I’m looking to do a long Memorial Day weekend in the Willamette Valley area, and visit a handful of wineries while I’m there. Walter Scott is partnering with Bethel Heights Vineyard, Cristom Vineyards, Failla Wines, Lingua Franca & Evening Land Vineyards for an “Eola-Amity Block Party”, with each winery hosting something at their own facility, which sounds pretty neat. Are there any other events that weekend I should be aware of?
Sure, most folks that are appointment only or that are never open are open Memorial Day (and Thanksgiving Day) weekend(s). As a mailing list/club member, I know that Goodfellow will be open next Saturday, 11 - 4, and Patricia Green will be open next Saturday and Sunday, 10 - 3. There also appears to be a big tasting at Vincent’s facility in Eola Amity with Vincent, Grochau and Red Electric wines next Saturday and Sunday 12 - 5. I don’t know the details about the “Eola-Amity Block Party,” but you can easily make a day of it in Eola-Amity with those wineries and include Evesham Wood. Don’t miss Walter Scott. Based on Erica’s email last week, they are down to the last handful of 2017 cases.
We’re having our 12th Anniversary Celebration on Monday. We’ll be pouring all our beers, tapping a hoppy (massively dry-hopped) lager, and selling a limited edition 12th Anniversary clay stein. We also will have Goodfellow Chardonnay and Cameron Spritz on tap.
That’s awesome. I should have included Heater Allen in my first post. That’s a definite visit if you are in the area and like beers. Hopefully, I’ll be able to visit with Rick the last week of June.
James
Yeah definitely come by if you’re out tasting Memorial Day Saturday or Sunday noon-5pm. I can’t be there Sunday but the wines will be. Address is 9360 SE Eola Hills Road. Not sure what’s going on with the block party but definitely come to the Eola Hills!
I’ve done Memorial Day weekend there the last two years. It’s a blast. The official website is super useful: https://willamettewines.com/
My wife and I will be in the area early June following Memorial Day…Anything going on? Any Berserker winemakers gonna be around?
I’ll be on the road then but I’m sure you’ll find some Berserkers to visit.
Biggio Hamina has Denison, J. Craw, SchöneTal and Hill Road (maybe, I have to double check) all pouring. Two of them are offering their first wines ever (I make them). Saturday only 12 to 5.
Thanks for the recommendations everyone. I think I’ll focus on Dundee/McMinville on Saturday, and Eola/Salem on Sunday.
Rick - I may stop in around lunchtime on Saturday. I’ve heard good things about your beer.
Todd - looking forward to trying your wines late Saturday afternoon.
Vincent - sorry to miss you, but I’ll swing by on Sunday to try the wines.
Oh - this will be my first holiday weekend going through Oregon wine country. How slammed do all the wineries actually get? Is it buzzing/comfortably busy, or does it get slammed like the bigger wineries in Napa?
I’ve only been to Oregon wine country once (for the eclipse in 2017) and everywhere was reasonably quiet and wonderfully laid back.
I think where you are focusing you probably won’t have too much of a problem. Dundee can be very traffic heavy and unless something changes Highway 18 between Dundee and McMinnville is closed making the Lafayette 99W area super problematic. Maybe they will have it re-opened this week. Saturday is assuredly the busier of the two days but most times if you find a winery to be busy it’s because it is small and doesn’t have room for many people. Sunday, especially in the morning, will be quiet almost everywhere.
Highway 18 work is supposed to be complete by Friday and regardless it is open for the weekend. Hope you make it down to Eola-Amity!
You beat me to it!
Good news. That has been a thorn in some employees’ sides as of late. Once one thing gets shut down/re-routed in this part of the world everything else sees the impact in spades.
And don’t expect anything fancy or contrived here at BHC. It’s just principals slinging their juice.
And Hill Road is not pouring with us this Saturday.
Damm you guys are making it difficult for me. I don’t know if I should visit, Vincent, Todd, David, Marcus, or Jim on Saturday. They better have spit buckets for me otherwise I’ll never make it back to I-5 without driving into the ditch.
We bottle the 5-7th, but if you’re in before that give me a shout.
Spit buckets are plentiful(and if you prefer a cup, we have those too). We will have about 12-13 wines open and I am guessing that’s half of Jim will be pouring.
