Oregon wine country trip report

[nolanfan34]

I did one of these a couple of years ago, so given the interest in wine on here, I thought I'd write one up again.

The plan

Mrs. Nolanfan and I decided to take a short trip to Oregon for Christmas this year, to do some wine shopping and tasting in the Willamette Valley. We stayed here, a cool former Masonic Lodge bought and renovated into a hotel, movie theatre, and bars, by the McMenamins. (Interesting regional tidbit - they recently bought The Spar restaurant in Olympia, which was also a card room back in the days of the longshoremen in Olympia. Ray Zee, you ever play there? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])

Drove down Tuesday night, and made our first stop at....a sakery. The Sake One sakery is the only American owned sakery in the world. The mrs and I are sake noobs. In fact, we've only had sake at my brother's place of employ in NY, and I'm pretty sure the sake we had there was far better than what we could appreciate at the time. Regardless, we gave this a shot.

Sampled about 5 different sakes. I'm not sure what it is about sake, but even though the ABV is the same as wine, it always tastes stronger to me for some reason. I particularly liked the plum sake, which smelled like Hawaiian Punch. I figure it's the same as how I liked only white wines at first - I have to try more to develop my palate and appreciate the heavier flavors.

Picked up a couple of samplers for a party Mrs. Nolanfan is hosting, and a bottle of their premium stuff for my brother in NY.

Wine Tasting Tip! - Don't end the night before wine tasting by drinking 4 pints of McMenamins beer, after sake tasting earlier in the day. Needed to end the night with a lot of water and Aleve to be ready for the next day.

Tasting day

One of the nice things about the Willamette Valley, and I'm sure it's the same as California, although we haven't been there yet, is the fact that you don't have to drive too far to find your next winery. We visted 7 in total in a single day.

Typical view from one of the wineries, a mere 40 minutes from downtown Portland.



The wines

First stop was the Montinore Estate winery. They had a $5 tasting fee, which was deducted on a bottle purchase (fairly standard at most places now. Saw this much more than we used to a few years ago in Oregon.)

Of course the featured wine in the Willamette Valley is Pinot noir, but the other Pinot varietals, rieslings, and lesser known (for the area) reds are excellent too.

Both the mrs and I enjoy the fuller fruit pinots, compared to the earthier ones. Montinore had a great 2005 reserve pinot. Lots of fruit on the palate, and a smooth mouthfeel. We'll cellar it for about a year or so and it should be excellent. We also enjoyed a pinot noir port they had, and grabbed a bottle of that as well.

Here were the vines outside of Montinore. A little bare this time of year.



Next up was Elk Cove winery. One of the older wineries in the area, they've been making wines since the mid 70s. Well, they're old for Oregon at least. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Didn't like their wines quite as much, although they had a decent pinot blanc that we passed on. We did pick up a bottle of grenache that we liked. Bold fruit, and a bit spicy. We also bought a half-bottle of their pinot. Perfect for a dinner for 2, and of course saved us some room in our budget as well.

Here's me, outside of Elk Cove with our purchases. Forced cheesy candid by mrs. nolanfan! (You will note that she did not pose for any similar pictures. Sorry cardo, bison)



After Elk Cove, we headed into Carlton and one of our favorite wineries, Cuneo Cellars. Cuneo Cellars is interesting, because the owner is Italian, and while they make a spectacular pinot noir, they really specialize in a number of other reds that are more traditionally European in nature.

They had a fantastic 2004 Nebbiolo that we picked up. We also really like a red blend they make called Bricco. IIRC, it's a Sangiovese based blend. Great, light, pasta and tomato-dish wines. We liked their Bordeaux blends as well, but didn't pick any up. One of the challenges of wine tasting and shopping is sticking to your budget, based on the wineries left to visit!

Next up we headed to Rex Hill. In the past, we've felt like their whites have been better than their reds, and that seemed to be the case this time as well. They had a really nice pinot gris that we picked up as a gift for someone. Last time around, they also had a chardonnay that was fermented in stainless steel instead of oak, that the mrs really liked, but alas, they didn't have it this time around.

We did grab one pinot noir there in the end, a 2003 Southern Oregon Cuvee from the Rogue Valley. So it's a little different than the Willamette pinots - a little mellower. I kind of suck at describing these things.

I was a bit biased heading into our next winery. Lange Winery was the subject of this book, which I read a few months back. So I figure I was a bit predisposed to like their wine before going there.

