Looking for some recs for places to stay and best vineyards to visit. We have done Napa/Sonoma as well as Piedmont/Tuscany wine trips, so now, I am going to surprise the gf with a trip to Oregon. Any and all recs are greatly appreciated. TIA
Vincent Wine Co.
Great people, great wines.
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Good question, and there are lots of answers. Here’s a recent and excellent/definitive trip report.
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Stayed in McMinnville at The Atticus. Great hotel and restaurant and lots of restaurants and tasting rooms within walking distance
McMinnville is centrally located, so easy to hit the main regions without having to drive too far.
At our recent visit in November, we particularly enjoyed tasting at:
Patricia Green Cellars
Longplay
Evesham Wood/ Haden Fig
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As for where to stay, I highly recommend the Atticus Hotel in McMinnville. McMinnville is centrally located in the North WV, and the Atticius is in a great location in McMinnville, just steps from all the restaurants on 3rd Street.
Here are my notes from two recent trips to the Willamette Valley:
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We really enjoyed tasting with Vincent. Patricia Green was enjoyable, and a little more of a dressed up experience. Beautiful views of the vineyards. It was nice meeting Marcus and Megan, but this was in COVID so didn’t have a chance to taste with them. Kelley Fox was great while Dustin was there, no idea on the new guy. KF and Vincent were similar in terms of aesthetic (at a picnic table outside the winery). We did the 2 hour tour at Cristom. Tour was good, but I much prefer the wines at Goodfellow, Vincent, KF, so probably wouldn’t shell out for that again.
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Big Table Farm, most underrated producer in Willamette. Clare & Brian are great people!
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Plenty of threads on this out there.
I will say picking where to come out here really depends on the vibe you want to have.
Classics:
Beaux Freres*
Patricia Green
Domaine Drouhin
I like great producers with rustic type environments
Vincent
Championship Bottle
Morgan-Long
Sequitur*
Higher end-
Antica Terra
Rodeo Hills Wine*
*I have personal/business connections here - good places, just figured I would add for clarity
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I’m partial to McMinnville since I live there. Lots of dining options, and HiFi Wine Bar is world class.
There are dozens of wineries to visit. My favorites are:
Goodfellow
Walter Scott
Brick House
Patty Green
Domaine Drouhin
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All great recommendations thrown out here so far.
For accommodations, I’d add one. @Will_Hamilton has a gorgeous Airbnb property in McMinville that’s very convenient if you don’t want to make the trip from and to Portland every day. Will’s Violin wines are also outstanding (Both for Pinot and Chardonnay) and a top producer to add to your list (regardless of whether or not you stay at his place).
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I agree with others that McMinnville is great as it’s centrally located and has lots of food/bar options. In terms of wineries, it would help to know what type of experience you like. The style of wine varies considerable in the WV and the experience ranges from in the barrel room tasting with the wine maker to tasting rooms on mountain tops with views. I tend to choose some of both as my partner likes atmosphere while I prefer barrel rooms 
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Lots of great suggestions already. From when we went a couple of years ago the standouts were:
Patricia Green
Goodfellow
Brickhouse (really scenic farmhouse location)
Kelley Fox
Would definitely try to get to Walter Scott next time, love the chards.
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I agree with the group that McMinnville is the best place to stay. 3rd Street Flats is a lovely place to stay, however, if you are celebrating a special occasion, nothing beats staying at Tributary Hotel: pure elegance and first class all the way.
As for Tastings, Domaine Serene is a favorite (see pic)
and also see James Frey, who owns Trisaetum. His smaller, family owned operation is making some spectacular wines that are not to be missed.
Echoing the thoughts of some others -
Atticus Hotel
Food
- Pizza Capo
- La Rambla
- Pura Vida
- HiFi Wine Bar
- Bistro Maison
(all within walking distance of the Atticus)
Wineries
- Goodfellow
- Kelley Fox
- Nicolas-Jay
- Trisaetum (cool art + great riesling)
- Evesham Wood
- Antica Terra (pricey but a cool food and wine experience)
- Arterberry Maresh
- Bergstrom
(and about 15 others)
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We’ve been visiting the area at least once a year for the past few years. We really enjoy tasting at the smaller wineries where you’re tasting with the winemakers or their spouses. We visit some of the same ones every year, and try a few new ones. We usually split our stay between Newberg (Rosmarino has a great winemaker dinner on Friday nights that needs to be booked 2 months in advance) and McMinnville because we like to walk to dinner after tasting during the day. Some of our favorites that I haven’t seen mentioned yet are:
Hundred Suns
J. Craw
David Paige
EIEIO
Arabilis
Longplay
Audeant
Ayoub
Nysa
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I’ll echo many others, but here is my trip report from Feb '23 so still fairly recent. I’ve included some places we ate, transportation we hired, our hotel and the 6 winery visits over 3 days:
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Did you have a rental car? If so, what company did you book through that allowed you to use a driver?
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we had a rental car through Enterprise. Only my name was on the rental but Main Street Drivers has their own insurance policy which covers them if their driver is driving and has an accident. I am no insurance guru but asked a friend who sells insurance by me locally and he said there are policies like that and it seemed above board so I went with it:
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Many of my recommendations have been added, so I’ll add one more to the list - Archery Summit.
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Restaurant rec: Rosmarino in Newberg. Fabulous Italian food and wine list.
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