We’re going to Oregon’s Willamette Valley! To explore world-class wineries, taste wine in intimate tasting experiences and enjoy the gorgeous vineyards and flora and fauna of this beautiful region. We walk you through food & wine pairings, tasting experiences & teach you how to saber a bottle of sparkling! This trip also goes to Silver Falls State Park for a waterfall detour.
If you want to take this exact trip, you can download our 5-day Willamette Valley Wine Tasting Itinerary. The itinerary organizes the route from north to south, gives travel tips, restaurant and hotel recommendations, links to every tasting and experience we booked, packing list, and a day by day itinerary for you to follow.
Highlights of this Willamette Valley episode:
- Chehalem Ridge Bed and Breakfast
- Bells Up Winery
- Natalie’s Estate Vineyard
- Domaine Willamette
- Bjornson Vineyard
- Willamette Valley Vineyard Estate
- St Innocent Winery
- King Estate Winery
- Silver Falls State Park
Hotels in the Willamette Valley we recommend:
- Chehalem Ridge Bed and Breakfast – You absolutely must stay at this quaint, homey experience. The homemade breakfast is worth it!
- The Dundee Hotel
- The Grand Hotel in Salem
- Inn at the 5th in Eugene
Check out our Willamette Valley yours and experiences on Viator for our created list of recommend wine tours and local experiences.
Find a great flight deal to Portland or Eugene with Thrifty Traveler Premium’s flight deals. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.
We have featured Silver Falls State Park in another Oregon waterfalls road trip episode. Listen to that one too and consider a trip extension.
5 Day Willamette Valley Wine Trip – Episode Transcript
0:35
And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.
Hello fellow travelers.
Hey, squaddies.
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.
Today we are taking you to the Willamette Valley, Oregon for a wine tasting road trip.
0:51
I’m really excited to hear about your time here, Kim, because as I get older, one of my favorite things to do, believe it or not, is actually wine taste and let alone in a place like this, which is a specific wine region 1 of Oregon’s premiere, if not premiere wine region.
1:07
And when you were posting all your stories and the images I saw, it just looked like such a great time.
And I think Brittany and I were maybe up in this area because we were in Northern Oregon when we were trying to see lavender season and doing some hiking and whatnot.
1:23
But we did not go here.
And just all of your experiences that we saw, it looked like an amazing time.
Yeah, I’m actually a little disappointed I wasn’t on this trip.
You know what, I have talked about the Willamette Valley and wanting to take a wine trip for years and trying to plant little seeds for you guys.
1:40
Yeah, and I was ready, but you did not tell me a date.
And then here we are.
You’re like, oh, I’m going and I have all of these things planned and I’m like, dude, where was the invite?
You know, it’s really funny.
It’s like at one point I don’t even remember how it came up.
And it’s not like when we go on trips, we talk about each other, like did we get an invite?
1:57
Did we get, Because we know when we want to do a squad trip or do a squad trip.
But I was like, oh, you know, like I’ve been telling you, maybe you should go with Kim on some more trips because with work’s getting busier for me and I can’t do some stuff.
So I was like, is there a particular reason why you didn’t get the invite?
Brittany’s like, you know, we kind of talked about this, but she scheduled it and she didn’t tell me.
2:14
So I just let it go.
But Brittany was.
Slightly a little.
Hurt that she.
Didn’t get it.
Sorry that you were hurt.
You would have been having a great time and I would have enjoyed your company.
But the problem is when I’ve tried to plan it, you’re not available.
2:30
Our dates do not match up and you’re like, I can’t go this year.
You pretty much told me you couldn’t go this year.
So I was like, all right, I guess I have to go alone, which is what I did.
I did a solo hello trip to the Willamette Valley.
But it seemed like you had such a great time, you’d probably go back, so maybe I’ll join you on that one.
2:47
Definitely have to go back.
I learned there are about 800 wineries in the Willamette Valley.
I would have not guessed that at all.
I did so much research, talked to so many people, and on this trip had more conversations where I learned about wineries that were not coming up in my research whatsoever.
3:06
I think I found there’s not a good database or resource that really explains the Willamette Valley.
There are tourism organizations and there’s the Willamette Valley Association.
They just don’t do a good job of really showing you what the lay of the land is and really where all the wineries are.
3:25
You have to do so much of your own research to find them.
So the Willamette Valley is pretty big.
It stretches 150 miles from just South of Portland, which makes it a very great airport to fly into just South of Portland all the way down to Eugene OR so that’s about a three 3 1/2 ish hour drive if you drove it straight.
3:45
And there’s wineries all winding within those regions.
The Willamette Valley region is an Ava that’s an American Viticulture area, but within the Willamette Valley there are 11 different Avas, which means in each of these Avas there’s a specific like geographic feature, climate, soil, growing conditions that change the flavors of the grapes that grow there.
4:13
So even though you’re getting wine from the Willamette Valley, wine from one Ava to another can taste different.
A Pinot Noir from one Ava to the next can taste completely different.
And in terms of other wine regions that you’ve been to, Kim and I know you probably have a little bit more to say say about the valley as a whole, but would you say this is one of your favorite wine regions that you’ve actually visited?
