docdan1

I am literally writing this mid-trip from the veranda of a B&B outside of McMinnville OR, enjoying a cool summer morning and a spectacular view of the Valley. The Willamette Valley (WV) is Oregon's wine growing area, known for its Pinot Noir wines. About 150 very small wineries are in this area, but it is still "off the map" of many oenotourists, so it is very laid back and not overly commercialized, but at times traffic is an issue, so be careful planning a driving trip that has a tight agenda.
I tried to plan out a dozen wineries to visit and had a plan. The plan instantly blew up as the first winery we tried to visit had changed it's opening times! So we improvised, Then the second stop gave us a suggestion I thought was good to act upon, and the "plan" was promptly tossed into the trash. It turns out in retrospect, this turned into the optimal "plan," and the pros in this area agree. If you are planning a trip to this area, just pick out one or two wineries to start with and let THEM offer suggestions, and then the next place will tell you the next place, etc, etc.
So we flew into PDX Tuesday night and stayed at the very nice BW Soldier Pony Inn near the airport, a fine and well run facility. Saw on many blogs NOT to trust the front desk staff with restaurant suggestions, but the shuttle van driver seemed a bit more into lhe local scene and he recommended the Cha'Ba Thai restaurant on 5810 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97213, and that was an outstanding recommendation. Really, really good Thai food.
The next morning we rented a car and drove south past Salem OR into the valley. Stopped in the tiny hamlet of Rickreall to start our tasting with the Eola HIll tasting room. This is one of the larger producers of pInot in this region and their PInots are consistently very good. WE then drove north to the Firesteed and Johan Vineyards in turn. The WV in July is a lovely drive, as the agriculture here is quite varied, so the landscape is full of constantly changing intensities of gold, brown and green, not unlike late summer in Tuscany ( well, almost) AS these are small wineries, most have only 10 to twenty employees, (if that many) and the work at these places are motivated and pleasant, and generally have known the staff members at the next place for most of their lives, so there is no need for any cut-throat competition or exclusive attitudes. Everyone wants you to enjoy the experience and learn something about their wines, and are very keen to offer suggestions concerning lodging, food, and driving routes.
WE had carried along with us a carry out box of Thai food from the night before for lunch, and the staff at Johan were quite fine with us munching lunch while they went through the wines in our tasting. Following that, we drove over to our B&B, The Youngberg Hill Vineyards and INN, run by the very personable Wayne and Nicolette. This facility is fantastic, as the B&B building commands a most spectacular view of the entire valley. absolutely breath taking! They have a generous coffee service and breakfast, and a complimentary wine tasting from 4-5 for guests. The room we were offered, was comfortable, but lacked adequate A/C and the day was hot, so sleeping had to wait until a few hours after sundown when the outside air temp fell, and the shades in the morning did not completely block the light, so DW will not have good sleeping memories of this place, otherwise, it is worth the trip here to spend a night.
OK, time to him the road for our second day of exploring.

NewbE

Loving this report, keep it coming! We are going back to the Willamette Valley in a couple of weeks for our third trip, and we can't wait.

FaceInTheCrowd

Nice to see you're going off the beaten path a bit, and thanks for the mention of Johan. I'd almost forgotten about it, and I recall they make some decent chardonnay there, too.

Good choice of B&B; we've stayed there a couple times. Is Thistle (McMinnville) in your plans for dinner one night?

Enjoy! And I'm looking forward to seeing what other wineries you visit.

gailscout

The report is great! We are going up there soon.

Could you possibly put a space between your paragraphs to make it easier to read? Thanks!!

docdan1

I apologize, I am tardy in getting back to this board as events started to add up, and access to the computer became limited. And the above suggestion about spacing in between paragraphs is appreciated.

We wound up having dinner at the marvelous Pura Vida Cucina of McMinnville. www.puravidamac.com. Run by a couple where the gent is from Mexico and the lady is from Puerto Rico, and while the fare is clearly "Latin" they are not restrained by the usual labels and expectations. I did, however, have a marvelous paella while the DW had a variety of non-meat tapas type dishes, washed down with some very well made caiparinhas. Definitely a thumbs up.

