The Clever Root

Spring / Summer 2016

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terrine, venison terrine and pheasant pâté all have some contact with lees while curing, as does his handmade country ham. This recurring theme of incorporating wine lees creates depth and dimension, and also makes the charcuterie menu something that is unique to King Estate. The wines themselves also play a role in creating the Estate's distinc- tive meats: The saucisson sec, for example, is a dry cured pork salami, seasoned with coarse black pepper and Domaine Pinot Noir. And his saucisson d'Lorane (named for the nearby community of Lorane, Oregon) consists of dry- cured pork and beef salami, quatre épices and Domaine Pinot Gris. "What you're really tasting is the diet of the animal; just as you can taste terroir in a specific wine, you can taste the soil in the finished product." The marriage of these flavors is, as Tim puts it, like music—if you're in tune with it, you'll notice both the high and low notes. I had a chance to fully appreci- ate his illustration later, over dinner. Seated on the terrace under a cozy patio heater, in the waning afternoon light, the sky streaked with rosy-fingered clouds, I'm free to sample at my leisure King Estate's world-class wines alongside melt- ingly tender pheasant ragout, and a selection of Tim's hedonistic, house-made charcuterie. BIODYNAMIC AND BEAUTIFUL I n organic agriculture, there's no title more important than certified Biodynamic ® by Demeter USA, an international agency that urges producers to think of their farms as self-sustaining living organisms. Recently, King Estate announced that it is now officially "in conversion" to Biodynamic status, a process that, when completed later this year, will make King Estate's 1,033 acres the largest Biodynamic vineyard in the United States. "It's important to our family that King Estate Winery lives its philosophy of respecting our land," says Ed King. "From 10,000 B.C. to 1945 A.D., all agriculture was organic. Our obligation is to future generations." With its longstanding commitment to taking care of the environment (King Estate has been certified organic since 2002) King Estate already instills strong sustainable practices, including using no synthetic chemicals on the property, serving as a release site for rehabilitated birds of prey to aid in pest control and using over four-thousand solar panels, which produce enough power to run 100 homes a year and will eliminate more than 38 million pounds of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years. The craft of charcuterie takes organization, discipline, data sheets and, like winemaking, a bit of chemistry. Tim Bass approaches his craft with mindfulness and precision. Curing is based on weight, percentages and grams: "It's like making a piece of music. There is a structure, an architecture. The focus is to match the tempo of the wines." s p r i n g / s u m m e r 2 0 1 6 | 5 1

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