Any suggestions for the Willamette Valley. About 4-5 wineries
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We did a trip to Willamette in January and had a great visit. Below is a recap of our visit. More than you asked for, but oh well. (Disclaimer: this has not been edited for grammar, spelling, etc)
Oregon
January 9-16 2016
Saturday morning we flew out of GSP headed for Portland. This was our first time flying Southwest and were a little wary of the unassigned seating. We had the early bird loading and it actually worked out well. The flights were uneventful and we land in Portland just before lunch. We picked up our car and head to Pok Pok for lunch. After a great meal and unwinding a little, we headed over to Storyteller to see Michael unfortunately he was closed for a private event so we headed to Woodblock Chocolates. I have enough wine anyways. After sampling the wares and picking up a half dozen bars and a T-shirt, we headed to the Enso wine tasting room to pick up a bottle. Allen at Woodblock had recommended it. We took a bottle of Mourvèdre to the rental house so we would have something to sip on during dinner.
On our way to the house we stopped off at Red Hills Market to get something for dinner. With salads and Mac and Cheese in tow, we drove towards Amity where our Air BnB was located. We located it pretty easy and unpacked. The building is a steel garage the converted to a house. It has a bedroom, bathroom, loft, and back room, the rest is open space. It is very cool and I would be happy to live in a house like this with a few minor changes. Our hosts left a bottle of Me… and a fridge stocked with basics. We took quick showers, had dinner and a glass of wine, we crashed.
Sunday January 10
We woke up around 4am since we are still on east coast time. We had breakfast and got our stuff together and headed to Willamette Mission State Park for a run. It was 34deg when we started the run but wee quickly warmed up and started striping clothes. The park is ok but the trail is dead flat and groomed. We had hoped for something a little more rugged. After adding some mileage on the road to get nine miles, we headed to an early lunch at Farmers’ Plate and Pantry in Carlton. They have a great brunch and a very relaxing atmosphere. I had the breakfast burrito while Caroline had the eggs with beef brisket bacon. She also had a mimosa will I had a beer.
We had some time to kill before out first tasting so we figured we would walk around a little. We noticed Honest Chocolates just a few doors down from FPP and decided to give it a try. It didn’t hurt that Seven of Hearts also tastes there. After picking out some chocolates we sided up to the bar for a tasting with Ben and Mac. We talked about their wines and where we were tasting, it turns out Ben used to work with Mesmery Blake who we would be seeing at Soter. We tasted through seven wines and took home a Mourvèdre and tanat. Not what we expected to take home from Oregon.
When we left Seven we put the top down on the way to Soter since it was a beautiful day. As we drown onto the site we realized why Mesmery loved working there, it is a beautiful place with awesome views. The tastings are held in what used to be the common space of the owner’s house. They had the bedrooms in two different cabins located nearby. They are in the process of building a new house so the old one was converted to the tasting room. We tasted through their wines and were impressed by the Chardonnay and the last Napa cab Steve made before leaving Napa. We picked up a few chards but decided the totally awesome cab was a little too pricey for our first day.
After the tasting we headed to White Rose Winery. It is as beautiful as Soter with a view of Mt Hood. The Pinot Noirs are White Rose are fabulous, even with a nose of pot. The wines definitely need a few years in the bottle but I think we will enjoy them. The better experience was taking to Margo about hiking and Joe about hot both gave some great info to help lead our adventures. (Joe may not have been his name, but it is close enough).
After leaving White Rose we headed to the grocery store in McMinville to get some dinner makings then back to the rental to eat and relax.