4:36
I think it it is a new favorite.
Yes, it’s beautiful, but it’s different than Napa, right?
When you’re driving around in Napa, you see vines on either side of the road in the valley.
They don’t really plant on the valley here.
They plant up into the hills, so the roots go down deep.
4:53
They have those volcanic soils in a lot of the places, and so you won’t see a lot of vines on the streets when you’re driving.
Sometimes the streets look just like neighborhoods or rural areas, and then you take one turn and all of a sudden you’re in these gorgeous rolling hills of vines and vineyards.
5:10
Really pretty.
A lot of places are really down to earth, even though they’re beautiful and some are really big.
Everyone’s very friendly.
It’s not like the hoity toitiness that you sort of sort of get from Napa, I mean.
You definitely get from Napa.
5:27
Don’t be afraid to say it.
A little bit it, it doesn’t have that.
It’s also much more affordable prices for tastings than Napa.
I think in older years, this wine region’s been around since like the 70s or 80s were the first plant.
So it’s relatively new.
But in older years you like a $10 tasting used to be expensive, now that’s a little less common to find, but you will find them for $15.25 dollars, 35 dollars, $45.00.
5:55
You know, for some of the nicer ones or ones that come with like a charcuterie board.
Very reasonable pricing here.
And what kind of wine are they known for in this region?
They’re absolutely known for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but they have a lot of other varietals that are growing here.
And a lot of the wineries are realizing that they want to differentiate themselves a little from all the other Pinot wineries.
6:16
So they’re bringing in more, less common grapes than you would typically find here, other grapes from France, and they are growing here, which is pretty cool.
So there’s a lot of really interesting whites coming out of this region.
Well, I’m interested to go myself, even though you haven’t gotten too far in that episode again from photos, just the fact that I love wine tasting because I love Pinot Noirs and if this region is known for it, then I would be really excited for that.
6:41
Just as well then obviously to try the different varietals.
But nevertheless, yeah, this seems like a really cool place and let alone mixed in with the beauty that is Oregon, because Oregon is such a beautiful state as a whole.
So I could just imagine the vineyards rolling up through the hills or the mountains and kind of being hidden.
6:59
It almost makes it seem more exclusive in that way.
But again, without that haughty thorniness that you described that you could get other wine.
Yeah, and the roads are a little bit weaving and winding.
You’re in the hill area, right?
7:15
So they’re not cliffs that you’re potentially going to fall off of on the side of a mountain, but they’re these beautiful windy roads that go through trees.
And so you’ll see these Moss covered Oregon Pacific Northwest style trees over the mountains or over the road, I should say.
7:31
And it’s beautiful.
And then you open up into these vineyards.
Very, very beautiful.
So how long were you on this trip for?
I was in the Willamette Valley for five days.
The first day was mostly a travel day and I flew in pretty late at night.
7:48
My flight was also delayed so I did rent a car.
Rented it on Costco for the best deal.
You guys will be really disappointed to find out that the last two times I rented a car I forgot to gas up before I returned it.
Oh my God, Kim.
8:05
And they charged you, I imagine, and.
Sometimes it happens.
I I forgot like it was a while back, Brittany and I forgot to do that too, but it wasn’t like full it was like.
No, we, Kim was actually on that trip.
It was the time that we flew to Ecuador and we picked up the rental car in Miami and we were dropping it off in Fort Lauderdale and we went to the beach in the middle and we went to Publix and then we forgot to gas that before we dropped it off.
8:30
Right, because I was going to say I know we didn’t leave it like on empty.
We use like 1/4 tank or something like that, but it was definitely below full.
So that happened relatively recently now.
But now that when you say that, Ecuador seems like so long.
Ago.
Yeah, it was years ago.
As well.
But then there have been times where we have filled up but forgotten.
8:50
Oh, shoot, we need to fill up before we take it.
So it happens, Kim.
I’ll I’ll give you a pass on that.
One, I’m going to be more mindful.
Two in a row.
Yeah.
Two in a row.
Hey, in fairness, she was on a high from this trip.
She.
Was OK.
I’m just going to start exercising that option where they fill up the gas for you, You just prepay for it.
9:12
So your flight was delayed, you got in a little late, you got your rental car for anybody.
Coming into Portland, just know the car rental is very easy.
It’s right there.
Portland’s a great airport to fly in and out of.
Super convenient.
So that didn’t take any time at all.
I got in the car, drove about an hour, and I was staying at the Chilean Ridge Bed and Breakfast.
9:33
So excited to stay here.
This was actually my first bed and breakfast stay.
Have you 2 done a bed and breakfast traditional style before?
We have.
We did in Door County, Wisconsin.
And you enjoyed yourself.
Oh, it was so great.
I love the quaintness of it.
9:50
I love that they do breakfast for you there.
We also did one in New Jersey.
In New Jersey, Yeah, in Cape May, in Cape May.
And one of my old Co workers actually runs that B&B now, so we had like a personalized experience there as well.
Bed and breakfast are a great choice for the Willamette Valley because it has that vibe, it’s more cozy, more homey.
