Help with Oregon Wine Trip
 

Hi,

I am starting to do research for a trip to Oregon next year for my 15th anniversary. We would love to visit a number of vineyards and get to know the area. I have never been to Oregon and when I started looking at the Oregon Wine Websites got overwhelmed pretty quickly. I am open to any ideas that could possibly help me narrow down my research. I found a a great guide called maribels guide when doing a similar trip to Spain and wondered if there is something similar for Oregon.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

I'm not much of a wine drinker, but I love living in Oregon.
This might help but will probably add to your information overload. http://www.travelguideoregon.com/
The vineyards are primarily in the Willamette Valley and some in the Rogue River-Medford area.
There are also grapes grown in the fruit area of NE Oregon and SE Washington.
Decide what else you want to see in Oregon in addition to vineyards. Where are you coming from?

If you want to see a cute University Town - then go to Eugene - University of Oregon (2 and a half hours south of Portland)- and visit wineries outside of there - such as the King Estate, Hellman, Sweet Cheeks, etc.

They are all within an easy drive of Eugene. Note that Oregon wineries start up by Portland and extend down to South of Roseburg, and they even blend grapes further south but not sure how many they are raising down by Medford, Ashland, etc. http://www.winesnw.com/orhome.html

http://www.winesnw.com/orhome.html

Oops - that's Hinman Winery - also known as Silvan Ridge - and we had a great little picnic lunch outside the their tasting room - where they have tables set up - overlooking their vinyards. http://silvanridge.com/

I live just a few minutes from the heart of our wine region. There are over 200 wineries nestled in this area, and Pinot Noir is king here. Pinot Gris can be pretty good here as well.

We have never used a tour since we live right here, but we hit the wineries often and know many of the winemakers. That said, check out www.anoseforwine.com. We met Fred a few years ago while he had a group at a winery and his clients absolutely love him. He has a pretty loyal following and he likes to take his clients to the more hidden gems vs the big name touristy spots.

Another thing to consider is that Thanksgiving weekend and Memorial Day weekends most of the wineries have open houses. This is a huge deal here as so many of the smaller places are normally by appt only, but on these weekends they open for a few days. It is a great time to try some that you might not otherwise be able to.

Hey mms, you said you live near the heart of wine country, but didn't say where that is! ;-) Would that be the Newberg/Dundee - McMinnville - Carlton area?

The Willamette Valley is where the best of the pinot noirs, the wine Oregon is best known for, are produced. The other areas, from around Roseburg south, and the Columbia River gorge, generally produce warmer weather varietals.

You don't say how much time you have, but with all of Oregon's other attractions, I suggest you not plan more than 3 days of winery visits. 2 might be enough, even (and this coming from a wine lover).

There are lots of posts for Oregon wine archived here. I have included a link, but you can search by entering Oregon wine in the search box at the top of this page.

http://www.fodors.com/search/results...ch=oregon+wine

We love the North Williamette Valley and have some favorite wineries there. Argyle, Sokol Blosser, Archery Summit and Domain Drouhin in Dundee are all worth a visit. Oregon is known for its Pinot Noir, but the Argyle sparkling wines are also excellent. One of the things we like about the area is its varied agriculture and emphasis on fresh locally grown produce. I know the restaurant scene has expanded since my last visit, so you might want to look to newer posts for those or go to chowhound.com for recommendations. Expect some great food and wine pairings.

Islandaze--LOL;) Yup, Newberg/Dundee area.

I agree with Argyle for their sparkling wine, but am not a fan of Sokol Blosser.

A few places that I think as musts include Brick House, Arbor Brook, and Seufert. There are more that I really like, but these are IMO excellent wines and nice small production places. We always have these on hand at home.

There are also quite a few urban wineries popping up right in Portland. Grochau Cellars is one of those and again it is a small production place with some great wines.

Oh, yes, Brick House! I don't know Seufert. Broadley pinot noir is my favorite Oregon wine, but it is hard to find in Texas and the production is small.

Saige--Seufert is in Dayton. There are so many wonderful small places like his. Most do not distribute, so that is another advantage of hiring someone like Fred or reading here. BTW, we were there one day when a group from TX came in and bought nearly $2000 worth of his wine and was having it shipped home.

I think it was a guy pouring in Carlton Winemaker's Studio who told me that Oregon exports more of its wine to Texas than any other state. Who'dda thunk.

Olanowalton, We can come up with more winery recommendations than you'd ever have time for, so a bit more info from you will help us help you to narrow your focus.