The restaurant scene on this 3rd St of McMinnville appears to be similar to the Napa/Sonoma valley area of California, in that one needs to run an amazing restaurant to compete with the other amazing restaurants down the street, so it is a fun place to visit, and a bad meal seems to be a very rare occurrence.

WE found the experience at Youngberg Hill Vineyards and INN to be a very fine choice, with the caveat that the room is not well light- and sound-proofed, so that the morning sun and farm activities did not allow for sleeping in. A staff member named Becky served up a marvelous breakfast of French toast, and the coffee service was always fresh and plentiful.

After Breakfast and check-out, we then went a bit further afield to the Coere de Terre Vineyard, which was recommended by Becky, and double checking that the website confirmed they opened at 11am. So, about a mile away, we passed a sign that read "tasting room: CLOSED" But I elected to continue. Then, about 100 yds from the winery is another identical sign reading "Tasting Room: OPEN" So, thoroughly confused, we parked and approached the tasting room, realizing we were following a large party of approximately 10 people, who obviously were expected and accordingly greeted with great deference. DW and I were very concerned we were crashing a private event. A French Gentleman named Jacques saw us and hurried up to us, stuck his face in mine, and asked "What did the sign say?"

DW and I giggled a bit and I tried to explain our findings with as much diplomacy as I could muster, "one said open and one said closed." Jacques promptly rolled his eyes, spun on his heels, gestured to heaven as if imploring the Almighty for extra patience, then motioned us to a counter, pulling out two glasses and a bottle of a white blend. "Here please start with this, someone will be here with you shortly," then scurried without hesitation back to the Blessed Ten visitors. I yelled, "so, are you open or closed?" He only yelled, "not to worry, you're are fine!" I then observed to my wife, "Darling, the French think you are fine, but I knew that already. Unfortunately, he didn't clarify their status."

Indeed, just a few minutes later another gentlemen, Eric, came up and apologized for the confusion. I then again asked, "So, are you, in fact, open or closed?" Again, the response: "you're fine." Again, the obligatory reference to my wife's attractiveness. Eric finally did clarify that he followed us up the road and it was his job to ensure the signs read the correct status, which by this time, was in fact, OPEN.

This being wine country, patience is a highly prized attribute, so when the sun rises and sets, it is on time, and when workers show up for work, they are on time, and when guests and clients show up to visit, they are on time, and comparison words such as "late" or "early" reflect a way too bourgeois obsessive-compulsive understanding of the nature of time.

I guess.

Anyway, we had a nice visit there, and also at the Coelho Winder of Amity; the latter staffed by a new person who actually know less than we had hoped about heir industry. The Coelhos had a very nice port style wine, their family originally coming from Portugal. More in a bit

docdan1

Correction to above: The Coelho winery of Amity, run by a Portuguese-American family, who offered the usual selection of wines from locally grown vineyards, but also a locally made port wine, which we enjoyed.

On the way from Coere de Terre to Amity, we drove (not entirely by design) down some very BACK backroads, and noticed we were passing hazelnut groves. As hazelnuts are not commonly available as local produce we asked where we could purchase some of this local nut production. At the winery's staff's suggestion we stopped by the very nice McMinnville Thursday afternoon farmer's market, which was a nice reprieve from just talking about wines. AT this farmer's market we picked up some hazelnut butter and a street vendor Rubin sandwich. pause. . . Just re-read that last sentence. How surreal is that? hazelnut butter and a Rubin from street vendors.

Following the Rubin, we set out for our final winery, the secluded Native Flora vineyard (www.nativeflora.com) This place had the best pinot noir we had and also an outstanding rose', and also had killer views of the north W. Valley. A wonderful visit.

With that, we left our oenotourism and joined our family for the reunion, two final recommendations are: Bamboo Sushi, 404 SW 12th St, in Portland. I'm sure it may be impossible to find bad sushi in Portland, but this is a delightful location with inside and sidewalk seating and a very fine, attentive wait staff; and, the Ecola Creek Lodge, if needing a place to stay on the Oregon Coast. quite quaint, but very well maintained with a helpful and friendly staff.