(continued)

Asher Lev:
What specifically do you do every day? Do you have to lift barrels of wine and check the vines in the field, or is it more office-like?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
No, I hire guys to do that now. (laugh) My day starts out at 7:30 a.m. tasting wine. I feel I do my best tasting pre-coffee, pre-brushing my teeth type of thing.

Lynn Penner-Ash:
And I'll spend about an hour tasting wine, and I'll make decisions about what needs to be done next; whether barrels need to be racked or if they need some attention, maybe they need some sulfur dioxide added, whatever needs to be done to make a better wine.

Lynn Penner-Ash:
And then I like to say I spend the rest of the day eating lunch and drinking wine, but it's not true. A lot of what I do is administrative, because I have a lot of managerial responsibilities. And a lot of public relations.

Lynn Penner-Ash:
I travel a lot come spring and summer, doing a lot of marketing. Going out into the marketplace and working with salespeople. We do what's called sales tastings and trade tastings, where we teach our salespeople about our wines. And then we do a lot of winemaker dinners, seminars. We try to get a consumer-information type of event whenever I travel.

Kevin Staff:
Which authors would you recommend as quality reading on wine?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
Whoo! I read technical textbooks, mostly. I'm enjoying Clive Coates' book on Burgundy right now.

Fish:
Do you think that Pinot Noir will become wildly popular the way Merlot has...and what pressure will this put on a notoriously difficult grape to grow in volume?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
Good question! I think we're seeing that trend right now. Merlot became so outrageously popular that prices escalated to the point where you couldn't do wine by the glass with Merlot, and I think people have traded their affections for Pinot Noir.

Lynn Penner-Ash:
It puts extreme pressure on us, particularly in a cool climate that has a lot of variability in its growing seasons, where our tonnages can go from one ton per acre to as great as three tons per acre. Some years we can do 30,000 cases of Pinot, but another year you might do 10,000 cases of Pinot. We work hard to allocate our wine so we can control the flow of them, so people don't see our wine disappearing off the shelves or off a restaurant's list. We try to keep our flow pretty even. It's hard.

Warren:
Does decanting improve a wine?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
I only use decanting when the wine has some sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Personally, I'd rather enjoy the glass of wine as it evolves in the glass. So if it's tight in the glass, wait, it'll evolve in the glass. And I enjoy watching that progression.

Lynn Penner-Ash:
What happens is, a lot of times you pour a wine and it's closed up or tight, as they say; there's not much of a nose. But with time in the glass, and Pinot is notorious for this, it'll begin to show different notes of spice and seductiveness. And if you don't let that happen in the glass, you miss what's so great about Pinot Noir.

Savoy:
What are some Oregon wines to drink in '98? Rex Hill and elsewhere.

Lynn Penner-Ash:
What you want to drink from Rex Hill right now is our 1994 reserve Pinot Noir. It is excellent. In early 1998, you'll see the release of 1996 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir; I'm really excited by this wine, it's a beautiful wine. In 1998 you'll be seeing most of the Oregon 1996 Pinots, and they are some beautiful wines.

Gary C:
What's your next favorite wine to drink, after Pinot Noir?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
Champagne! No question about it!

Fish:
Champagne is Pinot Noir!

Fish:
well, partly....

Lynn Penner-Ash:
Champagne can be a Chardonnay also!

Todd:
What is the best way to find new good wines? Is there some publication that is a good source of information, or is it just word of mouth?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
I think Wine Enthusiast is good about finding those wines that are interesting and good and new. But probably the best way to find new wines is to visit the wineries themselves. You discover some wonderful things that are only right there, locally. But as far as wine writers -- Find a wine writer's picks and see if you like them, and then always follow that writer. One wine writer might give a wine a 90, but his palate might be different from yours; you want to be sure, before you take his advice, that you agree with him about what's good.

Gary C:
What differences and similarities do you find between the pinot noir grapes you grow in Oregon, and those in Burgundy ?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
I think the thing that I'm trying to achieve here in Oregon is to emulate the sweet seductiveness that the burgundies have in the mid-palate, and I find that for me, it can be hit and miss; its' not something we achieve year in and year out. That's a difference. The similarities are that we both have climates that can be very difficult to grow Pinot Noir in -- it rains a lot, it's a cooler climate. But I feel that both regions, both Oregon and Burgundy, when they produce Pinot Noir that's excellent, it's out of this world excellent. You can't beat it.

Fish:
Do you make a Pinot Gris as well? If so, do you think Americans will try "alternative" grapes because they're getting tired of Chardonnay (I know I am)?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
I think yes, we're finding the market growing for Pinot Gris, as people realize it has versatility. It pairs really nicely with many types of cuisine, with fish, chicken, pasta, even red meat dishes, even vegetarian. I choose Pinot Gris to start pretty much any meal because I know it'll work.

Lynn Penner-Ash:
As far as Chardonnay, I think people are getting tired of the heavy richness of Chardonnay because it's not as versatile with today's lighter cuisines as people thought it would be.

Ronaldo:
Tell us about your most memorable bottle of wine.

Lynn Penner-Ash:
I have to say it would be a 1973 Moet & Chandon, and I say that with love and kisses to my husband.

Kevin Staff:
Is there a wine you would recommend to accompany a good cigar?

Lynn Penner-Ash:
Eww! I wouldn't know, I refuse to attend cigar and wine events.