10:14
It’s just got a really good.
It adds to the experience.
I would highly recommend staying at a bed and breakfast over a hotel when you’re in the Willamette Valley and the Chilean Ridge bed and breakfast was absolutely amazing and it’s conveniently located.
So another thing about the valley is there’s multiple parts to it.
10:30
So you’re probably wondering where should I stay?
You don’t want to be too far driving away from the wineries that you’re visiting.
I wanted to see a good representation of the valley from north to South, so I went all the way down to Eugene.
You don’t actually have to do that.
If you’re coming to the Willamette Valley, you can stay up in Newburgh.
10:49
So Newburgh is close to where the Chilean Ridge Bed and Breakfast is.
It actually overlooks the city below the bed and breakfast, so it’s really conveniently located.
Newburgh is a fantastic town.
Dundee and then of course Salem is a little bit more mid valley and then Eugene at the very end of the valley.
11:06
If you are just coming for like a weekend trip flying in and out of Portland, I would recommend staying up near Newburgh.
It’s only an hour from Portland.
There’s a large a supersonically large clustering of wineries in the Newburgh and Dundee area.
11:23
So all within 20 ish minutes of the bed and breakfast of Newburgh.
You have wineries to choose from, so you will have plenty to choose from by staying in this area.
The Chilean Ridge Bed and Breakfast is a boutique wine country inn.
11:40
It’s perched up on top of an 8 acre mountain.
The Chilean mountain overlooks the Willamette Valley, overlooks the town of Newburgh.
Really really pretty.
There’s only 5 rooms here.
Most of these rooms, they have fireplaces, they have jetted tubs, they have claw tubs. 4 of the five of them have decks, private decks with chairs so you can sit out on your balcony.
12:02
They had absolutely five star robes and it’s just got that quaintness.
Everything you could need is in this bed and breakfast.
They had wine you could buy, they had snacks.
They had a calendar of social activities happening in the region.
12:17
I actually saw that they were doing a sound bath experience in the vines on Sunday morning.
And I was like, oh, if I wish I would have known that I could have planned my trip around being able to do a sound bath in the vineyards.
That would have been so cool.
Yeah, what a unique experience.
You know, I’ve seen like farm to table dining in veneers, but I’ve never heard about a sound bath in a winery.
12:37
Sounds pretty cool.
Very cool and the rooms are gorgeous.
They’re all themed a little bit differently.
They have the the Rose Room, the Oregon Coastal Room, and so each one is a little bit different experience.
If there’s one online that you’re looking for, I recommend booking as far out as you can, of course, so you have your first choice, but there’s often times last minute availability too.
13:03
So if you’re planning sort of a last minute trip to the Willamette Valley like I was, I was only planning a few weeks ahead.
I was still able to get a room here.
One of the things that makes bed and breakfast so unique is the breakfast aspect of things, right?
Usually they use like seasonal or local ingredients and they usually have someone in the kitchen kind of personalizing this a little bit.
13:26
Sometimes they have two different breakfast seedings, so depending on what time you go you might have something a little bit different.
The Chilean Ridge Bed and Bee did have two different times for seedings.
I think they serve the same thing.
But the food was amazing.
Kristen is the owner.
She’s also the chef here along with her fabulous small team.
13:43
They all support the meals and the keeping of the bed and breakfast.
Kristen’s awesome.
Her food was out of this world.
I’m not usually a breakfast person just because I kind of coffee and then go into my day.
But it was so nice to be able to have a multi course breakfast out on the the table, out on the deck overlooking the city in the valley surrounded by trees.
14:09
And the food was amazing.
So let me just give you a little bit of taste of what the breakfast was this morning.
First you start with coffee, delicious coffee.
Then she brings out warm bread.
This day it was a lemon poppy seed loaf and it was still warm.
14:24
It was so good.
She makes fresh jams and marmalades.
And that’s all delicious, right?
There’s also a smoothie bowl that she brings out with half strawberry, half blueberry and an edible flower.
It’s not only delicious, but it’s beautiful.
And so I am thoroughly enjoying myself.
14:43
And then she says, just so you know, there’s another course.
It’s a multi course breakfast.
It already sounds so good.
What comes out next is this beautiful plate of four little homemade hazelnut waffles with the most perfectly cooked 2 slices of bacon I’ve ever seen and delicious syrup.
15:02
And a lot of these ingredients are coming from the 8 acres that she’s on.
The hazelnuts.
Hazelnuts are very big in this area, blueberries the next day we had like a, a fruit cup and the blackberries were picked from the yard this morning.
So that’s really cool to have real farm to table.
15:19
And I did notice farm to table was a common theme of the Willamette Valley.
You could find a lot of farm to table dinners, a lot of farm to table inspiration in the wines.
So you will not go hungry.
The breakfast is amazing.
I, I do think that this B&B is perfect to stay in as well if you’re a couple.
15:37
There were mostly were couples there, and then there was also someone else that was solo traveling like I was.
I think it’s fantastic for a solo traveler because when you’re solo traveling, you are by yourself and the only people you’re talking to are the people you are encountering at your hotel or at the restaurant or wherever.
