My wife and I are pairing up with another couple and taking our first trip to WV. We’ll be there for 2 full days, figuring about 6 total tastings. So far, planning to reach out to Patricia Green and Goodfellow, any other recommendations?
Specifically, looking to build a sparkling heavy tasting in to the mix. Anyone specializing or doing really great things with sparkling in WV?
Were likely staying in Salem, most centrally located Marriott hotel.
Last, any recos on dining?
Thanks all in advance!
+1 for Kelley Fox. Brickhouse was also a nice visit, both the wines and the location.
Corollary is all sparkling
We would be happy to host you! (Super self promotion haha)
As far as food goes - Okta in McMinnville is a great, although the list is a little lacking.
Painted Lady is always good
Hifi wine bar in McMinnville is great for a casual dinner with a great wine list.
I’ve got a four day trip planned for June, and been reserving all my tastings and dinner reservations. Used a ton of recommendations from other WBers and Redditors to get to this list…(still so many more I’d like to visit, but will have to save for next time!)
Day 1
Antica Terra
Bergstrom
Evening Land
Rosmarino (dinner)
Day 2
Argyle (for sparkling)
Goodfellow
Violin
Humble Spirit (dinner)
Day 3
(Hiking in silver falls state park)
Vincent
Dinner TBD
Day 4
Beaux Freres
Kelley Fox
Soter
The painted lady (dinner)
Of course plenty of good options depending on your interests and how casual or more formal visits you are looking for. Second for Brick House. Enjoyed the set up and wines are excellent. Not far from PG and Beaux Freres another choice right next door to PG.
In McMinville, I’ve always enjoyed a stop at Eyrie. Haven’t been since they’ve gone to a longer sit down tasting.
Depending on how you’re thinking about geography, Cristom and Bethel Heights in the Eola-Amity hills are closer to where you’re staying and both worthy of stops.
I’ve not visited, but Mellen Meyer and Lundeen are doing some good things with sparkling.
I would include Belle Ponte. Brian does an informal tasting outside at his picnic tables. It is just up the hill from Soter that I also recommend. We have liked Solena as well.
My wife and I took a trip to WV last fall and did several tastings. One of them was with Mellon Meyer which specializes in sparkling wine. If it’s helpful, you can find my notes in this post:
I just came back from 2 days of tasting - link to my notes below. No experience with sparkling, as for meals I left that off my report but we went super casual, and it worked well for us, but mostly all around Newberg:
First night: https://www.syndicatewines.com/newberg/newberg-food-menu
Second Night: https://www.thaitheknotasiankitchen.com/
Third night: https://www.chehalemvalleybrewery.com/
We accidentally found Syndicate as something else we tried to find was closed. This location seems fairly new, big space for the area, and after a day of flying and eating junk on planes/lounges, a nice bowl of soup and panini was a perfect dinner. Thai the Knot is very casual but by 7pm there was not 1 table left and tons of to go orders lined up, very good Thai food. The Brew Pub was fine, we aren’t big beer people but my wife wanted a simple salad and I wanted a burger so it worked.
As for the wineries we visited, it was Goodfellow, Martin Woods, Vincent, Morgen Long, Patricia Green and Kelley Fox:
I would recommend Roco for sparkling. Rollin Soles put Argyle on the map and makes excellent bubbles. If you make it I’d add Anderson Family (pinot and chard) which is close, great wine and view.
If your trip takes you to McMinnville, Violin (pinot and chard) is a must stop, in addition to what’s been recommended.
If you are staying in Salem, please keep in mind that it is a distance to many of the wineries noted above. The closest AVA’s are Eola-Amity and Van Duzer. Among the closest wineries are Bethel Heights, Cristom and Lingua Franca.
Salem does not have the “wine country ambiance” of McMinnville/Carlton/Newberg.
Some dinner options if you do stay in Salem:
If staying in Salem, would recommend St. Innocent. Great wines and options for food pairings.
Good call on Silver Falls State Park!
Places I would send my friends to:
In Carlton, Lavinea and Flaneur for tasting in town. Belle Pente is a few miles outside of “downtown” Carlton. Horseradish is a good spot for lunch. Earth & Sea for dinner.
Newberg: Patricia Green, Beaux Freres, Shea, J. Christopher. For dinner, Jory Restaurant in the Allison, Rosemarino, Newburgundian.
McMinnville: Violin, Harper Voit. For dinner, Thistle, La Rambla.
Dundee: Elevee, Alexana, Arterberry Maresh, Evening Land.
Salem: don’t stay in Salem. Bethel Heights, Walter Scott, Cristom for tasting.
Very few producers make more than a single sparkling bottling.
For a sparkling heavy tasting, the only real choice is Argyle in Dundee. Not a big fan of their base level wines, but I’ve enjoyed the single vineyard wines, particularly Knudsen and the extended triage series.
Soter makes several sparklings, but I doubt they would have more than one on a tasting flight without special arrangements.
ROCO makes several sparklings, as does newish producer Lytle-Barnett. Lytle-Barnett lists the Carlton Winemakers Studio for tastings.
You could possibly arrange a tasting with the Winemakers studio for a sparkling flight from the various producers they pour.
Johan vineyards in Rickreall is in the vicinity of Walter Scott and Cristom and offers sparkling in their lineup.
Domaine Serene has concentrated heavily on their sparkling program in recent years - and is worth checking in on. Domaine Willamette (Willamette Valley Vineyards) - is a facility focused on sparkling in the Dundee Hills. Trisateum has a good solid list of sparkling as well - under their Pashey label at the winery. I’d check any of those 3 out, worth generating an opinion!
That may be true but I did see someone mention Corollary Wines further up-thread. I’ve never done a formal tasting with them – just picked up some bottles from Jeanne & Dan who then opened a couple for us to try. But I believe (based on some Instagram sleuthing) that they pour 4-5 different sparklers at their tasting appointments. I think they do their tastings at Winter’s Hill Estate between Dundee & McMinnville.
I would recommend White Rose,Domaine Drouhin, and Winderlea. For dining, stay away from Dundee Bistro. Beautiful looking food with no flavor at all. All 6 of us said the same thing. We asked for some last and pepper and almost instantly came out salt, black pepper, and crushed red. Somebody had this ready to go knowing how tasteless the food was.