Snooth Talk: Oregon!

Wine & Travel

: Oregon!; Posted by mark, Feb 29.; I'm vacationing in Oregon this summer. Are there particular wineries around the Portland area that are recommended or especially worth seeing? I've never been to Oregon but I love the Pacific Northwest.

117 176: Reply by RBoulanger, Feb 29.; Oregon's a big state, but I assume you are going to Portland and figuring it out from there. The Willamette Valley starts about 10 miles southwest of the city and the wineries pretty much flow from there to California border. However, it is more of a "we farm grapes" culture than the Disneyland for adults atmosphere of Napa!

Maybe you should prepare by hitting this Oregon tasting next week:

Wednesday March 5th
Discover Oregon Wines
W Hotel – Union Square
201 Park Ave South
Tasting 3pm-7pm
Presentation + chef demos 3:30pm and 6pm (discussion on “customers’ perception of sustainable practices in the wine industry”)
RSV Chip Stevenson 212 477 8090 – chip@tbtpr.com

91 33: Reply by akops41, Feb 29.; the rogus valley is pretty and they have a few producers there. its more southern near Medford and Ashland - a good place to visit if you like Shakespeare.(they have a festival there every summer)

223 531: Reply by mark, Feb 29.; @RBoulanger. Excellent idea. I'm going to go to that tasting...
@akops41: I think the rogue brewery must be down there. I was hoping to visit there as well...

123 200: Reply by HondaJohn, Feb 29.; I was just up in Oregon last month (nice to go off season when it isn't busy). Wineries I went to that I liked:

- Panther Creek - Great little place
- Witness Tree - Great little place
- Ponzi - more expensive than I thought but still good
- Domaine Serene - more main stream but great experience there

- Archery Summit - good wine but way more pretentious than they need to be

I work part time at winery on the weekends here in Cali so it was very interesting to see how they treat industry people. Any way, I have a ton of recommendations so hit me up if you need more.

John

223 531: Reply by mark, Mar 1.; Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely put those on my list to check out.

223 531: Reply by mark, Mar 6.; By the way, the Oregon tasting ended up being rather pleasant. Mostly smaller producers looking to expand their operations to the East Coast. No complaints from me! More "green-ot noir" for us New Yorkers.

123 200: Reply by HondaJohn, Mar 8.; Mark ... what were your favorites?

I also heard that Memorial Day weekend is a basically Open House for all the wineries in Oregon. I might have make a road trip because I'll need a car to bring back all the wine!

223 531: Reply by mark, Mar 10.; Let's see... I enjoyed the Pinots from Maysara Winery. They had a richer quality to them. I also really enjoyed Naked Winery's "Tease" Riesling. Very nice. EIEIO and Company has simple, classic Pinots that were quite easy drinking. And the folks from Woolridge Creek were a good part of the event -- interestingly enough they're to the south and I enjoyed their Syrah and Cab... Not what I think of when I think of Oregon.

44 3: Reply by staceybrick, Apr 1.; Last Thanksgiving, I stayed in Grant's Pass which is near Medford and Ashland at the southwest part of the state (pretty close to the California border). Not sure if you will be traveling to those parts, but we had a great time wine-tasting when we visited there. My favorite wines and wineries were Troon, Woolridge Creek, and Schmidt Family Vineyards. Schmidt Family has a really beautiful tasting room and Woolridge Creek has a nice outdoor picnic area. If you are in that area, I highly recommend trying them.

223 531: Reply by mark, Apr 2.; Great, thanks. Unfortunately I think I'll be further north otherwise I definitely would have liked to stop by Woolridge Creek.

A return visit, perhaps!

223 531: Reply by mark, Jul 14.; Well, I'm back from Oregon! I definitely visited a few of the wineries here, missed some of the ones I wanted to see, but all in all it was a great trip. I'll post pictures once I've had a chance to sleep -- I'm at the office now but we took the red-eye back so I'm completely exhausted and catching up on emails, etc to prep for being fully back in the saddle tomorrow.