15:56
Whoever you make conversation with.
When you’re at AB and B, you kind of have a guaranteed squad to hang out with over breakfast.
As I was chatting it up with people, making friends, learning about the valley, learning where people are from.
Did you guys have that experience when you did your B&B?
When we did our B&B, no, I wouldn’t say we did.
16:15
I think in Cape May, everyone there was a lot older than we were and so there just wasn’t that connection.
I mean, you can say like casual tie, like small talk, but we didn’t really get to know the people there.
But I think in a place like where you are, Kim, that type of atmosphere is a little bit more conducive to talking because everyone’s there doing the wine tasting.
16:38
It’s smaller.
There’s not a lot of places or things to do around other than what you are doing.
Whereas the bed and breakfasts that we stayed, it didn’t really have that type of intimate feel.
And also they were larger.
You said this place only had 5:00 rooms.
16:56
The places we stayed at were much, much larger in terms of size and scope of how many people there were.
So because of its less intimate feel of where we stayed, I think that’s why you kind of got that experience.
Yeah, it was nice to chat about, oh, where’d you go yesterday?
17:11
What wine did you taste or where are you going today?
And that also for a solo traveler, there’s a lot of security in that you’re in a home with other people who I’ve met them, that they seem like trustworthy people.
So you feel a little bit more comfortable.
17:27
You have the innkeeper who’s talking to you in the morning and you know, little bit checking in on you and in some sort.
So I recommend it for solo travellers and of course, all of the couples that stay there.
Before we move on, I just want to say a couple cute things about this place that are also really unique that you won’t get at a bigger BNB or a hotel definitely there.
17:48
You can tell there’s such a relationship with the guests here.
There’s pictures of guests all over the walls in the hall hallway, of guests wearing their shirts, of guests who have been there 20 times.
And the reason it’s 20 is once you’ve stayed there 20 nights, you get to name a decorative metal sheep after yourself.
18:07
So there’s all these metal sheep out around the property in the gardens that are super cute.
And there are a lot of pictures in the hallway of people with their sheep.
So you can tell right there, there’s a lot of people that come back and they’re like the connection to the guests is really strong here.
18:23
Just like that little added touch of community that you don’t get in a lot of stays.
The other thing, the last thing I’ll say is that the touch that I really loved is that every single day they make a different homemade cookie and they leave it in a jar in the main area next to the water.
18:40
And it’s just like when you come home from your wine tasting, there’s a new cookie there waiting for you.
As someone that loves to bake cookies and try different types, I think this is fantastic.
It’s such a homey touch too.
Well, I’m going to try to win the the contest.
If you take a picture with their shirt and submit it, all of the pictures of the years they get chosen between for a winner and the winner gets a free night stay, maybe two night stay.
19:04
But either way, the competition is on because I want to go back.
We’ll link it in the show notes for you squatties.
If you want to check out the Chilean Ridge Bed and Breakfast, I highly recommend you do so getting into the bulk of the wine tasting here.
I went to many, many places over the course of these four days exploring wineries.
19:24
Day one was traveling now getting in.
So I’m going to take you down sort of from north to South, but also talk about the different sizes of the wineries.
I went to extremely small boutique winemaker solo operations to the largest producer of wine in Oregon from north to South.
19:44
So I want you to understand how the experience is different depending on their size and kind of the scope of the wine they’re making.
So Day 2, woke up, had breakfast outside on the beautiful patio, gorgeous views.
It was kind of misty.
You know, that Pacific Northwest fog that comes in.
20:02
It really had that all over the valley floor at the very beginning of the morning.
And then as breakfast went on, it was a little chilly outside.
The fog started to lift and revealed more of the city.
So it was really scenic.
And then after breakfast, I went to Belle’s.
Bells Up Winery.
20:18
Bells Up is 5 minutes from the Chilean Bridge Bed and Breakfast.
They actually, the owners of Bells Up, stayed at the Chilean Bridge Bed and Breakfast many, many years ago when they came to the Willamette Valley to scope out property for their own winery.
So there’s a lot of like community and I noticed that right away as I started visiting these wineries.
20:37
They all know each other, they all support each other and the community of the valley is very strong.
I’m sure that was also a big theme in Napa, but I really felt it a lot stronger here in the Willamette Valley.
Bells Up is a winery founded by husband and wife team Dave and Sarah.
20:56
They are really like the American dream for anyone that ever thinks about quitting their corporate job and going to open a winery because that’s exactly what they did.
And their winery today is gorgeous.
Even though it’s a boutique winery, the smallest one I visited, they make only 600 cases a year.
21:12
It had a beautiful view of vineyards from the tasting space up on the deck.
Some of them were the neighbors vineyards, but just a gorgeous property to sip wine at.
I did a private wine tasting with Dave, the wine maker and we sat on that balcony overlooking the vineyards, went through many of the different wines as he kind of told me the story of these grapes and this wine.
21:35
And what’s really, really cool about this winery, it’s called Bells Up.
The theme is around music and Symphony and and brass bands.
He’s got a history with it and it really brings it into the theme of his winery.
And the wines, All the wines are named after a different musical number and the wines actually taste like the song.
