Second winery to visit in Ribbon Ridge?

We’re back to the Pacific NW in June but this is a wedding/family trip so wine will be in the background. We’ll have one day for a couple of visits (thinking 2 max with perhaps a third dropin) and then a mushroom fest at Joel Palmer’s. We contacted Colene Clemens and Penner-Ash. We’ve tried a couple and own some P-A but I don’t believe we’ve had CC. A trustworthy local wine slinger (Eric at Barley $ Vine in Raleigh) highly recommended them.

Colene Clemens was very gracious in their response and we’re there for sure. P-A was more prefunctory basically saying “We’re open” even though we made it clear we are buyers. After the personal treatment we’ve received from folks like Jim Anderson at Patty Green and Brian at Belle Pente, to name two, we’re not really looking for a couple of pours of a basic WV PN and a rose with a summer intern. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh and judgmental – any experiences with P-A visits?

So staying close by to Ribbon Ridge, what would be a second choice for a tasting stop? Since we’ll need to head south to get to the Palmer House we could drive through Dundee Hills for our 2nd stop after Colene Clemens.

Thanks! [cheers.gif]

Brick house

Ayres.

Tom

+1

Both BH and Ayres are very close, so are Adelsheim and Bergstrom.

I believe your take on P-A is about right… :frowning:

You could try Crowley on the way to CC.

J. Christopher has a great new winery and very good wines. They are about 3 miles from us Ribbon Ridge based wineries. All the suggestions here are good. There are a lot more wineries out this way (above or on North Valley Rd.) then there used to be and generally speaking I think the wineries are smaller (except Adelsheim which is a bigger operation) and fairly dedicated to sustainable practices and high-quality winemaking. Just a matter of finding folks that click with you and that are available on the day you want to taste (that’s usually the hardest part).

Yep, Brick House. Or Ayres. Or J. Christopher. Or Brick House.

Alexana has a really great new tasting room off Worden Hill Rd in the Dundee Hills. It’s not in RR, but on the way to the Joel Palmer House.

Thanks everybody! Maybe we’ll get the younger contingent of our party going early enough to do 3 wineries instead of 2.

Hey Jim, tell me about this 2011 Dry Muscat Ottenol that we’ll be receiving at some point in our latest big order. Also, we picked up a bunch of your 2010 Pinots at Barley & Vine a couple of weeks ago. Great prices (people complaining about Oregon Pinot prices are buying from the wrong wineries) and the B&V folks actually found 6 2010 Sauvignon Blancs for us that hadn’t sold at some restaurant tasting. And Karen of course splurged for the available Notorious!

We but Sauvignon Blanc fruit from Oak Grove Vineyard which is owned by Eola Hills WInery. They pick as much of the Muscat as they think they need (I believe it is blended into a sweet wine but I could be wrong). If they have left over stuff they sell it to us. We finally got some in 2011. While there are untold varieties of Muscat in the world Ottonel is often made into a dry wine (as opposed to Muscato or semi-sparkling Muscat which is usually slighlty sweet). You don’t see it too often in the States. We bottled 90 cases of it. It’s bone dry, sort of tastes like pears, has soft but decent acidity and while not the most complex white wine ever it is a very pleasant little sipper for the summer (IMO, of course).

Agree with the above- Brick House.

We’re on for Colene Clemens and Brick House. Depending on timing we may do something on the way from Brick House to Joel Palmer.

Very excited!

She’s a Brick House

The lady’s stacked and that’s a fact,
ain’t holding nothing back [cheers.gif]

If you have time left over, Ayres is about a 1 min drive from Brick House… maybe 1 min… maybe less…

Jealous that you’ll be going to Joel’s place. We use his cookbook extensively and dined there once before moving out to Carolina. We’ve never made it back. That’s on us, of course, as we are out in Oregon at least once a year. Lots of great suggestions have been given. I’ll say that I worked IPNC with Tyson Crowley last year and met him for the first time. He was “good people” in my book and the couple of wines of his we sampled over the weekend were tasty. You’ve got a good agenda going. You’ll be in Oregon and your destination is mushroom central. Go with the flow and enjoy the time.

Cheers,
fred