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Oregon Wine Tasting?
We are looking for a wine tasting route that does not involve a professional tour or a reservation just like one can do in California or New York. From some initial reading it appears we have to "call ahead" for a tasting. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Go to oregonwine.org for details on the various regions and wineries in Oregon. My wife and I are from California and love Oregon Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris and have tasted at wineries in the Umpqua area as well as the southern and northern Willamette. In no case did we have to call ahead. One word of caution however is that at this time of year many if not most wineries are only open on weekends.
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If you come over the Thanksgiving weekend, essentially all of the wineries will be open and will have special activities, special vintages etc. That is the best bad weather weekend to go winetasting in Oregon.
The weather outside will probably suck, but it's a great time to enjoy a glass of pinot. Combine with a stormwatching trip to the Oregon Coast! http://www.oregonwinecountry.org/thanksgiving.php |
Oregon is a great wine tasting area..but you will have to have a designated nondrinking driver for safety as the roads are windy and the wineries are spread apart. (Not like Napa where the road is fairly straight and the wieneries are literally teh next driveway.)
Suggest you book into Staphanie Inn on the Oregon Coast and then do day trips into Oregon Wine valay, taking turns drier/taster and tehn buy wine and take it back to Stephanie Inn and drink safely on you balcony watching the ocean feet in front of you, with teh warm fireplace and gourmet dining. |
Most wineries are now open for tasting without an appointment, but as mentioned, schedules for smaller producers are typically limited, sometimes to just the weekend. However, there are enough others that are open daily, so you could enjoy some tasting regardless of your schedule. Those that come to mind are Archery Summit, Sokol Blosser, and Argyle, all in/around Dundee, which is sorta the beaten path of Oregon's wine country.
If you're planning to taste on a weekend, I'd have a couple off-the-beaten-path route suggestions. If |
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I should have prefaced that we will be traveling next summer 2011. Thank you for the tips and suggestions. We will also be looking at vacation rentals at that time.
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I will echo what passerbye wrote:)
Another big weekend where the wineries are open and the area is buzzing is Memorial Day Weekend. If you can come over that time frame, you would have unlimited options. That said, my personal favs around here are Brick House, Seufert, Arbor Brook, Amity and Chehalem. In downtown Portland there is a great urban winery, Grochau Cellars, that you could add as well. IJar is correct with the roads and being careful. I live about 5 minutes from several of these wineries and the police have a heavy presence on the roads as well, especially for speeding and looking for drunk drivers. There are quite a few red light cameras that have just been installed as well. |
Not true, most wineries are open for high season hours and days until Thanksgiving when everyone is open. After that there are many wineries that are open at least Wed. through Sun. but many like us are open 7 days a week and there are more all the time.
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We recently stayed at The Allison Inn & Spa, it's an amazing property and is winning lots of travel awards. Stoller Vineyards, Domaine Drouhin, Domaine Serene and Archery Summit are not to miss places, especially if you're into Pinot Noir. ***kim*** ((#))
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I think I would be more inclined to listen to mms and passerbye than someone posting here in order to advertise their business..
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Kim--All the wineries in this area tend to focus on pinot noirs.
Our paper had a nice write up today about McMinnville and the tasting rooms/restaurants/etc in the downtown area. Go to www.oregonlive.com and search for the travel section. It might give you some new ideas for your trip. |
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