21:57
Once you taste enough wine and you like really dissect not just the Roma’s and the flavors of it, but the feel that it leaves in your mouth, it’s really cool.
So here at Bell’s Up, they have many different experimental types of grapes that are not typically grown in the Willamette Valley.
22:16
So they’re making some really interesting types of wines, but of course they make the Pinot Noir too.
They have really, really unique Pinot noirs.
They are using clone Pinot noirs.
Do you guys know at all what that means?
I am not too familiar with what clones mean in terms of viniculture.
22:35
I didn’t either, don’t worry.
But I did learn that Pinot Noir has different genetic versions of the grape.
They have kind of spread it out over the years and, and they’ve been selected specifically because of the characteristics that they have for flavor, how they grow and then the mouth feel that they provide.
22:55
So Dave was actually walking me through some of his wines that have, if you ever see on Pinot Pomard or 777 or 145, these are all clones of Pinot Noir and they do change the flavor.
So he walked me through three different Pinot Noirs that had three different formulations of the clones, and you could actually taste what he’s describing.
23:18
He’ll say this one is more like a bell.
The flavor comes in, it builds up, it peaks, and then it comes back down.
You can feel the hole down.
This one comes in really strong in your mouth, up like a ramp, and then just drops off.
And he describes it almost like a Symphony in a song of a brass band.
23:35
And that’s exactly how the flavor is experienced in your mouth.
That’s so interesting and unique.
You know, I’ve heard of people being able to taste like words, but when you’re able to really taste these different wines and all of these flavors and describe it in a word it’s and you make that connection, it I feel like it almost changes like your brain chemistry a little bit.
23:59
It’s really cool.
It’s a totally different way to experience wine and this is exactly what I wanted out of this trip.
So the reason I even decided to come to the Willamette Valley was in May I became W set Level 1 certified.
It’s kind of the formal education in wine, but it’s it’s very introductory.
24:19
It’s for wine Afexianos, and I wanted to do it because I wanted to be able to communicate with wine makers on a different level and people who enjoy wine.
After going to Georgia and being around a lot more of that, I just wanted to experience it on this different level.
And then of course, be able to tell you squaties, just be able to convey it better so you can be inspired to visit some of these places.
24:39
I think that’s exactly what I got out of this trip was being able to connect with wine and the people and the community and the local culture behind it.
So Bells Up was a great one to start with.
I highly recommend going there.
It is by appointment only.
Do not be afraid of appointment only wineries.
24:57
You will find a lot of them in the Willamette Valley.
They’re not appointment only because they’re hoity toity and you can’t get in without an appointment.
A lot of them are appointment only because they’re small.
Dave is the wine maker and the owner and the the one that’s doing the private tastings and working his vineyards, right?
25:19
They don’t have employees, Sarah and Dave, so there might not be anyone if you don’t have an appointment.
I really love the intimacy of this place that you are describing in terms of like the size.
And what’s really cool too is you’ve already kind of prefaced it a little bit how you went to like really micro ones to the largest one in Oregon.
25:39
So you’re getting a whole experience of different vineyards, which I think is really cool.
Absolutely.
The next one is Natalie’s Estate Winery.
Here I did a private one-on-one barrel tasting.
This is another boutique, handcrafted limited production winery.
25:57
It gives you that personal intimate tasting experience, a lot more intimate and personal than some of these larger commercial wineries that we’ll get to.
They’re a little bit bigger than Bells Up production.
They’re doing 2600 cases per year, but it’s still very much a working winery When you go down into that barrel experience.
26:15
First I’ll explain as you drive up beautiful vineyards on both sides and then you kind of drive up into this gravel Rd. really up and back into the mountain area.
It becomes really forested.
You’re kind of transported into a different place as you go into the trees and it’s this cabin looking structure.
26:35
It has a beautiful little walk up the hill and then a like indoor outdoor patio.
It’s like outdoor but fully covered because it does get cold in Oregon.
So a lot of the places have designed themselves knowing that.
So don’t be afraid of coming in the winter or in the spring or in the fall.
26:54
Summer’s not the only time to visit, even though it’s beautiful in the summer.
Then you go in and it’s just like really homestyle in here.
The seating is very homey with like wooded tables.
This is the Montana tasting room, so it’s giving off that kind of Montana homey feel.
27:10
You got the forest all around you, windows all around you.
They do have another room for tasting too.
That’s the Hollywood room.
The owners have some relatives from old Hollywood, so they kind of brought that decor in old pictures, super cool winding glass top table from back in that era, and it has etched drawings of that era in it.
27:31
They found this artifact when they were cleaning out in the state of a family member, so got a cool personality to it here.
I was immediately met with Cameron.
There was no one else here when I came to do this, this tasting.
You do need an appointment for this one as well because they’re small.
Cameron and I were down in the barrel room tasting wine straight out of the barrel, putting the wine suction tool from the barrel.
27:52
Yeah, it was really cool to taste these wines that aren’t ready yet.
So you get to taste the totally different flavor profile on them.
There’s a lot of flavors that come out in the aging process and flavors that will come out depending on what type of wood you use for the barrels and if it’s steel and all of that.
