Day 3 in Willamette Valley

Our last day in the Willamette Valley was our anniversary! The whole trip is to celebrate the milestone, but June 17 is the actual date. We were excited to try a few more wineries before heading back to Portland for some city exploring. 

Since most of the wineries do not open until later in the morning, we took a LONG walk inside the Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge. Well, longer than expected because we ended up walking the smaller, inner loop at well as half of the main loop, so we were out there for nearly two hours. But the landscape was beautiful! I knew to expect large, old growth forests in Oregon, but I didn't think about the prairie-like areas in the valleys between the mountains (even though that's where the vineyards are, so you'd think I would have known that!). We found a wild cherry tree (which held us over for the second half of our walk), and we heard so many birds. I am noticing the Oregon is a great place for birders!

I found this skull while we were walking! With those huge front teeth, it must be some sort of gopher or ground squirrel.

Steve kept commenting on how the land at Bethel Heights reminded him of Napa.

Since our walk went much longer than I expected, we skipped Van Duzer Vineyards and headed directly to Bethel Heights Vineyard. They are truly an "estate" winery, meaning all of their grapes are grown within their own vineyard and the entire wine-making process takes place on their property. The view was fantastic, and we ended up buying a bottle of their rosé, which is amazing, since Steve doesn't usually like pink wine!

Bryn Mawr Vineyards might have had the most picturesque views of all the wineries we visited.

Just down the road is Bryn Mawr Vineyards, which also had an amazing view. I think the landscape was better than the wine, although their tempranillo definitely had a peppery nose that I liked! 

Our last winery was father down a long gravel road at Björnson Vineyard. They have a tasting room in downtown McMinnville, but we wanted to have the full experience at the winery itself, and we're so glad we stopped in! The building itself has a French chateau feel about it, but the name is historically Icelandic. We tasted several nice wines, and because it was our anniversary, they gave us (and the whole patio!) tastes of their sparkling wine on the house! We also enjoyed our wine with mini Snickers and Almond Joy bars, so of course I was happy as a camper. As we were leaving, we saw a group of women from one of the wineries earlier, but they were stepping out of a limousine! One of them was turning 80 years old. What a fun way to celebrate a birthday!

Björnson had the prettiest label, and the rosé made the red in the label really stand out. 

French restaurants are always the cutest, aren't they?

After cleaning up and relaxing at the AirBNB for a little bit, we walked into McMinnville for the last time for dinner. Steve had made reservations at Bistro Maison weeks ago; French restaurants are always fitting for special occasions! We brought the bottle of rosé with us so we could continue our wine journey over dinner. And the food was delicious! I started with French onion soup, which I usually can't eat because it's made with beef stock, but this restaurant uses vegetable stock instead. And the duck was excellent; so tender and flavorful. And for dessert, Steve had profiteroles with vanilla ice cream (served in a mug like hot chocolate), and I had a strawberry pavlova. Of course I have the photos so you can "taste" them vicariously:

They served not one but TWO duck thighs. I gave one to Steve; that's just so much!

The pavlova was layered with raspberry and strawberry ice creams, and the bits of basil brought out all the other flavors. 

So decadent! It was the perfect end to a lovely first anniversary.