Oregon Wine Country (1 Viewer)

[Baloney Sandwich]

I'm looking to plan a trip for the first weekend in October to celebrate the 10th anniversary of meeting my wife. We have done Sonoma/Napa wine country and could easily go back there but I'm very interested in Oregon. Anyone here with knowledge about the weather up there that time of year? I would also be interested in folks thoughts on the best place within the region to stay. My guess is we would be looking at staying 2-3 nights so would probably lean towards an area that has a good concentration of wineries and dinner options.

If anyone has been to both Sonoma and Oregon wine country and want to compare/contrast the two regions that would be great as well. I understand the the wines both regions are known for so more interested in the folks opinions about the overall experience of the two areas.

TIA

 

[Mr. Retukes]

There is a Footballguy who owns a vineyard in the area. Not sure if it's open for tastings yet.

 

[General Malaise]

Shoot me a PM...im a little busy but will get back to you this week.

What's your budget? The Allison Inn is a gorgeous spot to base, but pretty spendy. Stayed a few times...loved it, but my boss paid for it.

Heard great things about this place but never stayed: http://www.mcmenamins.com/mobile/search/locations/results/browse?page=1&per_page=1&search_query=Hotel+Oregon

McMenamins is a local brew pub chain (Hammerhead is a top 5 Oregon beer for me) but their place in the wine country is supposed to be awesome.

There's a million wineries in the Willammete Valley now with more coming every day. I have some personal favorites and can make some suggestions. You can also look into guided tours with transport so you can get loaded. The roads can be tricky and cops be lurking. I'd also recommend a tour at one the more prestigious vineyards... We did one at Archery Summit where we went into the caves and got to sample from the barrel. That was cool.

I've never done wine tasting in Sanoma or Nappa though I've driven through the areas for work when I was a stupid 20 something who hated wine. Wish I had stopped and toured now. Oregon is really scenic and there are great views to soak in while sampling.

October weather is typically very good. Sometimes you can get a wet month but in this drought I would bet October will be perfect. Leaves changing and all that #### will make for awesome sights. Should also be lots of events going on...harvests, music, wangdangdoodles.

I'm good friends with Perrotti if you want to grab a beer. I'm pretty sure we met in Vegas in 2004...

 

[seahawk 17]

I would fly in to PDX and stay in McMinnville. I have stayed at McMenamins 4-5 times and it's a great place. Has a very cool basement bar, and then move to the rooftop bar for some nice views and a relaxing time. You can hit up wineries in Amity, Dundee, and Carlton areas which are all short drives.

I agree with GM of doing a tour, all the above named towns have bored cops that only look to pull over traffic.

ETA: Early October is my favorite time of year. Always sunny, cool crisp mornings, low 70's in the afternoon, and then pleasant nights. The deeper you get into October, the more chance of the rain.

 

[Buc in Exile]

There is a Footballguy who owns a vineyard in the area. Not sure if it's open for tastings yet.

That would be me. Our place is in Newberg and had our grand opening Memorial Day and are now open by appointment for tastings: http://www.bellsupwinery.com. Would love to have you drop by when you're in the area - just give me a shout.

Would agree on hiring a car service - will be much more enjoyable when you're not fighting traffic and I'll be happy to give you some tour company recommendations - just drop me a PM if you're interested in that or in winery/restaurant recommendations. Would agree that McMinnville is a good staging area - bunch of little B&Bs around Newberg and Carlton as well that are great but not sure of their availability in October. As a general rule, the valley has a very laid back tasting environment which (I've been told) differentiates this area from Napa in particular and to a lesser degree Sonoma. You'll get a lot of pinot noir here as it does really well in our (relatively) cool weather climate - those of us that also pour a big red or two in the tasting room usually source the fruit from eastern or southern Oregon or Washington. Lots of good choices for whites as well.

One thing to keep in mind is that early October is usually harvest season so if you want to visit some of the smaller places (which IMO is the fun part of visiting any wine country as you'll get one on one time with the winemakers you won't get any other way), you'll want to call ahead a day or so and make an appointment (or have the tour company do it for you) as us winemakers will be getting pulled in a bunch of different directions at that moment. I've heard some folks get hung up on the idea of making reservations for private tastings - there are a bunch of very small producers in this area and often our zoning/land use restrictions require that we be open to the public on a very limited basis. Plus, at our tiny case production, staffing a tasting room regular hours doesn't make much sense. Often the producer's house is on the same property as the winery - hell, some producers do tastings in their kitchens and ours is in a renovated pole barn about 50 yards from the house. Anyway, I'd be happy to help - just let me know.

