PamSF

whoops that's Willamette Valley.

kimamom

Easytraveler, I just thought of another very famous Oregon wine. While we were in the Seaside, OR area for half of the summer, we would go into the Wine Haus frequently to sample their PNW wines there.

We tasted one that we loved, but didn't have a chance to visit the winery. It is called Big Fire by RStuart. They had very nice Pinots there. www.rstuartandco.com is the website.

I also read in the Pelican Post that this wine is featured in some of the north coast restaurants. I believe the Wayfarer in Cannon Beach may have it on their wine list there. Cheers! ***kim***

kimamom

Easytraveler: will you be on the northern coast at all? I could recommend some very nice wine shops for tasting in that area. ***kim***

easytraveler

AWESOME!!!

Truly, truly awesome!!!

Thanks so much for all the wonderful references! I've set up a tentative itinerary and will definitely go by way of McMinnville. Found a wine tasting place there called "The Oregon Wine Tasting Room" where many different types of wine can be sampled. Most importantly, these include ones from vineyards that are normally closed. Has anyone tried this tasting room? Or can you recommend a better one?

PamSF: Great recommendations! Definitely! Definitely! I'll try the Broadley and maybe acquire a few bottles!

Kimamom: Great recommendations too! Will try at least one of the restaurants on your recommended list! Our itinerary is not quite set, so haven't selected the perfect one yet!

As for the north coast of California, yes, we will be headed down along the coast but will not be taking Highway 128. We're planning on a tour of the coastal towns up to Fort Ross and then we'll cut over to the Sonoma Valley.

Our journey so far is:
Columbia Gorge - views
McMinnville - drinks
Oregon Coast - views
N. Cal Coast - sunset and redwoods
Sonoma - more drinks
San Francisco - sleeping

She returns home to Paris, drunk with scenery and wine!

For one evening, she wants to watch the sunset over the Pacific - from her bed! (I honor all strange requests!)

YEEEHAA! Oregon! Here we come!

Thanks a million! Fodorites are the bestest!

stormygirl

We've gone to the Tasting Room and it is good, I like going to the individual places better. If you use the link I posted you can call and make an appt. with almost any and all of the wineries. Almost all the wineries are closed except by appt. It's just that they are small and don't have a lot of people working, not exclusive or upity though so definately call and make a few appts. You'll be treated to private tastings, tours and more!! Cheers!

kimamom

Hi easytraveler, I meant the north coast of OR, not CA! LOL There are some fun wine shops on the Northern Oregon coast if you will be in that area. ***kim***

easytraveler

stormygirl: Thanks for the website. Is it the Yamhill Wines one? I'll definitely try and make some appointments for just a select handful. Thanks again!

kimamom: We might go up to Astoria to start the Oregon coastal portion. I'd be open to going to any wineshops you might suggest. Already I'm getting this "How could Californian or Oregonian wines compare with our French ones?" Oooo lala! This IS a challenge, a slap on the face with a rubber wine bottle so to speak. Messieurs et Mesdames, our honor is at stake, Mon Dieu!

stormygirl

easytrveler- yes it's the Yamhill Assoc. site that I posted a above.

kimamom

We've had a home in Astoria for over fifteen years, so I know this quaint, adorable little town full of culture and history like my backyard. www.oldregon.com is a website for you!

The Wine Shop on 10th Street is a new wine shop that where you can sample many PNW wines. It's a beautiful little shop, located downstairs on 10th, just follow the signs. There's a very nice tea house that just opened right next door. Windsor House of Tea is there.

If you and your friend like spas, the Columbia River Day Spa is very nice. I'll give you some great restaurant suggestions for Astoria: The Ship Inn for fish and chips, The SilverSalmon Grille for salmon, The Cannery Cafe and Fulio's for the best Italian food on the coast. Peter Roscoe has done an excellent job this this place since his move from Portland.

There is also the Shallon Winery, www.shallon.com which has some very interesting unique wines there.

In Cannon Beach, the Wine Shack is a nice place and in Seaside, go to the Wine Haus, very informative owner and LOTS of PNW wines there to sample.

If you go over the bridge, it's not as scary as it looks, go to the Sanctuary in Chinook, WA for some wonderful food or little further up the road is the 42 Street Cafe with the best wild salmon around! Always crowded and always excellent. Enjoy Astoria, we're re-locating there in three years after our youngest is graduated from high school.