28:09
And so it’s a definitely a different type of wine tasting experience than when you go upstairs after the barrel tasting.
You get to taste these wines in their mature bottled state and you can totally taste the difference.
Some of the wines that I liked downstairs, still in the barrel, didn’t like them as much upstairs.
28:28
They’re all wine is good.
I always say this, or I was attracted to a different finished bottle than maybe.
I didn’t prefer so much down from the barrel.
So that was a really cool experience.
I’d never done a barrel tasting and being able to compare them like that.
How far were they in their aging process?
28:43
Were the ones that you got to try in the barrel room versus the mature versions?
Some of them were still like a year out or more.
So that really gave you and showed you the difference between the stages of the wine, which is really cool and unique.
Like the tannins come out more on this one or just more mature.
29:02
It’s it’s funny to describe wine as mature, but after tasting so many on this trip, you can taste that.
And a lot of the finished bottles that Natalie’s had this, they are bold red so that you can taste the maturity in them.
Well, I think too, one of the cool things about the barrel tasting and then tasting the matured or finished wines is you really then get to appreciate the art of when somebody decided, here’s this grape, I’m going to store it in this oak barrel or whatever type of barrel or device and choose how long they’re going to do it until they feel like the flavor is right.
29:34
That’s a lot of what you get to hear during the barrel tasting too.
When you’re down there, Cameron is suctioning a little bit of wine out.
You’re tasting it and then he’s describing to you the journey that these grapes have gone through until the point that they’re at and kind of their processes for how they decide, oh, this one needs a little bit more of this or let’s let this one sit a little bit longer or, oh, it’s changed since I last tasted it a few weeks ago.
29:59
It’s pretty cool and it’s an experience that is not common in my research in the Willamette Valley.
There’s not a lot of places that do barrel tasting, so I highly would recommend making a reservation and getting into Natalie’s.
They do other tastings too.
They have like a wine pairing dinner every so often throughout the month.
30:18
They do like a food and wine type of a thing, just the tastings of the wine in general.
If you don’t want to go down and do the whole barrel thing, every tasting comes with a charcuterie board too, and you got to love that.
You didn’t really see that in Napa.
No, of course Napa’s going to charge you for it.
30:34
I love an included charcuterie board because who doesn’t want something to snack on with the?
Wine.
You’ll drink more.
Of course, and it’s nice that it comes included.
That’s awesome.
And theirs was good.
Cameron did a good job.
He actually made it so perfectly.
Everything was in its own little pile.
30:51
There were 6 little piles of summer sausage and salami and the two different types of cheeses and nuts with chocolate and little like fruit pieces.
Cameron did a great job.
He really made this experience what it was.
So I’m 2 for two with private one-on-one tasting so far.
31:08
And that’s kind of one of the biggest differences of these smaller wineries than some of the bigger ones we’re about to get into is just the the private one-on-one and like deep conversation you get out of it.
Did you do anything else before day three of your trip?
31:25
Earlier we were talking about that reservations hold me accountable and I wish that I would have made a dinner reservation.
I was looking to go to Rose Marino.
It’s an Italian restaurant here in the Newburgh area, classic Italian.
31:41
And they do this really cool wine and dinner pairing, multi course dinner pairing on Fridays and Saturday nights.
So I was going to be there on a Thursday and I was so bummed that I couldn’t go and I thought OK I’ll just go get dinner there.
But after going to all the wineries and having the conversations I was tired and I I had a few things I needed to do work wise in the evening.
32:04
So I ended up just going back to the Chilean Bridge bed and breakfast.
Great choice though, had a cookie, ate a little bit of food there, got into my robe, went out on the balcony and had just a nice sunset viewing and chill evening.
But Squatty’s Rose Marino.
32:21
Make a reservation, get dinner and if you’re there on a Friday or Saturday do the wine and multi course dinner pairing.
So that was day 2.
Kim, tell us about day three.
I noticed that you went to two wineries.
32:37
Was that your theme of what you did your entire 3 full days, just limited it to two so you didn’t overdo it?
Absolutely.
I think 2 maximum 3 wineries is all you’re going to get from your day.
Most of the wineries open up between 10:00 and 11:00, and then they close around 5:00.
32:55
So if you think about it, you’re at each place for two hours, 11 to 1, and then say you go have lunch somewhere, then you go 2 to 4 at another place.
Unless you’re skipping lunch, or maybe you’re getting lunch at a winery, you can really only fit in two, maybe 3.
33:13
And that’s kind of what we learned when we went to Napa as well.
Like 2 is a really good solid #3 is really really pushing.
I feel like you enjoy the experience more and you can take your time more if you just visit 2 wineries in a day.
Absolutely.
And you’re tasting wine and they are very, very commonly here in the Willamette Valley.
33:34
You will find that you’re say it’s a 5 wine flight tasting.
You will end up with 7 or 8 tastings because they keep wanting to show you this one and show you that one and they’re very open about like that side of things.
During my wine experiences, I am not drinking all of the wine.
33:53
I’m actually pouring some of it out or spitting some of it out after tasting it just because I want to keep my wits about me to really be able to taste the wines.
