World of Wine Festival: A pourer’s point of view

By Janet Eastman

PAULA Sendar was standing and smiling and talking and listening for three hours at Saturday’s World of Wine Festival in Gold Hill. She greeted hundreds of wine business pros and wine lovers, poured them tastes of Domaine Paradox Pinot Noir and carefully explained about the new company she represents, Pallet Wine Company of Medford.

Pallet Wine is a full-service winemaking, storage, lab and wine education center.  The staff at the custom crush facility helps grape growers become winemakers and grape-less winemakers create private labels to sell in tasting rooms, restaurants and stores. We’ll tour the new facility next week (all the tanks are in and the press arrives this Tuesday).

Sendar is the company’s sales and marketing manager. She’s charged with introducing its premier labels to buyers and the public. At Saturday’s event, she was pouring Domaine Paradox 2007 Pinot Noir, which earned a Silver Medal from the World of Wine judges. Noted winemaker Linda Donovan made the well-balanced Pinot from grapes harvested at Fortmiller Vineyard. (Donovan is also a founding partner of Pallet.)

The label is sold at Liquid Assests and Chateaulin in Ashland, the Jacksonville Inn Wine Shop and the Pacific Wine Club in Medford. It's on several restaurant wine lists, including Amuse, Tease, The Peerless and The Winchester in Ashland as well as Gogi's in Jacksonville and 38 Central in Medford. Pallet Wine’s Tasting Room is being built in the 1924 Cooley-Neff building in downtown Medford. It will open in 2010.

At the World of Wine festival, there were tables set up for 48 wineries and Pallet’s stand was conveniently positioned just inside the entrance. “People stopped by our table as they were going around the tent or they sought us out because they heard they had to come by and taste our wine,” says Sendar. “When they did, they were very impressed.”

One woman was hesitant to try the Domaine Paradox because she didn’t like red wine, particularly Pinot Noir. “I asked her if she would be open to tasting a little bit,” recalls Sendar. “She really liked it and I don't believe she was just being polite.”

Wine hobbyists also lingered for samples and information about making wine. She walked them though her company's bin-to-bottle process. “Maybe their dream could come true,” she adds.

In the future, Sendar will be pouring wines from Pallet owners Dan and Olivia Sullivan's second label Daniel Joseph (Domaine Paradox is their first) and other fine wines made for the company’s custom crush clients.

And some day, perhaps, Sendar will be standing and smiling and talking about a bottle with your name on it.

For more info: Pallet Wine Company, 340 N. Fir Street, Medford, OR, (541) 779-1788, http://palletwine.com