Monday January 11
We woke up early to have breakfast and head out to hike at the coast at Cascade Head State Park. Unfortunately the trails were closed due to a landslide, but they didn’t bother to post it to their website. We checked date interwebs and found Roads End State Park close by so we headed there. The directions were very poor so we decided to venture to the beach and just walk there. After a short out and back we walked up the road to get a few more miles in, and we found the trail at the end of the road. Duh. Pew thought the trail had some steep sections and then we go to the real steel section it was enough that it reminded us of the Princes Bride when Dread Pirate Roberts and Princess Buttercup roll down the hill. Only this was steeper. It was a great view from the top with wind gusts of 50mph. We hiked around a little more and went back to ten car to dry off. On our way to lunch we stopped by a local gallery to check out the wares. They had some great work and one of the artists mad some fantastic pieces. One of the artists is from Darlington County and moved to OR 20 years ago. Lunch was at Wildflower Cafe, Caroline had the oyster PO’ Boy and I had a Burger.
Our first tasting Monday was at Goodfellow with Marcus. We went through about nine wines, both Goodfellow and Matello, they were all very special. It was great talking to Marcus about them and talking about his experiences making wine.
When we left Goodfellow we headed to the bakery to get some cookies then to the grocery store for lettuce. Which do you think I was more exited about? Our next stop was at Vincent Wine Company to taste with Vincent. We already have a bit of Vincent in the cellar and have talked to him a few times, but Paul really wanted to meet him. We tasted through five of his wines and toured the winery. He sent us home with a bottle of his Chardonnay which we thoroughly enjoyed. We will keep buying it.
Tuesday January 12
We slept in a little later than usual today but finally pulled ourselves out of bed to head to Silver Falls State Park. We started our hike in the mist and it continued throughout the day. The trail was nice and the waterfalls were spectacular. The trail was groomed so not challenging but it was a nice nine mile adventure with the out and back trails added in. It would be a great place to run.
We had lunch at Ram Brewpub in Salem. We both opted for the tomato basil soup to warm us up and the salmon salad to be healthy since we knew would be having pizza for dinner. After eating Paul had a few work related calls and emails to deal with before heading back to Amity. Before leaving Salem we stopped by a local bottle shop to get some beer to go with the pizza and to freshen out palate. Paul found a stash of Goose Island Creek Bourbon County Stout at $14 a bottle. He wanted to buy it all but since he already had six at home, he settled for just one and a few other things.
. Since we had expected today to be longer day on the trail, we did not have any tastings arranged. When we got back to wine country, we stopped by Brooks winery since a few people had mentioned it. We liked the reds but honestly the whites were off putting. Rieslings and Muscat can be well made, but these were just not right.
After this we headed to the house to take it easy. This was the first time we had seen the exterior of the house in the daylight. It was a standard metal building but finished off very well inside and out. Very practical.
Wednesday January 13
Today we decided to take it easy and just do yoga to allow our legs to rest a little. We headed to a local studio for their Hatha class. Most of the class attendees appeared to be retirees and the pace and difficulty reflected that. While it was an ok class, it was far from challenging. And to top it off, someone spilled water on our pack holding our post yoga clothes. Awesome.
After yoga we went to Dundee Bistro for lunch. They had a pretty good wine list by the bottle and reasonable prices. Since we had afternoon tastings planned we opted for a couple of glasses, Caroline starting with bubbles and me with a beer. I ordered an Italian Rosso to go with my lamb orecchiette and passed the rest of my beer off to her for her fish and chips. It worked out for both of us. It was a nice afternoon so we walked about five minutes to our first tasting.
Our first tasting was at Lillian/Antica Terra. Unfortunately we did not get to met Maggie but Andrew took great care of us. We shared the event with three other people, two of which work for wineries in the valley and a third was their friend from Canada. Lillian doesn’t serve just their wines at tastings, but also wines that have inspected their wine making. We tasted 12 wines in total, four from other wineries. All of them were great and we will be looking for a few of the non Lillian wines soon. They had them for sale there but we were shopping for OR wines this week. They also provided some small pairings like foie gras, prosciutto and cheeses for some wines. It was a fabulous experience and we hated to leave.