But I will say throughout the trip, like the last winery of the day, getting towards the end when I was getting ready to leave, I was like, OK, maybe I’ll take this bottle home or I’ll drink a little bit more of these than I would in the first one.
34:15
You guys won’t be doing that when you’re on the Willamette Valley.
You’ll be drinking all your drinks.
So arrange transportation.
So real quick, before you get into your other winery, Kim, obviously you’re staying at a bed and breakfast that you keep highly recommending and hyping up, and rightfully so.
34:33
You say they switch breakfast every day.
What did you have first thing to start the morning?
Breakfast was my favorite part of the day on this trip.
This day I had a nice company at breakfast.
We sat outside again.
Kristen brought out a diced fruit cup.
It had this delicious drizzle of, I can’t remember the sauce exactly, but it just added so much flavor.
34:54
It had a nice herb on top of it.
Blackberries picked from her yard this morning.
This delicious soft homemade bread with the marmalades, even the marmalades and the jams were different flavors from the day before.
She has this beautiful dishware that it’s all served into this gorgeous like glass dual sided marmalade.
35:14
It was beautiful.
You know, I like beautiful dishware.
Then for the second course she brought out this huge slice of a frittata that had savouries in it, Eggs, potato, very good and zucchini fritters on the side.
Those zucchini fritters were so good.
35:31
I love me some zucchini fritters so sounds like a good breakfast to help you start your day if you’re going to be drinking some wine.
Oh yeah, it’s a fantastic meal to start the day with.
And after breakfast I was off and back at it again.
I was headed to Bjornsen Vineyard.
35:48
This is a very beautiful estate and vineyard property, sprawling as far as the eye can see from wherever you’ll be sitting outside.
There’s beautiful wine, there’s beautiful vineyards.
It is a French inspired winery.
So the very large, beautiful tasting room looks like a French building, like a French Chateau.
36:08
This winery was founded by Mark and Patty Bjornsen.
They were another one of these folks who had a dream.
They moved from Minnesota to Oregon and they pursued their dream of opening a vineyard.
There’s a lot of stories like that here in the Willamette Valley of people who just they have a dream of opening a winery and then they do it and they come here.
36:28
This one had a really cool story to it.
There’s a real origin story of how they were actually taking a tandem bicycle ride through Europe back in the 90’s.
The two of them and their daughter who was pretty young at the time, they actually travelled through different wine regions throughout Europe and they stayed at these small family run wineries and they just really fell in love with it and that’s where their dream originated.
36:54
Then they brought that dream to the Willamette Valley and that is why their property has this European style to it.
I went to Bjornsen off of a recommendation from our friend Matthew Horkey who knows his wine and he said you have to go here because it’s so beautiful and it is really beautiful.
37:11
They have a really nice places to sit outside under umbrellas.
They have a gorgeous tasting room inside.
I got a nice tour of the production facility.
They have some really cute cats on the property, but what’s more than that?
That is the wines are amazing, of course, but the, the atmosphere here in the vibe here, you can tell that people who come here come here often like they know people by name and they’ve done some really cool things to make it family friendly.
37:39
I, I wouldn’t say any of the wineries I’ve been to so far are not family friendly, but there’s not really anything for kids to do at those two I’ve mentioned so far.
This one, thanks to Brian, the hospitality manager who I had a really long conversation with.
He actually made some changes to make it more family friendly.
37:56
So if you’re with a family, if you’re with kids, they have things like coloring pages, love the winery crowns, they have cornhole out on the lawn.
You can play with friends or your family.
They have even developed a self-guided tour that you can plug into the digital aspect of it.
38:13
They’ve kind of gamified it.
So you go to the Vince Vineyard, find placard one, take a picture of it.
You go to the six or so different spots on the self-guided tour.
Then you get to bring back your proof of it and you get a prize.
So it’s something for families to do with kids, and it’s really cute actually.
38:31
I like how they do that, kind of keep it interactive and I’m sure you’re learning a little something too when you’re doing that self-guided tour on it.
And then even cornhole for adults.
I mean, yes, for the kids too.
But I mean, if you’re drinking some wine, I think that would be a fun thing to do as well.
38:47
So really cool.
And the wine here is amazing.
If you like French style wines, you will really enjoy this winery.
They have the pinot noirs that are very good.
They have a really great sparkling.
Oh, I want to mention something about sparkling.
You know, Champagne can only be called Champagne if it’s made a specific way and it’s made in Champagne France.
39:09
That specific type of way of Champagne.
I couldn’t break it down for you scientifically, but what I can say is that it produces these teeny tiny, any little bubbles.
They’re dainty, beautiful champagne bubbles.
If you actually pay attention to Cava or Prosecco, you’ll notice the difference in the bubble size.
39:25
Oregon makes sparkling in that method, but they can’t call it champagne.
So they’re working on branding that method from the Willamette Valley as method organ.
Interesting.
And very soon it will be internationally known just like champagne method organ.
39:44
It’s a sparkling that style from that region.
Oh, very cool.
Well, I’m anxious to try.
I’ve never heard of it.
