New York-based Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., a national independent importer and marketer of fine wine and spirits, has put together a list of great fall wines from around the globe, ideal for various cuisines and all priced under $25. France's Château de Campuget "1753" stems from an 18th century document mentioning the historic property. The 100% Syrah is aged in stainless steel, seeing no oak. Deep purple in color, it is elegant and herbal with nice tannin and a crisp finish, paring nicely with spicy foods as well as hearty cold weather dishes like beef and pastas in red sauce. SRP: $14.99. Under the discerning eye of consulting winemaker Véronique Drouhin-Boss, the light, fruity quality of Cloudline Pinot Noir (2007) from Oregon never waivers and pairs perfectly with everything from a fatty fish, such as salmon, to lamb. SRP: $19.99. Nederburg Cabernet Sauvignon (2007) from South Africa is a full-bodied, mouth-filling and rich wine with ripe fruit, delicate spice, firm tannins and a lasting aftertaste, pairing perfectly with robust winter stews, roasts and mature cheeses. SRP: $11.99.

Italy's Renato Ratti Barbera D'Alba Torriglione (2007) is structured and rich with a pleasing and harmonious bouquet. The result is a full- bodied wine with an excellent balance between acidity and tannin that lends itself particularly well to pastas with lean protein, such as pork or chicken. SRP: $18.99. Tedeschi Valpolicella Capitel Dei Nicalò (2006) is made from local Veronese grape varieties including Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara in the traditional style of the region. It is complex and elegant with lively acidity and an alcohol content that is balanced nicely by its tannins. SRP: $17.99. Argentina's Enrique Foster Reserva Malbec (2006) is made of selected grapes from old vines and production is limited to 5,000 lbs per acre. The wine is then aged in French and American oak for 12 months and in bottles for an additional six months. It's a huge wine with fruity aroma and berry
flavors perfectly suited to richly spiced dishes and roasted or grilled meats. SRP: $24.99.

You can't get much closer to the water than this home, nicknamed The Point, on a private peninsula on Bell Island in Rowayton, Connecticut. The five-bedroom home sits on an enviably picturesque piece of land with views of Long Island Sound, a sandy beach, dock and mooring. The interior is beautifully classic with antique finishes and treatments from all over the world. The most amazing room is on the top floor, a triple peaked room that offers beautiful ocean views. It is listed at $6.25 million.
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These days I get excited when a project I wrote about a few years back actually comes to fruition. We first talked about the Allison Inn & Spa back in 2007. It's part of a large development in Oregon's Willamette Valley, an area which is quickly becoming one of the go-to spots for wine tourism. The hotel in Newberg, Oregon has a signature restaurant, 12-treatment-room spa and fitness studio, covered indoor pool and 12,000 square feet of meeting and social gathering space.

The Allison's 85 rooms range in size from nearly 500 to more than 1,500 square feet. Rooms include wet bars, mini refrigerators, Bose sound systems and linen bath robes. There are 20 suites with features like bay window seats, fireplaces and terraces or balconies. Rooms offers pastoral views of oaks and conifers, neighboring vineyards and more than 70,000 recently planted trees, grasses, shrubs and perennials. There is also a one acre chef's garden.

The hotel celebrates the region's famous pinot noir wine with 'pinotherapy' spa treatments. The restaurant, Jory, is named for a soil type that produces Oregon's pinots and boasts 700 wines on its list with 50 available by the glass. Room rates range from $295 to $1,100 and pets may join their owners for a $50 fee per stay.

A major condo project in Portland, the Waterfront Pearl, is going back to its lender. Oregon Live reports that a subsidiary of Macquarie Group, an Australian financial firm has taken over the project because the developer could not raise enough money to deal with project cost overruns. The condo building is featured in this year's Street of Dreams show which is currently underway. This year the show is highlighting condos showing nine condos in four buildings.

The bank is still trying to sell the units, offering around 150 of the remaining units as rent-to-owns or for-sale condos. Units were originally priced at $350,000 to $1.3 million. A rush of building projects has led to many unsold condos in the market in Portland and many are selling at deep discounts from their original list prices.