We were running late for our next tasting so we rushed over to meet with Tyson Crowley. While we own a few bottles of his wine, we have yet to open any yet. Tyson gave us a quick tour of the facility and we got to play fetch with his dog for a few minutes. We started out with the Chardonnay which was fantastic. We then moved on to barrel samples, about ten of them. Tyson is working with whole cluster fermenting with different percentages. The La Colina 70% was my favorite I think, very tasty. We finished the tasting with two bottled Pinot Noirs that were drinking well. The tasting lasted about two hours and was one of the best.
After the tasting we headed to Red Hills Market to get some dinner and cookies, then back tot the house to eat and relax.
Thursday Jan 14
Last night was our last at the house so this morning we started packing and loading the car. We pulled it all together and then headed towards Mt Hood to hike. We started the day on the Eagle Creek to Tunnel Falls trail. The trail was more of what we had expected, a little more rugged and steeper in sections. Still nothing like some our trails at home but very nice, and the views were beautiful. We ran into a hiker named Greg and he told us about the best parts of the trails and gave some advice on what to see. We had planned on a 10-12 mile hike but a bridge was out about four miles in so we had to turn around. We contemplated rock hoping the stream but with a 20’ waterfall 15’ down stream we decided it was a little too risky. We turned back and headed back to the car. Greg had recommended we take the the historic road back to Portland so we took his suggestion. We stopped at a couple of waterfalls and one had a great 1.5 miles hike to the top. It was paved but the steepness made up for it, it definitely got our heart rates going. After the hike we made tracks for Portland since our peanut butter sandwiches didn’t go far. We were flagged down by a woman who had locked her keys in her car. It turns out she was a photographer for Nation Geographic, after we were able to unlock her door by squeezing Paul’s arm in the slightly opened window. We continued our journey and stopped at XXXX for dinner. The burritos were great but we felt stuffed afterwards. We headed to the Rivers Edge hotel and checked in and promptly crashed.
Friday
Friday we ate breakfast in the room and then went out for our run. We took the river side trail down the Steel Bridge, crossed the river and back towards the hotel. We had just shy of nine miles when we finished which was a good start to the day. We grabbed our yoga mats and headed to a hot yoga class, hoping for a better experience than we had in McMinnville. Ad some time to kill before the class so we stopped at the North Face store and bought Paul a new fleece since all of his are pretty worn out. The yoga class was fantastic and we both had a good workout. It was much more challenging than the other class had been and I have decided while I do not care for the heat, the hot yoga classes I have done have been more challenging and enjoyable than the regular classes so I may have to make the switch.
After we showered we stopped at the Deschutes Brewing Pub to see what beer they were releasing. When we walked by earlier on the way to The North Face there was a 49 person line outside waiting to get in. They were releasing the Abyss beers, one aged in cognac barrels and the other in rye. We picked up two bottles to share with friends since they will not be easy to come by in SC.
After putting our stuff in the car, we walked to Little Bird to eat lunch. It was the BEST food we ate the entire week. We split the smoked salmon special (fried capers, dill, and an aoli on bread) and the duck confit on a bed of quinoa, onions and something else Caroline can fill in. The duck was one of the best meals I have ever had. The wines we picked were perfect parings and Paul will check to see if they are available in Greenville.
After lunch we swung by Storyteller to see Michael and pick up a bottle of bubbles for dinner. The we went back to the hotel to get packed so we would not have to dal with it after dinner. After packing we headed out to meet Scott, Eric, Harvest, and Beau at Laurelhurst Market for dinner. These are people I have met through online wine dealings like Cellar Tracker and Wine Berserkers. Kind of geeky but a great way to meet people. We had a great dinner and everyone shared some splendid wines from their cellars.
We called it an early night and headed back to the hotel so we could go to sleep at a reasonable time since we had to get up at 4:00 so we could leave the hotel by 4:30 to get to the airport.
Saturday January 16
We woke up on time, showered and headed out. The flight home was uneventful (which is always good when flying) and we landed in Greenville around 4pm leaving us enough time to do laundry, wash one car, grocery shop, and dust mop the house.