Thank you all for so many responses so quickly!!! We are coming from Charlotte NC and will probably spend 6 days total in Oregon, including travel time. We love Pinot Noirs and Pinot Gris as well.

On my last wine trip I was able to stay at a vineyard for a couple nights and that was incredible (not necessary though).

When I started my research I did start looking at the Willamette Valley area, but only because it looked to have so many options. Do you fly into Portland when going to that area?

I know we won't be traveling over Thanksgiving, but Memorial Day is a possibility. Although, I think at first we were thinking over the summer some time. Do you think it would be too busy over the holiday weekend?

I don't know how big the wineries are but I'd love to visit a couple that are different from each other (size, type of operation, etc).

Thanks again for the quick responses. Any other info is also appreciated.

here are 2 links for Southern Oregon.
Taller mountains, higher temperatures, and much less humidity.
Smaller, but very cool wineries here.
http://applegatewinetrail.com/

http://www.sorwa.org/

Yes, the heart of Willamette Valley wine country (near where mms lives ;-)) is less than an hour southwest of Portland, so you'd fly in/out of PDX.

A couple options that might be similar to your vineyard stay are http://youngberghill.com/ and/or http://www.blackwalnut-inn.com/. Then there's the more luxe Allison Inn & Spa, which is beautiful in every respect, but feels a little out of place in Newberg, Oregon.

To add to your list of wineries: Bergstrom, Trisaetum, Penner-Ash, Winderlea, and even though it's just a tasting room, Seven of Hearts/Luminous Hills. If you're planning more than two days of tasting, I'd add Cristom, Witness Tree, St. Innocent, Bethel Heights, Methven, and Johan, all of which are south of McMinnville, closer to Salem than Portland.

And the reasons I thought you might not want to spend all your time in wine country: the Columbia River Gorge and the north Oregon coast. Both areas are uniquely spectacular, and within two hours of Portland.

Agree - Portland is your largest airport near Oregon Wine country - but do not agree an hour south of there is "the heart of Willamette Valley wine country".

Of course, being one who grew up in Southern Oregon, Klamath Falls to be specific - I can understand the Portland bias. :)

Way back in the spring of 1970 - when I was finishing my MBA at the U of O in Eugene - we drew straws for the various subjects for our MBA "thesis". The one I really wanted to pull was a report about the "Emerging Oregon Wine Industry" but alas - we drew a study for an chip mill (lumber byproducts) in Corvallis.

The owner was a nice guy - and after our "study" - I think we proerly advised him he didn't need some fancy/new machine, but we really wanted to be studying the Oregon Wine.

Oh well, life if filled with small disappointments, oui? :)

Uno Mas: The King Estate - outside of Eugene - may be the largest winery in Oregon now - with a new tasting room/area - but they were still very friendly when we went up for my niece's graduation from U of O a few years ago.

http://www.kingestate.com/

And if you want to see something spectacular - albeit Man-Made - get thee to the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.

Just imagine them shooting part of "The Shining" there - starring Jack Nicholson.

http://www.timberlinelodge.com/

Second Bethel Heights and Cristom!

The Memorial Day experience is a good one in the Willamette because some of the wineries that don't have their own tasting rooms are able to participate by sharing space with some of the larger producers. We've enjoyed staying at a B&B on our trips to Oregon that you might want to look at: http://www.winecountryfarm.com/

Have a great trip!

There are wineries from southern Oregon all the way to Portland.

My wife and I spent 2 weeks last year tasting wine in Oregon (and fishing in between). Some of our personal favorites were Argyle - Williamette Valley(great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) and Marsh Anne Landing Winery (great wines, friendly owner and gorgeous tasting room selling high quality local art).

Check out this website - Plan an Oregon Wine Tour
http://www.cheers2wine.com/oregon-wineries.html

howefortunate--There is no advertising here. On another of your threads you signed with your name and this business, so pretty easy to figure out.

<i>...but do not agree an hour south of there is "the heart of Willamette Valley wine country".

Of course, being one who grew up in Southern Oregon, Klamath Falls to be specific - I can understand the Portland bias.</i>

No Portland bias here, Tom. Have you looked at a map of Oregon wineries? You might argue definition of "heart", but it's pretty clear where the highest concentration of wineries is.

Islandaze is correct. There are over 200 wineries nestled in this area, which is way more than in any other part of the state.

