Its going to be a great trip, thats for sure! A lot of the tastings are a toss up due to COVID and harvest (double whammy), but its worth the risk.
We just got back from Oregon on Friday. We had a great time tasting at the following places:
Morgen Long - Seth was a great host and we enjoyed some great Chardonnay here.
Goodfellow - Marcus is always great to visit with and he was very generous opening numerous bottles for us.
Hundred Suns - Grant and Renee are great. We enjoyed the wines here.
Colene Clemens - Good place to stop during COVID. They had a large outside patio and the property is very nice with great views. Wines are good but not up to the level of others we stopped at on this trip
Seven of Hearts - Stopped by their Carlton tasting room one last time before they close at the end of the month. Byron says he is going to do future release events at Mac’s new place, Kings North. Always enjoy their Luminous Hills Pinots.
Kelley Fox - Great wines and Dustin was a hoot. The two hours we spent there just flew by.
Bethel Heights is worth it for the sweet smelling clematis outside but also fine wines.
It seems that fires are handled and smoke is gone. I’m thinking of making a mid-October Willamette wine visit. Will harvests be a blocker? Of course there’s that pesky Covid but it seems like that’s also being managed. A good time to wander the Willamette? Are things open again?
This weekend:
Cristom
DD
Bergstrom
L’Agolo
PG
Jory
We’re in McMinnville now, very much enjoying ourselves. Had a great tasting with Vincent around noon and followed it up with Cristom. Working on Goodfellows take home tasting as I write this and holy wow is all I can say.
For restaurants, be aware that Monday, Tuesday, and even Wednesday some of them may not be open. That said, we’re eating a delicious pizza and pasta dish from Nicks right now.
Keep the updates coming Max
I’ll go a little more in depth since I’ve got some time. Please keep in mind I’m a relative wine novice.
Vincent: pretty much a 2 hour conversation about wine. He is a pretty Bohemian guy, and his English education shows. It almost felt like I was in an interactive educational play if that makes sense. Not because anything was dramatized, but more because it felt like going from watching a black and white TV to one in color with the way he talks about wine. His wines are wonderful. The Brick House Chardonnay blew me away, probably in part because Chard is usually something I stay away from. The pinots were nice too. We picked up 6 bottles, and will be buying regularly in a similar quantity probably evey 2-3 years. The wines are very well made but didnt hit the sweet spot for me. Im still figuring out my wine profile and things change regularly so this is by no means a knock on Vincent, moreso on myself if anything. IF YOU ARE NEW TO WINE OR OREGON WINE, GO HAVE A CHAT WITH VINCENT.
Cristom: first off, I paid $25 per bottle for a bunch of their 375s that I’m not seeing advertised on their website. Those 375s normally are $70/750ml and they had bottles going back to 2015. Free shipping on equivalent of 6x750 as well. It may only be available at the winery. We did the 2 hour educational tour which was pretty interesting. It was more structured as I’d expect from a larger winery. Gaironn was great about answering our questions. I very much enjoy their wines and will probably be buying a half case in great years. This is mostly a price thing, if my budget was higher I’d likely buy more.
Goodfellow: to go tasting, I met Megan who is wonderful. She took a few minutes to chat with me about things even though they were obviously incredibly busy. My favorite so far. Richard’s Cuvee is incredible. I’d like to try it in 5 years. Heritage No. 10 is everything I did and didnt know I wanted in a bottle of wine. Big fan of Lewman and Pumphouse as well. They will be a household staple for a long time. If you haven’t sampled their wines, get on it.
Community Plate: I had their Reuben for breakfast and it was bomb. I also may have been hungover and I needed that kind of flavor, but I’m pretty sure it was bomb.
Nick’s Italian: pizza was good, pasta was not great. Keep in mind we did take away, but our take away was about a 3 minute walk. If I went again I’d stick to pizza regardless.
I’ll be checking out Thistle tonight, then tasting at Kelley Fox, Patricia Green, and Martin Woods tomorrow.
Side note: Oregon Historic Route 30 is beautiful.
Jealous. Sounds like you are having a great time…
It really is a great time. The people are great too, as hospitable as I’d expect. They all seem to care about what they’re doing from more than a dollars and cents perspective.