In times of prosperity many people like to splurge on fine wine. Discerning drinkers will find however that a tighter budget need not mean sacrificing the pleasures of enjoying the fruit of the vine. New York-based Dreyfus, Ashby & Co., a national independent importer and marketer of fine wines and spirits, has put together a list of six great summer wines from around the globe, ideal for various cuisines and all priced under $20. Here's the rundown:

From Nederburg, the most award-winning name in South African wine, comes Lyric (above left), a new blend of Sauvignon blanc, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay. Freshly cut grass and green peppers meet aromas of peach and apricot to create a wine that is crisp, fresh and beautifully acidic, perfect for pairing with anything from fresh fruit to seafood. SRP: $10.99

Château de Campuget's Tradition Rosé (center left) is a crisp and fruity rosé wine from the up-and-coming Costières de Nîmes region of France, made using roughly 30% Grenache Noir and 70% Syrah. The color is obtained through a short maceration of two hours which gives it its distinctive shiny hue. Perfect with spicy and ethnic foods. SRP: $10.99

Enrique Foster is a top-flight operation with the objective of producing the best Malbec in Argentina, which is to say the best in the world. Ique (center right) is fresh and young with fruity characteristics and a ruby-red color. Its firm structure and soft tannins make it the perfect counterpart for ribs and pulled pork sandwiches. SRP: $11.99

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand is one of our all-time favorite wines. Geisen's bottling (above right) has all the ripe fruit and the crisp, green and lively components associated with the wine, aromatic, flavorful and genuinely refreshing. Perfect with a light fish with a citrusy sauce. SRP: $14.99

The beautiful Nines luxury hotel in Portland, Oregon had the unfortunate timing to open just as the economic crisis began to take hold last fall. The resulting fallout means that this $141 million hotel is struggling to pay its bills (much like a couple of hotels in Scottsdale, Arizona).

The Oregonian reports that the Portland Development Commission agreed this week to accept delayed payments on taxpayer-funded loans to keep the developer from defaulting. The developer, Sage Hospitality Resources of Denver requested the delay with Ken Geist, Sage's executive vice president for development, telling the Portland Development Commission's board that the hotel could not have picked a worse opening date. The sudden and rapid drop in corporate travel spending deeply cut into the hotel's expected revenue. It is expected to generate less than half of what it was originally supposed to deliver in net operating income in its first year.

The 331-room hotel sits above a Macy's store (formerly the historic Meier & Frank department store) and is one of the most ambitious projects planned for the city's urban renewal. The developer is still planning to repay its $16.9 million in city loans at the original interest rates once The Nines' business improves. The current expectation is that loan payments should start up again in 2011 if the economy improves along the current predicted trajectory.

The hotel is offering a variety of special offers with rates starting at $129.

There's been a lot of sad tales of budget woes from museums lately (in fact another, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, just announced a 10 percent staff cut) so it's nice to read some good news. The Portland Art Museumt in Portland, Oregon will be open for free on four Sundays thanks to the generosity of one family. The family of Robert Miller, Fred Meyer's former chief executive officer and professional investor, and his wife Sharon have made a $1 million gift in Sharon's name which will fund four free Sundays a year. The donations will give families a chance to see the museum for free (admission for regular exhibits is $10 for adults and $9 for seniors and students).

The first free Sunday is on March 22. This latest gift is part of a series of donations that, as Oregon Live reports, have allowed the museum to keep a free admission policy, keeping it aligned with other major American museums. Other gifts have allowed free admission for anyone under 17 and for free museum tours for school groups. The museum is, like others, keeping an eye on the bottom line and plans cost-saving measures such as creating projects based on work from the museum's collection and having exhibitions run for longer periods.

Condo gloom is everywhere, some projects are stopping half-completed, some are shrinking, some are turning into rentals, and then there are the incentives. Developers have been using all sorts of lures to get people into condos including price cuts, appliance and decor upgrades and even free bikes and cars. A new technique comes out of Portland, Oregon. The developer of the Atwater Place condominiums thinks you'll be more eager to buy if you can just sleep in it over night. The ninth floor display unit is accepting potential buyers as overnight guests, hoping they'll rise in the morning, look at the Willamette river views and make coffee in the new kitchen and decide to sign the contract. The Atwater tower is 30 percent sold and sells condos from just under $300,000 to over $1 million, pretty steep for Portland.

A new luxury hotel has opened in Portland, Oregon. The Nines is part of the Starwood Hotels Luxury Collection and is located in the historic Meier & Frank building which was built in several phases starting n 1909. The rooms are above the downtown Macy's and the project was announced back in 2006.

The 331-room Nines includes a 419-piece art collection, and rooms are decorated in turquoise and a rich espresso brown. Rooms have modern amenities like 42-inch high-definition televisions but also have green features such as dual-flush toilets. The hotel has a fitness center, club lounge and two dining and bar options including the Asian-inspired rooftop Departure restaurant and the Urban Farmer. The hotel represents a new level of luxury in a town where most hotel rooms are under $200 a night. Rooms start at $249 a night which The Oregonian reports is nearly twice the downtown average.