Yo Island: I was having a little fun reliving some Portland "bias" on my part - no doubt caused in part by our getting beat in the State Little League finals in the summer of '58 by a Rose City All-Star team - and that same team (Madison) beat us (Klamath Falls) again in May '64 for the State high school championship. Hey - we killed them a month later in American Legion summer ball - when they had to come way down to Klamath - and then we took State in American Legion :)

I'm know there are some fine Wineries up your way, but there are also a lot of "Mom and Pop" wineries too. Hey - we even looked at possibly buying one - East of 5 - on a meandering road going the "back way" up toward Mt. Hood - a small one but with a few of it's own vineyards. "Unfortunately" - it's now so hard to move San Diego. :) but I try to get up to my home state every year.

We have driven through the Wineries South of Portland - and stopped at several - and they are nice - but I just like the area around Eugene more, than say an hour south of Portland.

A bonus with touring outside of Eugene - is you can zip over to the Coast in less than an hour - and grab some fresh fish/crab - and maybe some sourdough bread - and take your beverages of choice to watch the Ocean do it's magic.

During grad school at U of O - in '69-70 - and not having much pocket money during that time - for an inexpensive Saturday night treat - we would drive over to Florence (gas was cheap), and for around $1 each - grab a six pack, some crab and sourdough bread - and go build a fire on the beach and have a grand old time.

Heck - I would even pay substantially more to do that now -
but not sure if they let you have fires at the beach anymore?

Actually - come to think of it: What is the one where you have to catch a ferry across a river or some such? One of our Portland friends just loves that trip/winery.

Before he retired from the NFL, QB Drew Bledsoe bought a vineyard near Walla Walla WA. He then built a beautiful home in Bend Oregon. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/theli...ory?id=6243939
Has anyone tried his Doubleback label wine?

O-

I was on an Oregon trip last May that finished with the Memorial Day weekend wine tasting in Willamette Valley. I spent 2 full days, but didn't make reservations until about 6 weeks out, so had little choice of where to stay.

It was very busy, but nice weather, pretty and green. I especially enjoyed Brick House and Ayers.

I have never been a huge Pino Noir fan due to the huge differences in the wine. Sometimes you get one you love, most of the time don't care at all for it! It was very interesting to taste so extensively just one wine and to see the remarkable differences between slopes even from the same vineyard. I found about 4 I loved and the rest I could skip.

It was a nice finish to my trip - I also spent a week in two different vacation beach homes on the coast.

Have fun!

All I can say is WOW (and thank you)! I threw Oregon out to my husband as an option without knowing too much about the area, except that there are a lot of vineyards there, and he was game. Now I am very excited about planning it and getting to know more about the area.

Heard Drew Bledsoe on our local AM/1090 sports radio show - modestly noting his wines had won some awards?

He had a good sense of humor and has moved on from the days Tom Brady supplanted him as the Patriots QB.

And think in Bend - he bought the house from xxxx? Another pro athlete I believe it was.

As I understand it, Drew had the house built to his specs. His kids are going to public school. Drew also gave the school district sports equipment.

Then somebody else bought it who was a jock?

A little net gossip: :)

http://utterlyboring.com/archives/20...bledsoe_ha.php

Joining the fray a little late but have a few disparate thoughts:

I'm assuming this is your first trip but may have missed something.

1. To my way of thinking, with only six days in Oregon, it makes the most sense to fly into PDX and focus on the wineries around Dundee and McMinnville. You certainly will have a plethora of possibilities but also some great dining options (and will avoid extra travel time).

2. I agree that two full days of wine tasting will be enough and allow you time to experience Portland itself, perhaps Mt. Hood and compare the Oregon Coast to the Atlantic.

3. If this is indeed your first time, I personally would avoid Memorial Day like the plague. Traffic is a nightmare, wineries are crowded and there are a lot of drinking drivers.

For another set of recommendations, you might try yelp (as well as Trip Advisor).

Since I'm a regular viewer of yelp I know for sure there are a ton of winery "reviews" plus recommendations for lodging/B & Bs and eateries.

Hopefully this link will get you started to see what the info is like: http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc...show_filters=1

You can then submit searches for McMinnville, Dayton, Carlton and come up with additional info not only for wineries but restaurants and lodging.

You'll have w-a-y too many choices so just dive in and pick a few. Sounds like we have a lot of Oregonians on this forum who I'm sure would be happy to help further.

Three other comments...
~There are companies that set up winery visits and do the driving.
~The Oregon Wine Industry also has sites with descriptions that might help you refine possibilities out of the multitude.
~Summer is high tourist time in the wine country so I'd recommend booking a place to stay as soon as you can.
Have fun!
Diane