Uncorked Moves to Methven

Now in its 18th year, The Rotary Club of McMinnville's annual Uncorked: The Oregon Wine & Art Auction has become one of the most prestigious fundraising and social events in Yamhill Wine Country. Over the course of those years, it has generated more than $1.5 million.

Until 2005, proceeds went to scholarship programs and local causes supported by the Rotary Club of McMinnville Foundation Charities. As the benefit event grew, giving was expanded to include The Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation, in 2005, and The Willamette Valley Cancer Foundation, in 2006.

For the past three years, Uncorked was hosted by Ken and Karen Wright at Ken Wright Cellars in Carlton. Previous host wineries included Adelsheim, Anne Amie, Archery Summit and Domaine Drouhin.

In 2008, the event grossed $214,000. Despite challenging economic times, the proceeds increased to $225,000 in 2009, including $58,000 from more than three dozen sponsoring organizations.

For the 2010 edition, owners Allen and Jill Methven of Methven Family Vineyards offered up their handsomely appointed winery on the eastern slopes of the Eola Hills. It will serve as the event's venue for the next two years as well.

The Methvens are rapidly gaining a well-deserved reputation for hospitality. It wasn't long after their winery opened in mid-2007 that it began to emerge as a desirable setting for noteworthy social and charitable functions.

Situated in the midst of a 32-acre estate vineyard, the winery has been specifically designed to accommodate groups. A concert series being held there this summer features performances on six dates from June 19 through September 11.

Attendees can gather in the spacious tasting room, mingle on a covered patio featuring a panoramic view of the Cascades and Mount Hood, or tour the main fermentation floor simply by passing through a nearby door.

Last Saturday, 300-plus people filled those areas while sipping the wines of 11 wineries, sampling hors d'oeuvres prepared by Catering At its Best, enjoying the music of The Noah Peterson Quartet and perusing more than 100 silent auction items.

Donor wineries pouring recent vintages at Uncorked were ArborBrook, Brooks, Coelho, Cristom, Dukes, Methven, Redhawk, Tyrus Evan, WineWorks Oregon, Youngberg Hill and Zenas.

For the sit-down dinner, Methven's 2007 Pinot Gris was served alongside the first course, a Spanish tortilla with Yukon gold potatoes and asparagus on a bed of local field greens.

Rex Hill Vineyards' 2006 Reserve Pinot Noir enhanced the entr�e, a medium-rare Angus beef tenderloin with a demi-glace mustard port reduction and red onion confit. Rosemary parmesan polenta and summer ratatouille were the side dishes.

Passito, a 2006 late-harvest gew�rztraminer from Francis Tannahill/A to Z WineWorks, added dash to the individual summer fruit crostata dessert - a hand-rolled, berry-filled pastry shell baked with almonds and dusted with powdered sugar.

Tuxedo-clad Newberg auto dealer John Kerekanich masterfully handled the evening's emcee duties. Besides doing a great job, the silver-haired, golden-tanned Rotarian could easily have passed for James Brolin.

His local TV star power was matched by the musical magic of award-winning pianist Mike Strickland. The noted composer and recording artist, who lives in McMinnville, entertained the Uncorked crowd during dinner and leading up to the live auction.

The remainder of the evening belonged to auctioneer JillMarie Wiles, who led bidders through 22 live auction lots. Wines, including 12 bottles of rare 1980 pinot noirs from Myron Redford and Vikki Wettle's cellar, enticed collectors.

Other wine-related lots included 12 magnums from Ken Wright, a harvest time experience at Methven, a tour and tasting at Shea, wines from the evening's 11 pouring wineries and five 5-bottle cases from the 2009 Cellar Crawl.

Foodie-tempting wine dinners were offered at Joel Palmer House, Bistro Maison, Maysara and Andina, along with an overnight stay at The Nines Hotel and a dinner with host Nancy "the Diva" Emrick and chef Jesse Davis.

Getaways shined big time, with full-week lodging packages offered at the Maui Kaanapali Villa, a resort in Cabo San Lucas, a condo in Naples and lodgings at Sunriver. Also offered were weekends at Steamboat Inn, including all meals, and Youngberg Inn, including a gourmet wine dinner.

The "art" in wine and art auction wasn't overlooked, with a vineyard landscape by watercolor artist Terry Peasley, a bejeweled blade crafted of Damascus steel by artist Mike Norris, an art, lodging, dining and framing package called "Art Among The Vines" assembled jointly by pastel artist Susan Day, La Rambla restaurant, the Wednesday Wines wine bar, Third Street Flats and Pacific Frame & Gallery and a series of Super Hero posters

Rounding out the auction evening were two paddle raises, one for The Virginia Garcia House that raised $20,000 and the other for The Willamette Valley Cancer Foundation that brought in $30,000.

Event chair Jeff Sargent said the gross this year was just under $178,000, of which sponsorships accounted for $51,000.

They included three platinum sponsors - Genentech, Meisel Rock/Kizer Excavating and Willamette Valley Medical Center- four gold - CareOregon, Comcast, Frontier and The Standard, 17 silver and 11 bronze.

Acknowledging the incredible amount of work that goes into each Uncorked event, Sargent wanted to thank a legion of volunteers who made it possible. He said that next month, the planning process will begin all over again for next year.

He reserved the most effusive thanks for hosts Allen and Jill Methven. In addition to their generosity in offering their winery and several oral auction lots, Jill coordinated the participation of the pouring wineries.

Allen expressed the couple's pleasure in regard to the total experience.

"It's wonderful to know we're helping such great causes," he said. "And to think about the people who are receiving help because of this outstanding event."