***kim***

kimamom

www.thecellaron10th.com is the website for the shop in Astoria. I hope you get to go to the Maritime Museum, we have been asked by the curator to display "our goods" in the museum for the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial. It's an honor to be able to be a part of this historic event!

Thought of another great place to eat. Schooner's Bistro on 12th Street, right across from the Hotel Elliott. They have a really good sea scallop and linguini there and a REALLY nice Sauv Blanc from New Zealand that I really like. Check out the Peter Pan Market & Deli for some really good sandwiches and the best baked goodies in town. Their carrot cake and rocky road fudge squares are really yummy!

Where are you staying in Astoria? Or are you just passing through? ***kim***

montyw

My recomendations for Willamette wineries were based on a few things!
1: MY favorite wines (thus Belle Pente, J. Christopher, Patricia Green )
2: Favorite Wineries for view atmosphere etc...not necessarily the wines! Thus Sokol Blosser, Chateau Benoit
3: Easy stops along the way i.e. Food and wine - Thus Ponzi Bar in Dundee and then just across the street Argyle.

All of the suggestions here have been great. Be sure to check out the Pinot Gris from the various places as they can be outstanding - I am a pinotphile and find the bigger name producers to not have my style.

We have visited on both the Thanksgiving and Memorial day open house weekends as well as several other regular weekends - if you get the chance go during the open house weekends.

Make sure to find at least one place where you get an appointment as the experience will be different than the fast serve counter

Scarlett

Hello from Portland
The weather is perfect, 70s and sunny and dry. Get here asap LOL
So far, every Pinot Noir that I have tasted is good!
Kim, we had lunch around your hotel Riverplace today, it was very nice.
Portland is Very Nice ~ttfn

kimamom

Glad you're enjoyingPortland! I hope the weather stays nice for you. We're headed over that way in November for several days! ***kim***

easytraveler

Kimamom: Now it's not a choice any more - we'll just HAVE to go by the North Coast of Oregon! Thanks a mil for your many suggestions! Guess we'll just have to plan another Oregon trip after this one - can't possible go to AlL those places in one trip!

montyw: Thanks for your further elucidation! I'll take your comments into consideration when picking and choosing for this trip. I find that individual opinions on Fodors are a lot of objective and accurate than even the guidebooks, so thanks so much for sharing!

Scarlett - welcome to the Left Coast! Seems like the sun came out just for your and the Yankee! Must be lovely in Oregon this week! Have fun!

Have I said this before? You all are AWESOME! Thanks again!

easytraveler

To all of you who gave me such wonderful suggestions: thanks a million! We had a fantastic trip!

Here's the trip/wine report. The sun was shining mightily - we could not have had better weather!

We drove from Seattle to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia where we serendipitously ran into their 2004 Fall Wine Festival. Did some wine tasting and I found their wines were a bit too acidic (bitter) for me. Apparently it's the amount of sunshine they get. Less sun, more acidic. However, they do make great ice wines, where the grapes have to picked when they are frozen. Very sweet dessert wines, the ice wines.

The views were absolutely fantastic. Of all the wine regions I've visited, these were among the most spectacular vineyard views I've ever seen. The vineyards on the east side of Lake Okanagan (Narramata) were some of the best. If you go, try to catch a glimpse of their Loch Ness monster, the Ogopogo. He's cute.

We then drove straight down to Portland but were not able to do much in Portland as we met up with an old friend and spent tons of precious time just catching up - yakkety yak!

Then we drove from Portland the next morning and spent some time on the "Yamhill Route". We stopped off at the Ponzi Tasting Room where I was able to pick up a couple of bottles of Broadley, although this was not on their wine tasting list. The Ponzi Tasting Room had some select wines from other vineyards, so if you can't find a good wine anywhere else, try their tasting room.

While at the new Roth Supermarket in McMinnville buying a few necessities, we ran into their wine steward, James Harp, who proved to be highly knowledgeable about Oregon wines. On his recommendations, I picked up a case of different wines (10% discount with case). I highly recommend James to anyone passing through McMinnville. He mentioned that they have wine tasting every Friday and Saturday.

We also stopped off at Sokol Blosser with their fantastic treehouse-like views. Met some men who had flown their own planes to Oregon from diverse points in the US and they were talking about Mt St Helens and its eruptions, thus, I can't remember a thing about Sokol Blosser wines!

Spent the night at the SeeVue at Yachats, where my friend could see the sunset from her bed - remember that request?! Also it could not be an ordinary place with lots of houses all around, it had to be "isolated" and "by itself". SeeVue satisfied all those requirements. Thank goodness! Not expensive at all and the views were terrific. Very weatherbeaten from the outside, but very clean on the inside and each room is themed "The Princess and the Pea", etc. We stayed in the Crow's Nest.

