Columbia River Gorge trip

I’m planning a trip to the Columbia River Gorge area for Memorial Day Weekend and was wondering what wineries would be recommended. I’m generally unfamiliar with this region. The one place we have booked in already is Hiyu. I am a big fan of their wines (which I know is a divisive comment reading some prior threads).

Thank you! champagne.gif

Steve,
I’m no help on wineries.
But I will caution you about driving East in the gorge when the sun is just coming up - I could not see any of the road more times than was comfortable. If you’re heading East do it from noon on.
Best, jim

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I’d highly recommend visiting Savage Grace Wines at their Underwood tasting room location.

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Shouldn’t miss Syncline, on the WA side.

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Can’t help with wineries, but there are several breweries in Hood River, OR, including pFriem Family Brewing.

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There are more wineries in the Gorge where I have not tasted that wineries where I have so I am quite interested in this topic.

I give a strong second to Anthony’s Savage Grace recommendation and I’ll add Idiot’s Grace, though I will add the caveat that I haven’t tasted their wines since they were Memaloose. I also like AniChe, but most of their grapes are sourced from outside the Gorge.

I have not yet tasted at Analemma or Syncline but they seem to get a lot of recommendations and are on my mental list of places to visit.

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The scenery in the gorge is hard to beat. Plus several museums and visitor centers. Maryhill Museum is a very interesting building and setting, with an odd history. Off the beaten path, the airplane/automobile museum in Hood River is large and very interesting, but few people know about it.
I seem to recall that the gorge is home to more than sixty wineries. And Oregon as a whole has more than seven hundred. And Washington has more than nine hundred. Lots of choices.
Phil Jones

Steve, I hope you’ll report back, at least with some general impressions or favorite producers you visited. This area is very intriguing to me. I haven’t had nearly enough wines to make suggestions.

This article hits the highlights on wineries. http://www.pnwredcrush.com/hood-river-tasting-rooms/ It’s been a while, but our favorites are Syncline, Cascade Cliffs, Domaine Pouillon, Phelps Creek. A few of the newer places, Analemma, Savage Grace, we haven’t visited but have enjoyed the wines.

Hood River, beer and brats, pFreim, beer and pizza, Double Mountain, beer and fish and chips w/ views, Full Sail patio. Other food, Nora’s Table, Mesquitery

Other touristy stuff, Multnomah Falls, worth a stop if not too crowded to get a good look at the falls, which are impressive, but hard to see zooming by on I-84.

Strongly recommend Analemma. We’ve visited the Gorge numerous times in the last seven years and find them to be head and shoulders above the others (and, yes, have been to Hiyu). Second recs for Savage Grace, Syncline and Idiot’s Grace. Look into Domaine Pouillon on the WA side. One we haven’t visited but seems intriguing is Buona Notte.

As for beer, while this is probably a minority position on this board, I like Ferment Brewing more than pFriem, although both are quite good. Ferment has a killer patio whereas pFriem has more confined seating.

Lots of good recommendations in this thread, but given that your palate preferences lean in Hiyu’s direction, I’d suggest a few. Buona Notte is made by the former assistant winemaker at Hiyu, though in a cleaner/more consistent style, and is doing really interesting things. Analemma has been mentioned many times for good reason, as has Savage Grace. I’d also throw out Loop de Loop as a place to look into—Julia Bailey made her wines in Portland for a number of years, often from Gorge fruit, but has recently purchased a vineyard on Underwood Mountain. They’re in the process of building a small tasting room, so I’m not sure if they’re set up to have visitors yet, but it would be worth reaching out.

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Saul crushed these recomendations. So good.

As others have stated, any trip up through the Gorge wouldn’t be complete with some beers. pFriem’s relatively new facility is dope. Always enjoyed sitting outside at Full Sail if the day is nice and the lunatics are out on the water…good times all around.

Good recommendations, Saul. I would add Mylan Wines (Ben also worked with Nate at Hiyu for several years and is a 100% natural winemaker). Disclosure: Ben is my nephew and I helped him make wine for two years before launching Sun Break, but you can see his Yelp and Google ratings are 5 star.

Of all the places mentioned you are most likely to meet the winemaker at Domaine Pouillon, Buona Notte, Willow Wine Cellars (not mentioned yet — great wines) and Mylan (and Loop de Loop I suppose if they are open).

Have fun!

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Wy’East Vineyard in Hood River [url][https://www.wyeastvineyards.com//url]

Syncline for sure. If you have kids in tow then Maryhill is good. Full kitchen, bocci court, etc.

Tom

If you enjoy the outdoors, there’s a great short hike that starts right in downtown Mosier, not too far from Analemma:

https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/Mosier_Plateau_Hike

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