But, they didn't disappoint. We loved a single vineyard pinot there, which had a great bouquet, and a really complex flavor on the palate, including almost a vanilla hint. It just had a lot of depth, it was hard to describe. For $60, it was the most we've spent on a bottle at a winery, but it should cellar really well and be exceptional in another 4-5 years. (yes, we are not baller [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]).

Our 6th stop of the day was at Erath, which is one of the largest pinot producers in Oregon, if not THE largest. This is the pinot noir you can likely find on your store shelves all across America - they produce 50,000 cases of it. And after tasting the single vineyard and higher end pinots everywhere else, you can sort of feel the mass production-ness of it, even if your palate isn't that refined (like mine).

We like Erath because their tasting room staff is always very friendly, and they're usually tasting a rather large selection of wines. They have a nice range of whites, and the pinot blanc was a big hit. Very crisp and light, with great pear and melon notes. They also had a nice gewurztraminer, which wasn't overly sweet like you find sometimes.

The other hit from Erath is a 2004 Dolcetto. Last time around we bought the last bottle of this, so we picked up two this time.

By this time of the day, the sun was starting to set. Here's a view from Erath - just a few of their many acres across the valley.



Finally - and I can't tell you how nice it is to be close to the end of the day after 6 wineries and tastings - we stopped at Argyle Winery in Dundee. Argyle is interesting because they're known for their bruts and sparkling wines, as much as their pinots. Mrs. nolanfan is a big fan of the sparkling wines and champagnes, so it was a nice way to end the day.

We sampled about 10 different wines and sparkling wines there, and purchased a bottle of 1999 Knutsen Vineyard Brut, which was a 80% pinot noir/20% chard blend.

Summary

In the end, we probably sampled close to 60 different wines throughout the day. I was basically falling asleep at dinner at about 5:30. The soaking pool at McMenamins felt pretty good that night.

Final haul



Fun way to restock the wine cellar for a bit.

[nolanfan34]

One bump for the back-to-work crowd, or the other OOT wine fans out there who may have missed this and might be interested.

[MikeNaked]

I've been in oregon for a couple years now and I haven't gone on a wine tour yet. Consider me inspired. Nice work.

[IggyWH]

Definitely sounded like a fun trip. How much did the trip run you in total after all the wine purchases? I'm also wondering how much the Sake ran you.

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
Definitely sounded like a fun trip. How much did the trip run you in total after all the wine purchases? I'm also wondering how much the Sake ran you.

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The hotel ran us $60/night for a queen room. That is with a European-style shared private bathroom. (They do have rooms available with bathrooms, like a normal hotel).

The sake ran $20 for the sample packs we bought, which have 4 small bottles. The larger bottle we bought of their cask-strength stuff was $25 I think.

As for wine, we were budgeting about $300, and went just a bit over that (yes, not baller as I mentioned before). The most expensive was the $60 bottle of pinot from Lange, and the cheapest was a half bottle from Elk Cove for $12. Also, the pinot blanc from Erath was $14.

So, we ended up with I think about 14 bottles or so. Some of what's in the picture was purchased as gifts for my parents.

Total cost of the trip, including meals, wine, etc, was probably $700-ish?

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been in oregon for a couple years now and I haven't gone on a wine tour yet. Consider me inspired. Nice work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, if you live anywhere near Portland, it's too easy to not do it. It's hard to believe the valley is so close to a major city, just doesn't feel like it at all.

A good weekend option is to check out the brunch at Eola Hills, which is a little further south of Dundee IIRC. They have a huge weekend brunch with a big omelet bar, crepes, waffles, and all kinds of other dishes. Comes with champagne or wine, and you can taste while you're there. Lots of fun.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

[ QUOTE ]
The most expensive was the $60 bottle of pinot from Lange, and the cheapest was a half bottle from Elk Cove for $12

[/ QUOTE ]

were these high on their price range? or in the middle? seems like you bought some expensive bottles.

[OrigamiSensei]

Nice report. Some other excellent Pinot Noir producers in the area include Belle Pente, Domaine Drouhin and Patricia Green.

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The most expensive was the $60 bottle of pinot from Lange, and the cheapest was a half bottle from Elk Cove for $12

[/ QUOTE ]

were these high on their price range? or in the middle? seems like you bought some expensive bottles.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Lange was on the high end of anything we saw. Most places it broke down like this:

- Basic multi-vineyard pinot noir, $18-20
- Reserve pinots and some single vineyards, $25-35
- Highest end single vineyard pinos, $50-$75

Most bottles we bought were in the $20 range. The Lange was the exception because it should be prime for drinking in 4-5 years, which is right around our 10th anniversary, so it was worth the splurge.

[JaredL]

I miss home [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Thanks for the excellent trip report.