Continuing my look at sports star homes lingering on the market, this week's WSJ Private Properties column also mentioned the home of Rasheed Wallace, a Detroit Pistons forward who played for eight years with the Portland Trail Blazers. Wallace bought his 1924 brick house in Portland, Oregon for around $3 million back in 2000. The Tudor-style home is on 2.16 acres that include a pool, sports court and guest house. The five-bedroom home has a red home theater, built-in saltwater fish tank, home office and more. The listing agent told the WSJ that Wallace and his wife Fatima spent more than $1 million on improvements. The couple briefly listed the house in 2006 for $5.5 million before relisting it last year, for $5.2 million and have now lowered the price to $4.895 million.

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Around two years ago I first brought you the story of The Shire, a Hobbit-themed development in Bend, Oregon. But two years ago there was no real estate crisis and now The Shire is facing foreclosure. The Bend Bulletin reports that the notice of default was recorded last week in the Deschutes County Clerk's Office on the 31-lot development. The original developr Ron Meyers sold his share in the development to Dr. Lynn B. McDonald and his wife Jan. They had taken full ownership in May but Dr. McDonald died July 7 and Jan McDonald is trying to sell off the 14 developed lots before the public auction of the six-acre property on December 2. The default notice says the family owes Umpqua Bank $3.4 million on the project.

The project includes stonework, artificial thatched roofs, and a network of gardens and streams with a pathway leading to a central courtyard. It as gotten plenty of media attention but just one home has sold for $650,000 since the project broke ground in fall 2006. Another, the Butterfly Cottage shown above, is listed at $899,000. It overlooks an amphitheater and has modern touches including bamboo flooring, a Japanese soaking tub and granite countertops. There is also a "hobbit hole" in the backyard for storing garden supplies.

The project seems to have gotten plenty of people stopping by to look but not many people buying. It's unclear what will happen to the Tolkeinesque theme of the development when new investors take over.

[via Gawker]

Yesterday I mentioned Crushpad but they aren't the only ones in the make your own wine business. Another make-your-own wine business has launched, this one in Oregon. Grand Cru Estates is a 13,000 square-foot winemaking facility breaking ground this month in the Yamhill Carlton AVA. Partners Domaine Danielle Laurent and Bailey Estate Vineyards have created Grand Cru Estates as an exclusive winemaking club that lets members create a barrel (25 cases) of their own premium Pinot Noir. Each membership offers interaction with the winemaking team both in the vineyard and in the winery and includes winemaking seminars, winemaking dinners, a biodynamic garden for member use and personal access to the winery for private events and personal concierge.

Club membership is available immediately beginning with the 2008 fall harvest with an initial membership fee of $5,000 for the first 30 founding members, along with a $20,000 fee for each member barrel.

The Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Oregon impressed a developer so much that he built a nearby condo project, Columbia Cliff Villas, that mimics the look of the classic hotel with a stucco exterior and red tile roofs while creating a new modern interior. The project has 29 condos ranging from 550 to 2,450 square feet. There are also four-bedroom townhouses up to 3,800 square feet. The penthouses and two-bedroom units have views of Mount Adams and the Columbia River while other units overlook gardens and Wah Gwin Gwin Falls. The condo also has a relationship with the hotel so that owners can use the hotel spa and dining services or arrange to rent out their units through the hotel. Prices start at $395,000 and a three-bedroom suite is listed for sale at $1.15 million. The other five identical units have already sold.

[via Oregon Live]

Camping doesn't usually light my fire but the chance to experience an calm night while suspended from a grand old growth Douglas fir tree in Oregon sounds pretty delightful. The Pacific Tree Climbing Institute offers overnight excursions that include a day of tree climbing and an overnight in a canvas Treeboat, a heavy-duty canvas hammock with a 2" thick air mattress. The Institute offers rope training with your guide in a specially designed tree climbing harness, an organic lunch, organic dinner, and a night under the stars. In the morning a hot peppermint towel and a light organic breakfast with coffee is served in your Treeboat. This adventure costs $500.

Pronghorn is a large golf-based community being created in Bend, Oregon. The community includes side-by-side Jack Nicklaus Signature and Tom Fazio Championship golf courses and the Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf at Pronghorn which offers golf instruction as well as the Pronghorn 360: a customized holistic wellness approach to total game improvement. The development is anchored by a huge 55,000-square-foot clubhouse. The development is 640 acres total and is surrounded by 20,000 acres of protected federal land. The community offers homesites, homes like the one above which top at just under $3.5 million, and fractional ownership options that start under $200,000.