I am thinking of taking a trip to Oregon next week, to visit wine country for the first time, there. Given this is not a lot of notice, I am looking for ideas.
What wineries should I visit? Would love to visit Bergstrom and Le Cadeau, but don’t even know if they allow visits. Open to other ideas.
Where should I stay? Wine country or Portland? Any hotel reccs?
Where should I eat?
Thanks!
For the country Dundee, McMinnville or Calton are the centers for wine, food and lodging. Also there are a lot of urban wineries in Portland Central Eastside.
Hate to sound like a dick, but there are countless threads on this topic and little has changed. Hit search if you dare.
I’ll be there this weekend - not really for wine but to judge drum & bugle corps contests in McMinnville, Renton and Pasco.
Portland is great for food from the myriad of food trucks and Voodoo Donuts to fine dining at Andina, Beast, PokPok and Le Pigeon, you just can’t miss finding a good meal.
I have only stayed in Portland and traveled in so I’ll let others recommend lodging.
Wineries I would recommend
McMinnville - Matello, Grochau and Love & Squalor - I think they are all still making wine out of the Matello facility.
Portland - @ SE Wine Collective - specifically Vincent & Helioterra
Carlton - Seven of Hearts/Luminous Hills, Scott Paul, Angel Vine, Belle Pente
Eola-Amity Hills - Brooks, Cristom, St. Innocent
I’ve only had a couple of days to explore so far so I’m sure that others will have much more to say.
Brickhouse, Dom Drouhin
Cristom
especially if you are open to stemmy and funky
You get tired of driving and need a stop we can have some dinner.
Roy, if you get down to the Eola-Amity Hills near Salem, I think you might be interested in Evesham Wood/Haden Fig. Ask Erin Nuccio about that Grand Echezeaux yeast used in cuvee J. Have a great visit.
There are several very good threads on this already, but something to keep in mind is that the drive from Portland to Dundee can be about an hour, from Dundee to McMinnville can be 20-30 minutes, and from Mac up to Carlton is only about 10 minutes. There are many excellent wineries in the area, as others have listed here.
Down in Amity/Rickreall and towards Salem are spots that don’t often get mentioned but are worth visiting. Johan, Brooks (if you like riesling), Evesham Wood/Haden Fig, Bethel Heights, St. Innocent, Walter Scott, and Cristom.
Most wineries that have regular hours are open till 4 or 5 for at least Friday/Sat/Sun this time of year, but you should do your homework and look them up first. Only takes a few minutes.
In August 2013 my wife and I stayed several days at The Carlton Inn, a very nice B&B in the center of Carlton, enjoyed it very much. We visited Matello, Lenne, Antica Terra, Soter, Prive, White Rose; previously visited Evesham Wood, St Innocent, Patricia Green, Adelsheim, Willakenzie, Scott Paul - all good to excellent pinot producers.
For restaurants, I have had great meals and wine at Tina’s many times, always an excellent wine country experience. The food at Painted Lady is very good, with more of a formal ambience.
Hope you enjoy!
As Ron indicated, searching is a good option. You could probably generate an excellent travel book using the posts and info already archived on this topic.
Bergstrom and Le Cadeau have tasting rooms. You could always reach out to Josh Bergstrom or Tom Mortimer directly.
As a winemaker, I’d expect you’d get more out of one-on-one visits with fellow winemakers. I’d recommend contacting and visiting Jim Andersen at Patricia Green; Marcus Goodfellow at Matello; Brian O’Donnell at Belle Pente; and Erin Nuccio at Evesham Wood. Todd Hamina is active on this board and Biggio-Hamina is worth a visit.
You’ll need to set up the appointments directly. If you’re heading down to Evesham Wood, take in Bethel Heights, St. Innocent, Cristom and Walter Scott…if there’s time for all of them.
If you’re looking for some quick Oregon Pinot snapshots, Oregon Wines on Broadway in Portland offers tasting pours.
There’s a lot of ground to cover and lots of different styles. As said a hundred times previously, Oregon has vintages and the differences between them can be surprising.
Enjoy.
RT
Bergstrom, Cristom, Beau Freres, Brick House, Le Cadeau, St. Innocent, Eyrie, Dom. Drouhin, JK Carriere.
They’re wonderful, with a nice range of wines and styles.
Stay here: http://www.abbeyroadfarm.com/ and wake up to fresh-made goat cheese, wonderful breakfasts, great chats and wines with the owners. Makes for a great home base.
I’m out of town, so it’s a miss for me. Two new wine shops in the valley are Woodard Wines in Mac and Valley wines in Newberg. I find it helpful to direct your tour via tastebud.
Who do you like up here?
Just to chime in to support recommendations for Brooks, Belle Pente, Ayres and Brick House. I also like Stoller, which no on else has mentioned.
Belle Pente doesn’t have a formal tasting room but it’s one of my favorite places to visit. You’ll have to schedule an appointment. You taste in a shed. It has some of the best values in the new world for reds and whites. It’s a good place to buy if you’re looking to stock up. Brian is a good guy, too. My first trip there a llama stood staring at us as we tasted, like he was challenging me. “Come over here and I’ll kick your ass.”
Cowhorn is in the Medford area and it’s getting some good buzz on the board. I haven’t tried them yet.
Lots of good recommendations, and Ron the dick (just kidding!!) is right, there’s a lot more in the archives.
Definitely hit me up if you want to meet up at the SE Wine Collective in Portland, assuming it can work for my schedule. Would love to meet after all these years and barrel taste you on my wines and talk shit about what’s going on here and in Napa and all that. No worries either way, have a great visit.
I went once with my wife. We stayed in Portland, so we could use Starwood points and stay free at the Westin, and it was no problem driving out to wine country for the day, though I’m sure it’s nice to stay out there as well.
Bergstrom was the one winery I really liked as of that point in time, and I made an appointment to visit. Frankly, it was probably the least interesting of my visits. A probably shorter-term tasting room employee met us, we tasted four or five wines, and that was kind of it. Plus, the bottle we purchased (a 2006 SVD pinot of some sort) turned out a few years ago to be a total hot, undrinkable mess (I have read on here that Bergstrom has undergone some kind of stylistic change since then though).
That was in my pre-WBer days, and if you know the right people and the right ways to ask, you could probably have a very different experience. But just as a regular customer calling ahead and making an appointment, it yielded an experience less interesting than most walk-in visits in the area.
I would recommend tasting with Peter Rosback at Sineann just south of Portland. Peter has been a friend of mine for 35 years. He makes wine from grapes in Oregon, Washington, California (including Napa), and New Zealand. PM or e-mail me, and I will send you his cell phone, but he also posts on this BB.
If I could stock my cellar with a large quantity of any one domestic pinot noir, it would be Bergstrom. They’ve lightened up a bit since 2006, and are exceptionally balanced and explosively aromatic. I’ve not had a disappointing bottle since the 2007 vintage, and am constantly wowed. 2011 wasn’t a banner year, and I’ve loved the half dozen various bottlings I’ve had. Even the hot 2009 vintage was rock solid. I had a 2009 Berg Berg on Fathers Day and it was great.
If you go to Belle Pente, Scott Paul or anything else in the Carlton area, I’d be interested in what a winemaker thinks of Carlton Studios. It’s a place where people make wine and they sell it there. I’ve been there twice and hated the wine both times. I’m wondering what others think. It’s a good idea, but I think the best wine is sold elsewhere.
Dukes Family Vineyards would be a stop I would make. The owners, Pat & Jackie Dukes are from Scottsdale, Pat use to be in a small tasting group which I belonged. Good people.