bay on the Oregon coast and boils it down in huge caldrons to remove all the water from the salt.

When Ben approached us to do a Pinot Noir Salt we were really excited about the concept. Unlike many “flavored” salts that are just salt mixed up with various other flavors, the Jacobsen Pinot Noir Salt is a literal infusion. Ben takes our Underwood Pinot Noir and reduces it to concentrate the flavor, color, viscosity, and aroma. Then, while the salt is still wet he sprays the wine reduction over the salt, so as it dries, the flavors and color fully infuse. This process is repeated 3-5 times, depending on size and dampness of the salt. For this product, Ben specifically uses pure flake salt.

Then at his ‘Salt Works’ on the shores of Netarts Bay, he dries, flavors and packages all of his salts.

Jacobsen Salt Co Underwood Pinot Noir Salt Jacobsen Salt Co Underwood Pinot Noir Salt Jacobsen Salt Co Underwood Pinot Noir Salt

So…what the heck do you do with Pinot Noir Salt, one might ask. Well, Ben recommends using it on just about anything that would go well with Pinot Noir such as burgers and steaks, but his favorite combination is actually stone fruit, such as peaches and nectarines.We decided to try it out with a ‘7-minute egg’ and it was a delicious pairing.

To cook, brings the eggs to room temperature. Add about 3 inches of water to a pot that will comfortably hold all the eggs you wish to cook. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a slow simmer. Gently add the eggs and cook, ensuring the water stays at just a simmer for exactly 7 minutes. As soon as the timer goes off, place the eggs in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Once they are fully cooled, VERY gently peel the eggs and serve with a generous sprinkling of Pinot Noir Salt.

We would like to thank Ben for spending some time with us to explain the infusion process, and for putting Netarts Bay on the map with his phenomenal products.

Jacobsen Salt Co Underwood Pinot Noir Salt

Photography and Text by David L. Reamer.  (@dlreamer)

BEN JACOBSEN IG:   @ben_jacobsen
JACOBSEN SALT CO IG:  @jacobsensaltco

Discover…or Rediscover St. Johns

Discover…or Rediscover St. Johns
(Tacos, Polaroid Pics, Sunshine and Cans of Wine in the Park)

If you are a new member of the Portland community, or just visiting for a bit and hoping to explore a neighborhood off the beaten path, please allow us to introduce you, or re-introduce you, to that little neighborhood tucked deep in the northwestern corner of Portland…St. Johns.

There are some amazing things going on in St. Johns which we will get to in good time, but let’s start with the one true and proud landmark of the neighborhood…the St. Johns Bridge. In a city of 12 bridges, it can be a little hard to stand out, but let’s face it, the St Johns Bridge takes the blue ribbon every time. It’s gorgeous, greenish and you can safely walk the whole distance.

Here’s a quick history lesson:

The bridge was built within 21 months and one million dollars under budget. At the time of its completion, the bridge had the highest clearance in the nation, the longest prefabricated steel cable rope strands, the tallest steel frame piers of reinforced concrete, the first application of aviation clearance lights to the towers, and the longest suspension span west of Detroit.

The construction of the bridge began a month before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and provided many county residents with employment during the Great Depression. Because of its proximity to the Swan Island Municipal Airport, some government officials wanted the bridge painted yellow with black stripes. County officials waited until St. Patrick’s Day, 1931, to announce that it would be painted green.

Sláinte!

St Johns Bridge

So, you’ve made it to St. Johns. You’ve paid respects to the coolest bridge in Portland. What now? What to do this far north? Well, let us show you what a Portland native might get up to when spending a sunny late summer afternoon in St. Johns.

FIRST STOP: 
Blue Moon Camera

Blue Moon Camera

St. Johns is not a digital neighborhood…it’s purely analog. So, get with the program and tuck that iPhone away in your bag. Dig deep in your closet and find that old Polaroid or 35mm camera. Dust it off and swing by the St. Johns institution, Blue Moon Camera and Machine, for some film and free advice about making the most of your time in their neighborhood. The friendly, incredibly knowledgeable (and always well-dressed) staff will set you straight.

Blue Moon Camera

SECOND STOP:
Taqueria Santa Cruz

Okay. You have the camera situation worked out. (You know if you don’t take a picture, it didn’t happen.) Now let’s get some grub to take down to the park. Probably the best-kept secret in St. John’s, and just 2 blocks from Blue Moon, is Santa Cruz Taqueria and Panadería. I’ll be honest, at first glance it looks like a dodgy little restaurant space in the back of a Mexican bakery. But they serve the ‘hands down, no questions asked, the best, best Mexican food in all of Portland. We recommend a few tacos, that way you can try a selection of their meats. (We highly recommend at least one chorizo taco. Best in the city!)

St Johns Portland

THIRD STOP:
Cathedral Park

Once you’ve acquired all necessary provisions, head down the hill to Cathedral Park­—which is directly underneath the east side of the bridge—and bask in all the overwhelming glory that is the St Johns Bridge. This is the perfect time to pull out some cans of Underwood Pinot Gris and Rosé Bubbles, unwrap those tacos and soak up the sun.

Cathedral Park Portland

Underwood Rosé Bubbles

Cathedral Park Portland

After lunch, you can make use of that film and take a few Polaroids for posterity!

Underwood Wine Polaroids

Cathedral Park Polaroids

Underwood Wine

St Johns Bridge Polaroid

Photography and Text by David L. Reamer.  (@dlreamer)

Polaroids by Silke Schuh

Camera Love @bluemooncamera