Also, people seem to be respectful and mindful of COVID in general. We aren’t walking around a whole lot, but when we do it feels pretty safe.
I’m surprised.I had a great tasting at Bergstrom a year ago but have not tried older ones
Stewart,
I had multiple great tastings at Bergstrom. When visited in 2006 I was so impressed I signed up for their case club. However, with time I learned that the wines do not age as consistently as I’d hope/expect. For me there are too many other wines that cost less, and have a far better track record with aging. I’ve had conversations with others that are passionate about Oregon wines that have had similar experiences and Doug Schulman (a board member here) was at the tasting I’m referencing. In a world full of great $45 Pinot Noirs I just have a hard time putting my money someplace that has had as high of an error/disappointment rate as Bergstrom has had for me.
Went to Thistle last night. I have a high bar for food and think they were solid. Specific thoughts on what we had:
Oysters: great. Anything less and I would have been disappointed at the price point.
Braised Beef: good. It was served with a poached duck egg and i think it was well made. It did seem to be missing some that kept it from being great.
Gnocchi: eh. I wouldn’t get it again. It was a little too coarse for my taste, but that may just be me. It did come with olives which I don’t live, but I do like a hint of them in some foods so work around them. I didn’t think the elements came together the way they intended.
In all honesty I’d be 50/50 on returning if this was a restaurant in Denver. But this isn’t a major city and for that I’d say its worth checking out and coming up with your own opinion.
If you want a different option, the Painted Lady came highly regarded by some friends of ours whose food opinions I respect. That said, we paid around $150 including tax, tip, and a bottle of wine ($50) whereas Painted Lady would have started at $220 pre tax and tip with no wine.
thanks Kirk. I have been in the Wie club for a year after a tasting there.I was going to stop also because of the significant cost compared to others
3 wine events today: Kelley Fox, Patricia Green Cellars, and Martin Woods.
Kelley Fox: Dustin is a fun guy to taste with. He has all the knowledge, and it comes out in the conversation, but it feels more like a chat with an old friend. He has that laid back Denver feel to him, so maybe that’s a part of why I liked him. The KF Maresh Royal Anne Block is currently my favorite wine in Oregon. Goodfellows Heritage No. 10 gives it a run for the money, but that Maresh RAB just hits all of the right spots for me. Will reevaluate in 5 years.
Patricia Green Cellars: paging Jim Anderson. At first I read self guided tasting and thought “ugh, not what I came for.” But it wasn’t that at all. Caroline stopped by our table every couple of minutes to see how we were doing and to answer my million questions. All of the wines were wonderful, we especially enjoyed the Freedom Hill Dijon 115, Weber Vineyard (the ladys favorite at both PGC and Kelley Fox), and the Balcombe Vineyard. The Perspicacious is out of this world. It’s solidly out of my price range, but its a great wine and I wish i had the resources for it. Jim, please don’t let it go.
Martin Woods: Evan was literally in the middle of processing his harvest and still took the time to share his wines with me. Across the board they were solid. I especially enjoyed his Cab Franc and Riesling. I ended up getting one of each of 6 different bottles including all 4 pinot noirs so I can try them again at home.
I’m honestly just beat at this point and have no idea how some of you guys do it. Glad I took a day off between tastings. The best wines for me (on personal taste alone) are Kelley Fox and Goodfellow. The real winner here is Oregon. What an incredibly hospitable group of people. We’ll be back.
Interesting. I tried calling to make an appointment on our way to the coast back in July, and was basically told that it wasn’t worth his time. Maybe something else was going on, but it was a very discouraging attitude. Oh well, plenty of other wine to buy.
Max, just seeing this. Great to meet you, thanks for stopping by. Cool to read through your trip, sounds like a lot of fun. And yes, historic US Highway 30 through the Columbia River Gorge is one of the all timers. Hope to see you again in the future!
And just a guess, but I bet if I had bottled a bunch 375mL bottles and then covid tanked the restaurant business, I’d be selling them at a discount out of the tasting room only to try to give people a nice deal but not upset the normal flow of business.
Thanks Vincent, it was great meeting you too. Somehow you taught me a lot and still made it really enjoyable for Jenna. I cant think of a better first stop for our visit. And that makes sense about the 375s, didn’t consider that.