Day 2 in Willamette Valley

For our second full day in Oregon, we headed up to the Dundee/Newberg area to check out some more wineries. We started off with a very short nature walk at Crabtree Park before starting our day drinking bright and early at 10:00 AM!

I am so glad I reached out to Hyland Estates Winery, because they gave us such a great experience! I told them we were visiting for our anniversary, and they helped us celebrate so nicely!

Twyla made this cute little sign and spread for us (with mini macarons!)

These young vines were labeled by type of grape for each row.

It never occurred to me that wine barrels needed to be washed, and I had never heard of lees, which are the dead yeast cells left over after the whole aging process. So here they are washing the lees out of the barrels (although sometimes the lees are saved).

Brian, their winemaker, showed us ALL the barrels they have, and we even had tastes straight from the barrels!

They had these very large barrels, and because of the wood-to-wine ratio, the oak has less of an impact on the taste of the wine.

So not only did we have a wine tasting, but we got our own private tour of the facilities, too! We learned a lot, and their pinot noirs were exceptional. Such a great way to start the day!

Originally I had thought about visiting Furioso Vineyards next, but because our first tasting lasted nearly three hours (!), I pushed our schedule so we went to Knudsen Vineyards, where they allow picnic lunches. Unfortunately their wines were not good, and the pours were so small! We joked that we paid $35 for less than the equivalent of one glass of mediocre wine. 

At least the scenery was pretty at Knudsen!

But the day was not over! We finished our tastings with some Ransom spirits at Duck Pond Cellars, where we tried their Old Tom gin, some bourbon and brandy, and discovered génépi, an herbal liqueur, which is quite delicious!

The landscaping at Duck Pond was so pretty. The flowers were amazing! Here are a few:

After our tastings, we went back into McMinnville for the evening. We started off with ice cream from Serendipity, drinks on the rooftop of 1882 Grille, and dinner at Taste of India #1.

Just one more full day in wine country before we head up to Portland. But we're loving the cooler weather and countrysides out here in Willamette for now!

Day 1 in Willamette Valley

Steve and I chose to visit Willamette Valley for our first anniversary because neither of us have been to the area before, and we like tasting wine! The region is known for its pinot noir, but we were excited to taste all that these wineries have to offer (there are hundreds of wineries in the valley, so we were only touching the tip of the iceberg!). 

Because of the time change, we woke up unreasonably early. We figured we might as well start our day, so we went to Walmart to buy food for our picnics (and breakfasts at the AirBNB) and got coffee for Steve so he could fully wake up.

Once we headed out for the day, we visited the Rotary Nature Preserve at Tice Woods first to get in a nature walk. The wineries weren't open yet, and it's nice to start the day with a little bit of activity. The preserve itself is rather small, but the trees inside are so big! I forgot how much I miss seeing tall trees, especially pines. The area must be a birder heaven: we heard so many types of birds, but only caught a glimpse of a spotted towhee. There were lots of blackberry bushes (not ripe yet), and we found a cherry tree at the end of our walk (which was ripe!). With the cool yet sunny weather, I almost felt like I was back in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

We also made a quick stop by the McMinnville Community Garden, where there was a labyrinth we could walk around and meditate. Neither of us is good at meditating: we stopped after three minutes.

Once the clock was right, we started our first wine tasting! We visited the Carlton Winemakers Studio first, which hosts 15 vintners who make the wine there. That meant there were a lot of wines to choose from, so each tasting was customed to each visitor depending on preferences, which I thought was pretty cool. And since we went on Father's Day, we could enjoy a 2-for-1 deal on the tastings!

The next winery we visited was definitely the highlight of the day. Felix, the owner and winemaker at Carlo & Julian Vineyard and Winery, gave us a private tasting of seven or eight wines, all for free! So we had to buy a botte (we bought a GSM, which we had never had before). But the best part was feeding the sheep he has on his property! I was transported to my country-background childhood, and Steve the city boy was loving it, too. This stop was so much fun; we love the smaller, more intimate places that don't feel so corporate. 

This lamb is only one month old!

The black cat on the property was very friendly.

Our last winery of the day was Black Dog Vineyard. At this point, we were a little tipsy, so we shared a flight while we enjoyed a "lunchables" picnic to try to sober up. The scenery was beautiful, and the warm sun felt good as our bodies acclimated to the cooler climate of the Pacific Northwest. 

We finished our tastings not with wine but with whiskey! We drove just a few minutes down the road to Branch Point Distillery, where we tried a couple of mini cocktails. The Wikeke Breeze was our favorite: it's like a Painkiller but with whiskey instead of rum!

We had so much fun, and that was only our first full day! Many more adventures to come, so stay tuned!