I need to preface this with: My husband and I have a hobby of wine tasting. We frequent the Napa and Sonoma County and Livermore wineries but we also enjoy traveling to other winery regions to try different wines.

We plan a trip to Portland and would like to try 4-5 of the Washington County wineries. Which of the WC wineries would you recommend?

Also, we are thinking of taking the Washington County Tualatin Valley Scenic route starting in Sherwood to the southern part of the valley and the Swiss-settled Helvetia at the northern end. Is there a better "winery" route that you can suggest? It would be nice to stop along the way and see other interesting things.

The better known Oregon wineries are actually in Yamhill County, generally in/around the triangle formed by the towns of Newberg, McMinnville, and Yamhill: http://willamettewines.com/winery-map/.

The beaten-path winery route is hwy 99W between Newberg and McMinnville, with typical stops being Argyle, Erath, Archery Summit, Domaine Drouhin, Torii Mor and Domaine Serene, all of which are around Dundee. They're all nice, but you're likely to experience sticker shock at several. Which is why I like De Ponte, White Rose, and Stoller.

But my preferred route is to visit wineries off North Valley Road, west of Newberg, usually ending up in Carlton. Favorite stops along that route are Adelsheim, Arbor Brook, Bergstrom, Trisaetum, Penner Ash, Lemelson, and Seven of Hearts in Carlton.

Those wineries all have regular tasting hours. If you're looking for a more personal, taste by appointment only experience, I'd have a few more recommendations.

I agree with passerbye. The route you mention is not how I would spend my time. I live in Sherwood and so am just a few minutes from many wineries. Skip the area north of here. Focus on Newberg, Mac, Dayton and this area.

A few of my favorites include Arbor Brook for their amazing pinot gris, and for pinot noirs I head to Seufert in Dayton (excellent wines, very reasonable prices) and Brick House in Newberg. Brick House is close to Arbor Brook.

If you are in Portland for any of this trip, there is a really good urban winery in the NW area called Grochau Cellars. He makes fantastic wines, and they are very reasonably priced.

Thank you for your input. I just read about the Fruit Loop route that takes you to the Columbia River Gorge, wineries and Mt. Hood. How would this compare to the routes you mentioned?

The gorge and Mt. Hood is a beautiful loop. There are wineries over there, but I personally don't think they compare at all to the quality we have over on this side. Different variety of wines too. The pinot noirs are what OR is famous for, so for wineries I would stick with what we gave you but definitely allow time for the scenic gorge/Mt. Hood area.

Thank you all for the information. We might add a day to our trip and do the wine regions you have suggested one day and do the Fruit Loop another day. If you think of anything else you would like to add, please do so.