Oh and GM, please do visit when you're in the area. I'm literally a 1 minute drive up the hill from the Allison.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

There is a Footballguy who owns a vineyard in the area. Not sure if it's open for tastings yet.

That would be me. Our place is in Newberg and had our grand opening Memorial Day and are now open by appointment for tastings: http://www.bellsupwinery.com. Would love to have you drop by when you're in the area - just give me a shout.

Would agree on hiring a car service - will be much more enjoyable when you're not fighting traffic and I'll be happy to give you some tour company recommendations - just drop me a PM if you're interested in that or in winery/restaurant recommendations. Would agree that McMinnville is a good staging area - bunch of little B&Bs around Newberg and Carlton as well that are great but not sure of their availability in October. As a general rule, the valley has a very laid back tasting environment which (I've been told) differentiates this area from Napa in particular and to a lesser degree Sonoma. You'll get a lot of pinot noir here as it does really well in our (relatively) cool weather climate - those of us that also pour a big red or two in the tasting room usually source the fruit from eastern or southern Oregon or Washington. Lots of good choices for whites as well.

One thing to keep in mind is that early October is usually harvest season so if you want to visit some of the smaller places (which IMO is the fun part of visiting any wine country as you'll get one on one time with the winemakers you won't get any other way), you'll want to call ahead a day or so and make an appointment (or have the tour company do it for you) as us winemakers will be getting pulled in a bunch of different directions at that moment. I've heard some folks get hung up on the idea of making reservations for private tastings - there are a bunch of very small producers in this area and often our zoning/land use restrictions require that we be open to the public on a very limited basis. Plus, at our tiny case production, staffing a tasting room regular hours doesn't make much sense. Often the producer's house is on the same property as the winery - hell, some producers do tastings in their kitchens and ours is in a renovated pole barn about 50 yards from the house. Anyway, I'd be happy to help - just let me know.

Oh and GM, please do visit when you're in the area. I'm literally a 1 minute drive up the hill from the Allison.

So now I know you have a vineyard and also a very good friend of mine has Paetra Wines in Willamette Valley. I need to again take a vacation back out to Oregon

BTW...I think I'm going to have to get some Pinot Blanc and some Rosé from you

 

[Buc in Exile]

There is a Footballguy who owns a vineyard in the area. Not sure if it's open for tastings yet.

That would be me. Our place is in Newberg and had our grand opening Memorial Day and are now open by appointment for tastings: http://www.bellsupwinery.com. Would love to have you drop by when you're in the area - just give me a shout.

Would agree on hiring a car service - will be much more enjoyable when you're not fighting traffic and I'll be happy to give you some tour company recommendations - just drop me a PM if you're interested in that or in winery/restaurant recommendations. Would agree that McMinnville is a good staging area - bunch of little B&Bs around Newberg and Carlton as well that are great but not sure of their availability in October. As a general rule, the valley has a very laid back tasting environment which (I've been told) differentiates this area from Napa in particular and to a lesser degree Sonoma. You'll get a lot of pinot noir here as it does really well in our (relatively) cool weather climate - those of us that also pour a big red or two in the tasting room usually source the fruit from eastern or southern Oregon or Washington. Lots of good choices for whites as well.

One thing to keep in mind is that early October is usually harvest season so if you want to visit some of the smaller places (which IMO is the fun part of visiting any wine country as you'll get one on one time with the winemakers you won't get any other way), you'll want to call ahead a day or so and make an appointment (or have the tour company do it for you) as us winemakers will be getting pulled in a bunch of different directions at that moment. I've heard some folks get hung up on the idea of making reservations for private tastings - there are a bunch of very small producers in this area and often our zoning/land use restrictions require that we be open to the public on a very limited basis. Plus, at our tiny case production, staffing a tasting room regular hours doesn't make much sense. Often the producer's house is on the same property as the winery - hell, some producers do tastings in their kitchens and ours is in a renovated pole barn about 50 yards from the house. Anyway, I'd be happy to help - just let me know.

Oh and GM, please do visit when you're in the area. I'm literally a 1 minute drive up the hill from the Allison.

So now I know you have a vineyard and also a very good friend of mine has Paetra Wines in Willamette Valley. I need to again take a vacation back out to Oregon

BTW...I think I'm going to have to get some Pinot Blanc and some Rosé from you

Sure - just drop me a PM or an email at the info@ address. I'll start shipping again once the weather cools down (October-ish) and am taking pre-orders for that shipping window.

Looked up your friend's site and his story is pretty cool - based on his vineyard sites I'm assuming he's producing down around Amity but couldn't tell for sure. Anyway, I'll definitely keep checking his site for more info as I like me a good riesling.

 

[dino259]

Hit Multnomah falls as well. Loved my 2 trips to Portland.