Then we drove along the coast all the way and hiked Redwood National Park and Point Reyes. Everything was breathtakingly beautiful! We have lots of pictures of redwoods and of sunsets! We also spent a lot of time trying to find the "best" All-American cheesecake, pumpkin pie, etc. Things that she can't get in France!

Last day was spent in Sonoma County wine country, but plenty of time spent shoppingshoppingshopping! She wanted "a digital camera". I thought it was going to be one of those small jobbies, turned out she opted for a BIG multifunction one costing over $1000. No point and shoot for her! Since I tend to drop my camera on each trip, I don't dare look at anything over $400 - LOL!

So much time was spent on camera shopping that we had to dash to Chateau Soverain, then to Ferrari-Carano, and lastly to Rodney Strong and J. At J, we had the paired tastings of food and wine. She liked the elegance of the simple letter "J" on the bottles. Being Parisian and once-upon-a-time in fashion, this comment must count for something! She also liked their Brut and their Viognier which were being tasted that day. Aha! A chink in the solid French armor? Could she possibly think those wines were "good"?

We then drove to San Francisco where I dropped her off at another friend's house. We were offered more wine - this time, Napa wines, along with a good dinner and great views of SF Bay. We said our good-bys in a haze of wine perfumes.

My thanks to all of you again for your excellent, excellent recommendations! We couldn't do it all, have to save something for the next trip!

Came back with three cases of wine - wine list to follow in next post!

Thanks again!

beachbum

Thanks for reporting back. I'll be interested to hear of your friend's comparison of Oregon pinot to French burgundy.

easytraveler

List of wines acquired from this trip:

OREGON
1) At the Ponzi Tasting Room
Broadley Estate Pino Noir 2002

2) At Sokol Blosser vineyards
Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir 2001

3) At Roth's Supermarket (James Harp
's recommendations)

Willakenzie Pinot Noir 2002
Willakenzie Estate Pinot Gris 2003
Ch Benoit White Reisling 2002
Erath Pinot Noir Reserve 1999
Airlie Muller Thurgau 2001
Airlie Pinot Gris 2001


4) Picked up somewhere (maybe at the winery)
Bethel Heights Pinot Noir 2001

Could not find Big Fire by RStuart anywhere!

OKANAGAN VALLEY (Penticton) BRITSH COLUMBIA
All these wines were purchased at the vineyards:

Dry Creek Merlot 2003
Gehringer Auxerrois 2003
Lake Breeze Pinot Blanc 2003
Lake Breeze Pinot Noir 2002
Stag's Hollow Sauvignon Blanc 2003
Tinhorn Merlot 2001
Wild Goose Pinot Gris 2003

OKANAGAN ICE WINES
Lang's Ice Wine Reisling 2000
Tinhorn Kerner Icewine
Wild Goose Black Brant 2003

Best value: Tinhorn
Most colorful label: Wild Goose
Best views: (can't remember! They were all great!)
On the westside: Mission Hill, Sumac Ridge, Tinhorn Creek, Gehringer Brothers
On the eastside: Lang, Hillside, Lake Breeze
Interesting wines: Elephant Island -Narramata (wines made from other fruits and none from grape)

In Penticton, there is an official site, like a wine visitors' convention, that is very informative and carries a lot of the different wines of the region.

I only scratched the surface of the wineries in both Oregon and BC and look forward to more visits!

Cheers all!

kimamom

Sounds like a great time! RStuart Big Fire can usually be found at the Wine Haus in Seaside, OR. They have a very nice selection of PNW wines at great prices.

Glad you were able to try the Broadley Pinot Noir, we just took a bottle to dinner at our favorite restauant where we live.

Chateau Benoit is also one of my favorites. They have a small deli and wine shop at the outlets in Woodburn where stop on our way over to Portland. ***kim***

stormygirl

Erath Pinot Noir Reserve 1999.....Excellent choice! Love this wine, enjoy!!!

Your post makes me very excited for our annual thanksgiving weekend in north willamette!!! Just a month until new cases of wine are bought for our cellar. Yeah!!!!

kimamom

stormygirl, we picked up a bottle of Erath Pinot Noir at the Safeway in Astoria and were underimpressed. Is their Reserve much, much better? Maybe I'll sample some at the Wine Haus or the Wine Cellar on 10th when we come over next month. ***kim***