Hi. I am hoping folks can help with some suggestions for vineyards in the McMinnville area. I am heading out there in a couple weeks and will spend Wednesday and Thursday night in McMinnville. The basic plan is to spend Wednesday afternoon visiting the tasting rooms on 3rd Street. Thursday would used for visiting vineyards in the nearby area.
So far I have Patricia Green on my list. I had really hoped to make a reservation for the two hour Vineyard Tour, but it is fully booked. So it looks like we will sign up for the Classic Tasting.
Durant is also on the list. They have a Vineyard ATV Tour for $75. That seems like it would be a good alternative to the PG Vineyard Tour.
Any other wineries that I should think about? I think we would be more in the “fun” experience than the super serious tasting experience. Better said, I would prefer to avoid sitting with the head winemaker for two hours and then be expected to buy a $X,XXXX of wine.
Also, any recommendations on car service? I thought about the Main Street Drivers service, but I will have a rental car. And I don’t think I can give the keys over to someone who is not on the rental reservation.
I did look through the travel thread for ideas, but it sems most of the posts are three to four years old. Thanks.
Lots of good discussion along the lines you are looking for in this thread.
FWIW Main Street Drivers claims to have insurance that would cover you if their driver damages your rental car. But who knows how that actually works in practice. We decided it was an acceptable risk and didn’t have any issues.
We used S&B transportation, Scott drove us around for 3 days (including pickup and dropoff at PDX). Was pricier than rental + Main Street Drivers but he was reliable and then we didn’t have to worry at all.
The farmer’s market on Thursday afternoon has some great produce (mucho berries . . .).
No Farmers Market this week due to the smoke.
So many great places, you may want to take a look at Granville and see of they have any of the The Private Immersive Experience booking time slots that work for you.
Love Patricia Green - great choice.
I will be there in 2 weeks, so hopefully they will be open then. Thanks for the tip.
I saw something about their insurance coverage. But like you, that seems like an potentially expensive risk.
So the current idea list is Patricia Green, Stoller, Domain Droughin, and Durant. The whiskey tasting at PG is tempting too, but that could wreck the day.
For clarity we went ahead and rolled the dice, everything went great and had no issues, but understand being hesitant.
?? Insurance Coverage ??
i think he meant to quote me re: main street drivers.
Here are a few McMinnville recommendations:
NW Food and Gifts: extremely hospitable store with all sorts of NW products including a large selection of Willamette wines at winery prices. Great staff. Same owners as NM Cru next door. Well worth the visit.
Pizza Capo: Chill environment with good food.
HiFi Wine Bar: Owned by Evan Martin (Martin Woods Winery). Very cool bar, music and provisions.
To sort of hijack this thread a bit, what do people do for lunch when you are out on the north side for visits all day?
We picked up box lunches from Harvest Deli in McMinnville on our way to first appointment and threw them in the cooler, that way we didn’t have to trek all the way back into Newberg or whatever in between stops. Not fine dining but perfectly good and allowed us more scheduling flexibility.
As Justin mentioned, Harvest Fresh in downtown McMinnville is a good option. Also, in Carlton, there are several options, notably the Carlton Bakery to get something to go and The Horse Radish for dining in. In Dundee, there’s Red Hills Market. Things are more difficult in the Eola Hills, as there isn’t much of anything that I’m aware of.