Trip to Oregon - winery suggestions

WINE TALK
1

Greetings,

The week of July 9th, we are heading to Oregon for a fun filled week, half the week we are spending on the coast at Coos Bay/Charleston, the other half we will be in Portland and Willamette Valley.

I am looking for recommendations for wineries in Willamette to try and schedule tastings at. I am overly familiar with Oregon Pinot producers, but would appreciate suggestions. I think we will taste for two days, so hopefully we can try 4-6 producers.

Another questions, are there any good producers in the Coos Bay area?

2

my faves include:

Brick House
Belle Pente
Cameron
Cristom
Evesham Wood
Eyrie
Grochau & Boedecker (co-located)
Hamacher
St. Innocent
Scott Paul

Cristom & Evesham & St. I are all very close to each other near Salem and would make a lovely afternoon trip to the Eola Hills.
Belle Pente, Scott Paul, Hamacher, & Eyrie are also relatively close in Carlton or nearby Mcminnville.
Grochau & Boedecker are located within the city of Portland not far from the trendy NW district or the Pearl.

3

If these all fall within your intended travel path, I’d suggest:

Penner-Ash in Newberg

Elk Cove in Gaston

Carlton Winemakers Studio in Carlton (about 10 small winemakers who don’t have their own tasting rooms). I haven’t been there in awhile and their line-up changes, but really enjoyed the wines from Andrew Rich, who I see is still on their list.

4

Recommendations should be based on what type of wines you like to drink and what your expectations are in the visit. Big difference between meeting with Brad McLeroy at Ayres and whoever’s up to serve at Serene.

5

+1

6

Yeah, about $20 worth of big . . . along with all the other differences. [snort.gif]

7

Aa suggestion. With all the deserved hoopla with the 08s, talk to the wineries on your short list and see what they are pouring currently. Many are still pouring 07s and even 06s. If you are interested in tasting 08s, see if anyone is pouring those , and plan your visits accordingly.

I choose not to participate in the Domaine Serene bashing since I like their wines. They are pouring the 07s now. Many people have bashed the Oregon 07s as being fruitless and lean, if you choose to go there, you will find excellent example of pinot produced in 07, regardless of who pours your wine.

Enjoy your trip.

8

Good point Gordon.

One thought is to book appointments with the winemaker and request to taste 08’s. If not possible then you can cross those from your list.

9

Thank you all for the suggestions thus far. I tend to appreciate speaking with the winemaker or those involved heavily in the operation and through those conversations getting to understand their philosophy toward wine making.

I’ll give the wineries a call and see who has time during those days.

Cheers,
Faust

10

Well, the grounds are nice and the women I saw were much prettier than Brad. Considering the cost of DRC these days, everything they sell is a bargain. [wow.gif]

RT

11

That, sir, is incorrect, but you’ve been saying it for months so it must be true.

12

True, Brad’s not as much fun to look at. Neither is his father in law.

Serene does have nice grounds, which is part of why I don’t like them. They are, in my humble opinion, the antithesis of what Oregon is all about. Pretty good wines, though. And, you’re right: they do consistently beat DRC in blind tastings [rofl.gif]

13

Jim says Domaine Serene has “pretty good wines”, but that is not what Oregon is all about? [tease.gif] I always thought so!

Jim;
Sorry the list of wineries is growing so fast that you don’t like because they have nice modern facilities on nice grounds. Let see. Domaine Serene, DDO, Souter, Lemelson, Archery Summit, Bergstrom,etc.,etc. Did you stop liking St. Innocent when they finished their new facility? Is Dick Shea’s new place too much for you too? Have you added him onto the bad boy list? Still close to a barn. Thank goodnes for Brickhouse, Belle Pente, and BF, the number of barns is dwindling for you.

14

The last I looked, Bergstrom was in the same old barn with a disgustingly pretentious tasting room and tasting format added on - and a $15 fee. St. Innocent’s facility is the architectural equivalent of a zit on the end of your nose. Or the design equivalent of a Citroen. Your call.

EDIT: I see that Bergstrom has now abandoned the appointment-only sit-down-with-Riedel Sommeliers tasting policy. Good to see they’ve come to their senses. They’ve also reduced their prices from their highs. Gordon will tell us it’s because they’re stuck with crappy 07s, but the prices are still down for the 08s from what I can tell. That’s because they raised them for the most fundamental reason. They could. Now, not so much.

15

Bob;

We are in perfect agreement on St. Innocent’s new facility and Bergstrom pricing. Josh did raise pricies because he could, and now he can’t. Haven’t been to Bergstrom’s tasting room in awhile. Didn’t know about the change in policy. Lat time I was there, 18 months ago, they did two different flights of wine, at different prices, with a regular tasting room hours.

16

You could see me (I know, a shameless plug) but I’m out of 08 whites and haven’t bottled the 09’s yet. Out of most 07’s too… so 08 PN’s.