There are four of us that are trying to plan a one week trip to the northwest. We want to visit 3-4 Oregon wineries while exploring the northwest. The question is...where do we go and where do we fly into and out of? Do we fly into Portland and head south toward Eugene? Do we fly into Portland and head north to Seattle? Ideally, we would love to be able to explore Eugene, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, but my guess is that we are being way too ambitious. Bottom line is that none of us have ever been to the northwest and we would love to have a wine focus while taking in the best of what the area has to offer in the 7 days we have. Itinerary and vineyard suggestions? Many thanks!

I would fly into Portland (PDX) rent a car, drive to Eugene, then go north to Seattle which is just a 3 hour trip.
Vancouver Washington is less than half an hour from my home, in downtown Portland, so that is easy.
We get lost all the time here, so I will leave the winery info to the long time locals who give me my directions lol..
When do you want to make this trip?
We liked driving to the wineries and continuing on to the Coast for a night or two, then back to the city.

Unless you particularly want to visit Seattle, I suggest you head to the Yakima Valley for Washington wineries. They are scattered all through the valley; I think they even have a designated "wine road", apart from the freeway (I-82).

What time of year are you doing this? That could affect your choices.

Here's a great website with lots of itineraries for you to look at:

http://otc.traveloregon.com/vacation.cfm#itineraries

If you want to go to any of the attractions in Portland, get a $25 Portland Attractions Pass at the tourist center in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

I would recomend the Portland area as the starting point for this type of trip, starting with flying into PDX and visiting the Willamette Valley wineries, then moving north and/or east. The cities of Dundee, Carlton and McMinville are all great wine stops in that area - even a night in McMinville (Hotel Oregon) would be a good choice if you don't want to do the short drive in and out from Portland. Eugene and or Salem could also be stops for your trip.

I think you are listing too many cities to see and truely enjoy in just 7 days. Just visting Portland, the Willamette Valley, the Gorge and even the Oregon Coast could easily take up 7+ days.

If you visit Seattle you can get to some good winieres in Woodinville and also a few smaller places around the Seattle Metro area...The real wine growing region of Washington is centered a few hours east over the mountains in Walla Walla and Yakima

Just a side note - I don't know if Scarlett understood that you were probably interested in Vancouver Canada not Vancouver Washington. Vancouver WA is just across the river from Portland and is a commute city for Portland, while a nice quiet town it doesn't offer much to do or see for a visitor...

Portland has much more to offer for food, wine, e

I'd skip Eugene. It's a nice enough college town but doesn't deserve a place on a short NW trip, with all the other amazing things to see in the region. It makes more sense to focus on the wine areas that montysc mentioned above, as well as Portland (and the Columbia Gorge if you are interested in scenic drives, waterfalls or hiking). Then you could choose whether you wanted a short visit to Seattle, or a visit to the wine region of Eastern WA. Alternately, Mt. St. Helens is not that far from Portland, so if you wanted to fly in and out of Portland, and have a mix of wineries and other NW sights, that would be easy.

Unless you love spending time in a car, Vancouver should wait for another trip. And unless you're interested in going to U of O, I'm wondering about Eugene too. What there is of interest to you?

That leaves Portland and Seattle. If you're truly looking to center the trip around wine, OR's Yamhill County and WA's Yakima valley are the places to go. Yamhill County is less than an hour's drive from Portland, and you can easily visit 3-4 wineries in a short afternoon. If WA wineries are of interest, you could visit those on a circuitous drive between Portland and Seattle. With winery visits and adequate time in both cities, you could easily spend a week. But then, you'd miss Oregon's coast, which many think is the best reason to visit here. Not to mention the Columbia River gorge.

So, I'd suggest something like:

2 - 3 days in Portland, including winery visits;
2 - 3 days on the Oregon coast;
2 days in Seattle.

Even that's pretty aggressive for 7 days. You could EASILY spend a week in just NW Oregon, or just NW Washington. Once you've settled on a general itinerary, we can help fill in the blanks.

You can spend the whole week in Oregon.
Lots of appellations.
look here:
http://explorer.oregonwine.org/
http://www.oregonwines.com/
http://www.winesnw.com/orhome.html
http://oregonwinepress.com/index.php...rrent_Articles
Southern Oregon has several budding Vineyards
and several more well established ones such as Foris and Bridgeview.
http://southernoregon.org/fun/wineries.html

http://www.sorwa.org/
Combine Shakespeare and Wine by staying at
the Winchester Inn
http://www.winchesterinn.com/winebar.htm
or the Ashland Springs Hotel.
http://www.ashlandspringshotel.com/

I would nix both Eugene and Vancouver BC, since they are your furthest points.

Portland and the close by Willamette Valley wineries are a good place to start.

Then you need to decide if urban Seattle and the nearby wineries in Woodinville will suit you. Or you want to head over "east of the mountains" to the real wine producing areas of the state.