Oregon Wine Country
 

My DH & I are traveling to Oregon from Sonoma County, CA, the last week of September. We will be camping in our 17' Casita Travel Trailer. One stop is three nights at the Champoeg Campground near Newberg. We are into the food & wine scene here in Sonoma County so we would like to visit wineries and do some fine dining in the Newberg area. Any recommendations for an itinerary from those of you knowlegable about the area would be most appreciated.

I live about 5 minutes from Newberg, where many of the wineries begin. There are lots of wineries in this area, but not a whole lot for fine dining. In Newberg, a new restaurant that the locals here say is very good is The Painted Lady. Otherwise you need to go south of Newberg a bit. The Joel Palmer House in Dayton is well regarded, but they focus on mushrooms so if you don't care for those you might opt for somewhere else. Other places are Red Hills, Tinas, Dundee Bistro, Nicks Italian.

Our wine area is pretty small, and Newberg, well, there isn't much there. It is fine as long as you are not expecting another Sonoma.

Beachbum has great ideas for itineraries, and he is another local.

There are also several threads about OR wine itineraries on Trip Advisor, so check those. They are pretty entertaining too:D

If wine country is all that's in your plans for the three nights in Campoeg, my first recommendation would be to cut it back to two.

On one of those days, focus in the Dundee to McMinnville corridor. You'll need to bump your credit card limits to buy from places like Domaine Serene, Archery Summit, and to a lesser extent, Domaine Drouhin, but they're all worth a visit for tasting. Erath, Torii Mor, and Argyle are also nice stops, but without so much the sting on the pocketbook.

On day two, focus in the NW Newberg along North Valley Road to Carlton corridor. You could start at Rex Hill in Newberg, then proceed to places like Adelsheim, Bergstrom, Penner Ash, Patricia Green, and in Carlton, Cuneo, Scott Paul, and Carlton Winemakers Studio, a sort of coop for very small producers.

Mms lists most of the best restaurants, and I'd add Cuvee in Carlton to that list.

LOL, mms, they get entertaining when the Visiting Expert starts correcting the locals..
Hi 2d..
We are new to Portland still and barely know our way around the wine country, beachbum and mms give me great advice all the time..not to mention directions!
Not long ago, we were in Newburg and ended up going to Ponzi and to the Dundee Bistro for lunch..It was very pleasant..I recommend it :)

Scarlett--Maybe the Visiting Expert had a wee bit too much to taste and got all turned around;)

Thanks to all of your for your replys. We will only have two full days in the area so we can probably get to all the wineries you have suggested. What else is there to do in this area, e.g., charming small towns to check out?

Up until the last 10 years or so, most of this area was farm and dairy country, so most towns were built around serving those industries. So, "charming" really doesn't apply to any of them, but I think Carlton has good potential. ;-)

McMinnville might be fun to poke around in for a few hours. Besides being a college town and wine center, Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose is hangared there.

If I were you, I might be tempted to forget every winery listed on this thread. Along the suggested routes, you'll see signs pointing to many more, and honestly, I've not been to one that I haven't found worth the stop for one reason or another.

Some great wineries recommended here. Make sure you check to see that they are going to be open for touring/tasting during your visit. Many of our top wineries are only open to visitors during the Memorial Day/Thanksgiving weekends.

Beachbum and mms already gave you some great recs - I would also second the suggestion of the Carlton Winemakers Studio and I would also add the industrial area in McMinville that offers several wineries all close to each other. Some of the wineries will open by appointment.

McMinville also has a nice old town feel to it that you might enjoy. A nice stop is the Hotel Oregon which is a McMenamins property. They have great beer, good pub food, breakfasts are nice, and the roof top bar would be great that time of year. If you haven't been to a McMenamins before it is a nice stop - you can also check to see what bands they might have playing when you are there.

We ate at Dundee Bistro in June and the food was good and it was nice and relaxing. The price for the wine was higher than the Ponzi Wine Bar that is attached to - so if you are interested in Ponzi Wine try it or buy it at the wine bar fisrt - unless you need to have it with your meal.

