Willamette Valley wineries
 

All,

I'm going on my first trip to see wineries in the Willamette Valley (near Portland, Oregon). Does anyone know which wineries are worth visiting?

Thanks!

We really enjoyed the Willamette Valley Vineyard, which is just south of Salem. They have a gorgeous location and some good wine.

The best ones are not open except for 2 days per year (special event in spring/fall when all wineries are open). This is not (yet) like Napa, with huge winery tours and bus loads of tourists.

Several good ones to visit that are open all the time (all need a car, and a designated driver, as they pour generous amounts of wine for tasting):
- Willakenzie
- Rex Hill
- several in Dundee (the main wine town, go to whichever is open on your day)

The average quality is quite high, much better than a decade ago (wine making has greatly improved and this region is in the forefront of wine technology).

This is a great resource:

http://www.willamettewines.com/

My top 3:

Archery Summit (Near Dundee) - good, comprehensive tour; very fine, expensive wines; prebooking recommended

Domaine Drouhin Oregon (Near Dundee) - must prebook appointments; very good wines

Willamette Valley Vinyards (Turner) - must prebook appointments

For a variety, try some of the tasting rooms:

Art of the Vine (McMinnville) and McMinnville Wine Shop - very close to each other (2 blocks) I cannot recall, but one is much better than the other. And the Tasting Room in Carlton and the nearby Depot are also quite good.

Carlton is a good wine town to visit and has a good sandwich shop (converted filling station), along with fancier restaurants. But the hours for the Tasting Room are quite limited (their main business is as a wine distributor and promoter, the retail shop seems to be run almost as a hobby). Only a handful of wineries are open regular hours, the rest have limited hours so you need to check their web site and plan the tour ahead, if you have your heart set on specific places. But there are so many good ones -- something that wasn't the case even 5 years ago -- that taking pot luck with whatever you find open happens to be worth doing too.

Another vote for Domaine Drouhin -- and check out Domaine Serene across the road as well. The Dundee Hills area in general is just amazing. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, check out the tiny winery called Hauer of the Dauen -- it's a local farmer who turned his fields over to vines and is usually there in person. Great to get that personal touch after the bigger wineries. Plus, some amazing late harvest wines for even more amazing prices.

xman72,

This should help anyone that's Willamette Valley bound.

http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/...ght=willamette

There's lots of good info here.

Are there any reccomendations for hotels in a centrally located spot for multiple winery visits?

A funky choice is the Hotel Oregon located in downtown McMinnville (the county seat and with several winery tasting rooms now opened within staggering distance). Hotel is historic (100 year old and shows it, but renovated so should be OK). Otherwise it is only B&Bs and some motels in wine country at the moment (a bit of a vacuum for a higher-end hotel -- it isn't like Napa yet, but of course that is a big part of the charm).

That was our first choice... :)
But, it's sold out the weekend we want to head down! :(

My vote to Eola Hills - http://www.eolahillswinery.com/
Great Sunday Brunch - fresh panned fried oysters with a glass of bubbly - yum :D

Well, worth going for a burger and beer anyway.

We stayed here last year http://www.winecountryfarm.com/
My wife is not typically a B&B person, but the location is great and it was perfect for us and another couple (located right above Archery Summit and Domaine Drouhin, both 'must-dos')

Others have give good advice and resources, but for a couple 'out-of-the-way' wineries, I'll add:

Elk Cove
Adelaide (Great views)
David Hill (Wife's uncle was original owner and she used to spend a week here every summer...neat in that he was one of the first to grow wine in the area)

Just to follow-up... we stayed at the Hopewell B&B and immensely enjoyed our stay. :-::-::-::-:

It wasn't on our first list of options but we were so glad that we came across the place. The B&B is north of Salem and just a bit outside of the core "Wine Country"- but the reality is that if you are in the Willamette Valley you're going to be driving around from winery to winery anyways. The Hopewell B&B is worth the extra 10 minutes drive. I promise.

The two cottages are very well stocked with nearly anything that you could need. The owners, Mike & Penny (and their dog buddy), were simply great from the welcome drinks to the amazing breakfast- and just being great people. They even made a campfire and had S'mores for us one night! ^

I will definitely stay there again on our next trip.

Sorry for the late reply, but I would like to add that I have stayed at "A Tuscan Estate" in McMinnville and really enjoyed it. URL: http://www.a-tuscanestate.com/

As far as wineries, Carlton Studio is home to Hamacher, one of my favorite Pinot's. I also enjoyed archery summit, but they are a bit pricier than I want to pay for a bottle.

Hamacher is excellent ... you might want to try Carlo & Julian, another high quality low volume producer with a flair for Burgundian style.