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Winderlea and White Rose were my favorites when I visited the region last year.
I think White Rose is the place that the people at Archery Summit will tell you to visit if you want to geek out on clonal expressions in various soils. Willakenzie does a decent job of this. Archery Summit is good to excellent throughout, their long $40 two hour tour is worth it if you have the time. I love tasting in dusty barns, so Beaux Freres is a favorite of mine. The people at Beaux Frere like Mo Ayoub. You should visit Trisaetum for what will be considered world class Riesling some day. Or Brooks if you’re really into whites. And Goodfellow and Patricia Green of course. And Argyle if you want to pick up girls in bachelorette parties getting wasted on bubbles.
Thanks for the great write up, Paul! I’ll be making my first trip to Portland/McMinnville in May, so I’m trying to devour all the information that I can. It’s a bit overwhelming!
I have appointments set up at Patricia Green and Matello/Goodfellow so far. As I’m only in McMinnville for 2.5 days, I’m having trouble narrowing down my other stops. I attended a large Oregon wine tasting event recently and really enjoyed the pinots coming out of the Eola-Amity Hills. Sounds like Vincent might be a good choice based on that. I assume he’s appointment only?
Here are some other stops I’m considering (will sadly not have time for all):
Crowley
Belle Pente
Brick House
Brooks
Trisaetum
Grochau
Eyrie
Remy
Already have plans to stop by Storyteller at least once during the Portland leg of the trip. Maybe I can talk some other Berserkers into a dinner, too. My husband and I always enjoy hanging out with local folks when we travel. SE Wine Collective and Teutonic (assuming the new winery is open when we visit) are also on the PDX agenda.
I’d appreciate any thoughts/suggestions/advice/etc that anyone can provide!
We heard from more than one person to visit Remy but I thought it was a waste of time. It’s just a block away from Eyrie and you can do it in 20-30 mins but I wouldn’t make it a mission. Their marketing is ‘Old World Wines’ or something the only thing they do differently is use Italian varieties. Wines weren’t great. Next door to Remy is Heater-Allen, probably a much better stop.
Remy’s on the list just because we’ll be in the neighborhood. Not a must-do if our time would be better spent elsewhere. Heater-Allen sounds like it might be a better choice. Thanks for the tip!
Mandy, your choices are pretty wide spread. Might want to try to geographically group them. Crowley and Belle Pente are great visits.
Michael
That’s what I’m having the hardest time doing. Too many wineries, and not nearly enough time to see them all. We’re staying in downtown McMinnville, so it’ll be easy for us to hit the tasting rooms there. Might try to fit Crowley and/or Belle Pente into the same day as Patricia Green (who we’re visiting before lunch). Matello is also before lunch, so that afternoon is free.
Visit Walter Scott.
And if you like lagers, Heater-Allen is a must stop.
Definitely Heater Allen Brewing and also close by Westrey, Eyrie, and Britain. All great people and worthy.
Heater Allen is a popular choice! We do love our beer, so we will definitely have to stop by the taproom.
Mandy, please do stop by. Just let us know when you’re coming, so we can make sure we’re around. Our tap room is only open one day a month until we finish fixing it up (been waiting on the plumber for several weeks). Hopefully by summer we’ll be open Friday and Saturday.
Mandy, a winery whose wines I’ve been enjoying of late is Vincent. Since you mentioned a liking of Eola-Amity wines (which I second) you might like to see if our erstwhile board member is present for a tasting at Grochau where I believe he makes his wines. Hope you have a great time, and please report back.
Will do, Rick. Thanks!
Mandy already followed up with me but by all means Berserker people should definitely contact me if you’re coming to this area. I taste by appointment and love meeting new people (and seeing old friends too!).
Mandy, if you are in McMinnville, you are close to Biggio Hamina. PM Todd Hamina on this board to set up a visit.
How could I have forgotten Biggio Hamina? They are on my to-do list of places to contact. Thanks for the reminder!