If you’re driving to Crater Lake from the south you may want to try Sammy’s New Cowboy Bistro in Talent, OR. Also a stop at the Rogue Valley Creamery in Central Point for some kick ass blue cheese.
After DS you might as well hit Archery Summit, right around the corner so you don’t have to backtrack.
Coming off I-5 you can fight your way through Salem or just continue North a little bit and turn off at the Brooks exit, continue west for about 2-3 miles to the Wheatland Ferry Road, turn to the right and continue for 3 miles or so, you will be going through the Oregon Hop producers. Turn left at the sign for the Wheatland Ferry and it is down the road a mile or so. Costs $2 to take the ferry across the Willamette, just takes a few minutes. After you get off the Ferry you will go for a few miles until you hit the main from from Dayton to Salem. Go left and you will be heading to the Eola Hills, turn right and you will be heading to Dayton and Highway 99.
Great recommendation.
Great recommendation, but note that it’s a good 2 hours drive between the two spots.
Thanks all. Saturday is the big day and we’ll get in early. We’ll piddle around Portland and then Oregon Wines and Carafe. Then down to Roseburg for scenery and a stop at Abacela and maybe one other. The trip back north Tuesday we’ll stop at maybe St. Innocent or Witness Tree and head up to dinner at Joel Palmer (SO’s brother has always wanted to go) and then to Carlton for our B&B. Anybody have a lunch eating recommendation in the Salem area?
Wed Tina’s for lunch, Torii Mor and a couple of wineries around McMinville (TBD) before dinner at Nicks. Thursday it’ll be appts at Belle Pente then Patricia Green before heading into Portland. We’ll fit in the Carlton Winemaker Studio and Scott Paul somehow.
Portland is still open, probably one day in the Columbia Gorge and more enjoying the food, wine and sites in the city. Are dinner reservations a must on weekends?
Thanks again for all he recs for wineries, food, travel ideas, etc. Oh and the weather which is suppose to be fabulous. Maybe we’ll see some of you locals around. 
Chris
PS I will of course report afterwards
PSS Any recommendations for a place to consolidate wine purchases for shipment out of Portland?
Just back and had a great time including not hearing anything about the Domaine Serene lawsuit until I got back. Quick impressions.
We spent most of the time NOT in the wine country. A couple of days down in Roseburg and several days in Portland so the Willamette time was more compressed than I thought. Still Portland, Crater Lake, the coast and Columbia Gorge are pretty nice. ![[thumbs-up.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f84c5acc11486ee4baba6dee6cf61dbd133abb18.gif "[thumbs-up.gif]"){kind=small}
Started at Higgins on night one on the recommendation of various folks plus the wholehearted endorsement by the funny and foulmouthed wine slinger at Oregon Wines on Broadway. The Broadley Shea 07 and the Westrey Pinot Gris (07?) were my fave at the bar. Higgins was excellent, great service and a lovely light Amity Pinot Blanc 07 was a nice way to finish the evening.
Food in Roseburg is…forgettable. Our B&B in Roseburg, C.H. Bailey House, on the other hand, was top notch. Highly recommended! The basic Abecala Umpua Cuvee 07 Tempranillo was lovely and made me wished they’d had the estate at the mediocre restaurant. The Albacore sandwich at Luna Sea Fish House in Yachats on the coast was tremendous though!
First food stop in Willamette was Joel Palmer. The food was consistently excellent; a special mushrooms in butter appetizer was out of this world. Everyone was very pleased with the meal beginning to end. I had a question about the wine and the chef/owner, Chris Czarnecki, came out to help (one of 3 times he visited the table). The Torii Mor Temperance Hill 2004 he suggested was really wonderful, complex, great nose and drinking perfectly (smoke, Asian spice, rich, earthy, mulch). Amongst the other great but young wines we had, the one with the bit of age took the prize for wine of the trip. The service was totally hit and miss – anytime a restaurant doesn’t come back and ask a table of 4 whether they want another bottle of $100 wine is having problems. We’re going to write the very, very nice Chris a note because the experience would have been totally memorable otherwise. We hope they get their act together.
Forgot to mention: we stayed at the RR Thompson House B&B in Carlton. Great location and lovely house but the innkeepers could learn a lot from the folks at the Bailey Place. Kinda scattered but the breakfast was nice. Not bad but not highly recommended.
Next day, Tina’s for lunch and a great chicken and bacon sandwich on kick ass bread. But to start we had a lovely tasting at the Carlton Winemakers Studio where a Brittan 2006 Pinot Noir Basalt Block was the standout amongst a pretty impressive lineup (Wahle and Hamacher PN were excellent too). Nick’s was a bit of a disappointment. We weren’t hungry enough for a 5 course pris-fixed dinner and actually nothing was over the top great. (Everyone we talked to including Brian at Belle Pente and Jim at Patty Green were surprised so I am very willing to give them another try.) On the other hand the excellent Willakenzie Pierre Leon 06 Pinot was my 2nd favorite of the trip.
Back to Portland where we walked over the bridge to a great meal at La Pigeon – meal of the trip – with a bit of a disappointment tart and lean St. Innocent Temperance Hill 07. I wanted to reach over and try the frog leg pasta and bone marrow dishes that our table mates were having. Not that expensive either. Both Mother’s and Bigou were excellent at breakfast with Mom getting the nod by a significant stretch.
Last night with the SO’s brother and niece was at Jake’s Seafood and it was quite good – salmon and rockfish dishes were really tasty. (Oops, forgot the salty, delicious raw oysters [Washington state, forget which ones] that made me forget my home state Louisiana versions.) A Dewey Kelly Ribbon Ridge 06 Pinot really shocked me. A moderately priced wine that way over-performed. That Ribbon Ridge is one fine place for Pinot!
More later but thanks for all the advice and sorry we didn’t get to stop by at Rick’s for a taste of his beer!
Some photos:
Willamette Valley with Brian from Belle Pente and Jim from Patty Green
Portland Chinese Garden
Crater Lake
Columbia Gorge and Mt. Hood
Here they are all in one place (for the masochists amongst you):