After literally dozens of trips to this area for some unknown reason we finally made it to Domaine Drouhin and loved the wines they were tasting. There are a few new wineries just across from them as well. Domaine Serene has built a very very expensive tasting room and facility that scared us off (tasting fee was high also).

We ate at Dundee Bistro in June as well and the food was good and it was very nice and relaxing.

Beware of the Traffic in Dundee on the weekends though!

beachbum, are there any wineries that perphaps pair food with their wines? Lunches or maybe private tours that include a sit down tasting with food?

We are also looking into lodging and prefer a bed and breakfast that has fireplaces and views of the valley too. Friends of ours want to stay in Portland for the dining, however, I would prefer staying in the wine country. Your thoughts?

Several wineries have full commercial kitchens, but Cuneo (in Carlton) is the only one I know of that regularly serves meals, which I assume would be accompanied with wine. http://www.cuneocellars.com/events.aspx. We haven't been to any of these lunches or dinners, but regularly attend functions there where food is served (we're members of their Cellar Club) and know the executive chef is quite good.

I haven't stayed there, but Youngberg Hill is probably the best lodging choice. http://www.youngberghill.com/. When are you coming, and how long are you planning to stay? I can imagine enjoying a glass of wine from the deck of a B&B on a late summer afternoon would be nice for a day or two, but, if it's raining, I think you'd prefer to be in Portland.

We had planned on just a long weekend in December for my birthday, however, my DH is now thinking of waiting till next fall after our Italy trip.

It's a solid bet that it will be raining in December. Considering that and the fact that it will be dark by 5:30pm leads me to recommend you do the trip next year. Why not Napa or Sonoma?

this is for mms. We are going Ballooning at Vista Ballons in October. Have you hear dof the Sleepy Hollow RV Park. they said it is on the grounds of a B and B. Just wondering your opionion.. Also, have you heard of the flying m ranch near yamhill. We will have our dog with us and we will either be in our trialer or stay somewhere pet friendly, which the ranch says it is. thanks

I have not done the balloon ride (want to though!), but the owners live just a few blocks from me and are well regarded in town, for what that is worth.

Sleepy Hollow RV Park...I don't know anything about it except its location...great for being very centrally located. It is in Lafayette, which is a tiny town by Dundee, and is very close to 99W which is the main road through the wine country.

Flying M Ranch...have heard of it, but only the name, nothing else really. So I am not much help with the ranch or rv park, sorry!

Hi 2d! We were in the Oregon wine country this summer. We started with a lunch at Tina's in Dundee which was very good. Then off to Torii Mor where we enjoyed a flight of Pinot Noir out in the back area there, very pretty, there was another couple having a picnic there. We enjoyed Domaine Serene very much and the Scott Paul wines in Carlton. He makes an excellent Pinot Noir called Audrey that we purchased. The Carlton Winemakers Studio was very pretty. You can sample several different wines here.

Our day ended with an outstanding meal at the Joel Palmer House in Dayton. I have photos and reviews on Tripadvisor of these places if you're interested.

***kim*** ((l))

If you were paying attention, ***kim*** ((H)), you'd notice that everything you've mentioned has already been recommended. And it appears 2d has left the thread, maybe already on the way to Oregon.

Schradieck, I've been to Flying M a couple times for dinner, even spent the night once in their "bunkhouse motel", but those visits were over 10 years ago. From what I remember, it's nice enough in a rustic western sort of way, but my impression was that owners continually struggled to make a go of the place. I guess I'm saying that I wouldn't go out of my way to stay there, either in the on-site lodgings or the RV-campgrounds.

both of you thanks. it ends up flying m is for sale and they won't even take reservations. I was told sleepy holoow RV was a dump, so we are staying at Old StoneVillage RV resort in McMinneville. We have an afternoon plus dinner balloon flight. Can't wait. Wanted to do this for years. It our 15th anniversary.. if you guys are ever in Bandon let me know.