Winery recommendations OR and WA
 

Thanks to the tremendous help I received on an earlier thread, I finally have our two week visit to OR and WA sorted - we leave in a week. Fingers crossed for sunshine.

What I could use now are some specific winery suggestions in the Willamette Valley, Walla Walla and possibly Hood River.

We're hoping for lovely Pinot Noir and dry Riesling, but also love our Cab Sav. Beautiful views and long wine infused lunches are a major bonus.

We live right in wine country for OR, so I have some suggestions. Personal favorites include Arbor Brook and Brick House, both in Newberg in the Ribbon Ridge area, and they are very close to each other. BH is usually by appt only, but well worth it. Then in Dayton, Seufert and Stoller are both very good. Seufert is tiny and Stoller is huge, so two very different feels. Seufert buys grapes from Stroller so makes their own pinot from there, so you might enjoy tasting to compare. In Dundee, Argyle for sparkling is good, and if you want some big reds while there, head across the street to Zerba for cabs etc. BTW, Dundee has some very good restaurants, and our favorite one is Red Hills Market. It is a deli/restaurant that makes amazing wood fired sandwiches and pizzas, plus has a lot of local wine and beer both to drink as well as to purchase. It is a great place to pick up picnic supplies for taking tasting as well. It is always busy, for good reason. Ok, back to wineries. Others that we really like include Grochau in Amity, where you might want to check out the Blue Goat for dinner. Then also Domaine Drouhin, Chehalem, Blakeslee, Four Graces, Hawks View, and Willakenzie. Realize there are over 400 wineries in this AVA alone, so it is hard to narrow it all down:)

As for Hood River, I do not think the wines there are anywhere close to the quality that you will find in the WV. On the WA side of the gorge, there is one that I would recommend and that is in Lyle and is called COR.

Fabulous, thank you! So much wine, so little time!

We recently visited the Willamette Valley a few months ago, so there's a few wineries we can recommend. If you're looking for good Pinot, Evening Land is a great winery. No spectacular views from the tasting room, just excellent wine, including a rose that was particularly dry and tasty.

If you're looking for a spectacular view, Brooks is located on a hillside that just took our breath away. You can see Mount Hood from there, Mount St. Helens and a number of other towering peaks on the horizon.

But our favorite winery offering both beautiful views and excellent wine (particularly the Pinot which we bought a bottle of, was Elk Cove. We made a video of all three wineries, I hope you enjoy watching it, maybe it will help you make a decision!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixU17XZaOZo

mms gives great advice! We have been to the Willamette Valley twice, and plan to go back for a third visit next year.

In no particular order, our favorites in the Valley are Cristom, Domaine Drouhin, Elk Cove, Penner-Ash and Bergstrom. Also like Archery Summit, Ponzi and Sokol Blosser. Second Red Hills Market, it's a must; the rest of our restaurant recos are probably out of date. And second Argyle, because who doesn't like sparkling??

Enjoy!

I am not that tuned into the Washington wine market, but I do quite like Oregon Pinots. In no particular order, I'd seek out Lange, Penner-Ash, Archery Summit, Ken Wright, Andrew Rich (at Carlton Winemaker's Studio), and Domaine Drouhin. My favorite winery is probably Shea, which is now apparently open to the public by appointment only (used to be open two weekends a year only).

Huge help, thanks everyone!

NewbE--Thanks:) I always smile when I see Elk Cove mentioned as the owners dog and ours went to puppy class together a few years ago lol.

The other person who lives in this area and gives great advice is faceinthecrowd. I am sure he will be along shortly to give his input. Living here sure does have its advantages!

mms, your advice was super useful for our first trip to the WV, especially. In fact, we added your recommendations to this ridiculously big spreadsheet of wineries that SO put together--we had enough on the list to keep us busy for a year!

Anyway, we ended up at Seufert, or maybe it was Grochau (still in their temporary digs), and the pourer asked how we'd heard about them, and SO wrinkled his brow and shrugged and said, "Some lady at Fodor's??" :-D

It DID sound pretty random, but your advice was sound!

Trisaetum makes some great dry Riesling. Pinot Noir too, but competition in that varietal is a lot more stiff. It's up on Ribbon Ridge close to Brick House. Mms and I obviously have similar tastes because I can't add much to her (and others') lists except maybe for Winderlea in the Dundee hills. Torii Mor, in the same area, is often recommended too, but it's never been a favorite of mine.

Some of the best value Pinots IMO can be found at the aforementioned Arbor Brook, and Luminous Hills/Seven of Hearts in Carlton. The Luminous Hills bottles I think are particularly good. Bonus; the winery shares its tasting room with Honest Chocolates.

I also agree with mms about Hood River area wineries; mostly a waste of time IMO. But you don't have to go too far afield there to have an enjoyable tasting *experience* (emphasis) at Marchesi. And the Sangiovese there is decent.

Ooooo...wine AND chocolate. Now we're talking. I suspect we'll be wined out by the time we reach Hood River anyway, so no harm no foul.

NewbE--Oh thank you:)

Melnq8--Oh yes, definitely hit Seven of Hearts and Honest Chocolates! They pair their chocolate with the wine, and make some of them with the wine. There is also an Honest Chocolate shop in Newberg near where you are staying. I apologize right now for telling you, lol!

Thanks you again mms. I think.

Speaking of chocolate, would there happen to be Dilettante in any of the areas we're visiting? I like their chocolate and would like to try their coffee.

And suggestions for good coffee (no Starbucks please!)

Melnq8--It is much harder to find that in OR than WA, but I have seen it around. I can't think of specific stores off the top of my head, but they tend to be in boutique type shops. I have never seen their coffee down this direction, but that isn't to say it isn't here. You might try New Seasons grocery store. There is one in Tualatin right at the freeway, otherwise the closest one to the wineries is at Progress Ridge. Otherwise for good local coffee, definitely Stumptown! Red Hills Market brews it there and sells it. New Seasons carries it as well.

When we were back in the PNW in June/July, we did some pinot tastings (things have come a long way since the days when I would run into Sue Sokol Blosser doing tastings at Zupan's). Our favourite of the ones we tried was the 2013 Premier Cuvee from Archery Summit. YMMV.

We had a wine club pick-up, so were at Luminous Hills/Seven of Hearts yesterday. Seriously, the pinots we tasted there were the best I can remember, all from the 2014 vintage, which is unarguably better than 2013. It goes without saying that the chocolate was great too.

Driving east from Carlton on our way home we went off-itinerary to stop at a couple wineries we've not been to before, Ghost Hill and Monks Gate, both very small production places. Pinots were surprisingly good at both, but you might particularly like Monks Gate's 2015 dry Riesling, which is very nice, and quite different than other Rieslings you'll taste around here.

Agree with mms about Stumptown, Portland's answer to Starbucks.

Excellent, thanks.