Obviously they’re developing it, but I do think that that is really.
Cool.
Yes, it’s still it’s widely used in the region, but it’s spreading and they have one of those here that’s really good.
40:03
Pinots are great.
The one that I want to mention that really stood out was.
Of course, the wineries, this one in particular is experimenting with different types of grapes and making some really cool, unique wines.
The last one we ended with was the Cab Frock.
40:18
Cab frock I feel like is the forgotten grape.
I don’t really think of Cab frock when I think of wines like Right Jabal, do you?
Not really, I do not.
But I’ve actually been hearing it more as of late.
And in fairness, when we went to wine region when we were up in New York.
40:35
Why am I drawing a blank on the name of the region, the Finger Lake region, the Finger Lakes?
They had lots of Cab Franks, but I think we were talking about our time in the Finger Lakes, and I was not necessarily impressed with their wine.
So I need to try some Cab Franks from a better place, especially here, which it sounds like you’re going to lead into that.
40:53
You had a really delicious Cab Franc.
Amazing Cab Franc.
It’s typically a blending wine that you’ll put in a red blend and it pairs really well with the combo like that.
But we had it just straight Cab franc and it was so good.
They were just about to release it in bottles to the public, so I was able to get one of those and that’s one of the bottles I took home.
41:13
Bjornsen is a great stop.
There’s a lot of other wineries around it if you wanted to do a clustering in this area, but I would highly recommend stopping in here if you can make it down a little bit.
I do have a question in terms of transportation.
Do they have any shuttles that go from winery to winery in this area or can you book a private driver in this area?
41:33
You can always book a private driver.
You can book organized wine tours.
To my knowledge, there is no shuttle.
It’s not like in Fredericksburg and the Texas Hill Country where you’ve got the 290 and you’re going down the road.
41:49
There’s just winery, winery, winery, winery.
It’s kind of like that Napa a little bit too.
It’s not like that in the Willamette Valley.
Everything is like a little windy road and then you go off an offshoot and it looks like nothing is there until all of a sudden vineyard.
And then you’ll see vineyard placards all and the traffic signs.
42:06
So you’ll see a winery, winery, winery, even though you don’t actually see them from the road you’re driving on.
So I know a little earlier we said that you did 2 wineries a day.
You did your first one here at Bjornsen Vineyard.
What was your second one?
42:21
Second one was Domain Willamette.
There are a lot of wineries in the region that are called domain.
So this one’s domain Willamette, it is a sparkling winery.
It is the only dedicated sparkling winery that I went to on this trip.
But sparkling is bustling.
42:38
We will see a lot more sparkling come out of the Willamette Valley.
It is not.
Every winery I went to has it, but mark my words, it’s going to be a big player and it already is.
I think there’s something like 60 wineries in the region that have the sparkling.
And that’s the method organ that you were talking about just a little bit earlier.
42:57
And that’s what Domain Willamette is known for, and they’re one of The Pioneers that are helping to bring method organ to the masses.
Delicious wine.
I loved my time here.
Honestly, it’s hard to pick a favorite because all the wineries were amazing, but if I had to pick one, it would be Domain Will Emmett because I love sparkling wine and the property is gorgeous.
43:18
It’s a biodynamic farming winery, so they really use the earth.
The people, the plants, the animals, the bugs, the insects.
Everything is a connected ecosystem here.
They don’t use pesticides.
Their winery, their vineyards are organic.
43:34
A lot of others in the region are too.
They really focus on that and build it in and it’s a beautiful place.
So as soon as you get in you get those beautiful winery vibes.
It’s a larger tasting room.
As you enter there’s a desk that has Hostess with check in.
43:51
Big sprawling inside area tasting bar, outside deck for seating.
You’ll also see as as I went around on the tour I noticed there’s a lot of private tasting rooms.
This one can fit 6.
This one can fit 8.
There’s a lot of those.
44:06
There’s also a big conference style room table with like a lighted Galaxy on the ceiling.
And there’s a lot of art around the building too.
They feature a lot of art from local artists and there’s a lot of pictures of folks that have been instrumental in the history of the domain.
44:22
Willamette.
It’s part of a bigger family of wineries out here, but they have some really committed and passionate members and owners who come out and will help break ground for new vineyards.
And it’s very community oriented.
44:39
I the, the, the community aspect of things was very strong and highlighted here.
And then of course the wine.
So what I went here for was for the sparkling sabering experience.
Anybody can book this.
44:55
They book it for two people and in addition to your tasting and your tour, you get to learn how to Saber and actually Saber a bottle of sparkling wine.
As soon as you get there, they pour you a drink of the sparkling.
45:11
Delicious.
And then I went on a tour and this is kind of cool too.
As you’re going on the tour, there’s different tastings along the way.
I’m in this room.
I’ll open this bottle.
Now we’re out towards the back by the vineyard.
Let me open this bottle and the person I was with, Greg, he was my host showing me around, talking about the art and the the rooms and the wine and opening the bottles.
45:38
He was such a great host.
Squatty’s.
When you go to a winery, there are a few things that you’re looking for that are going to make the experience.
The wine.
Of course you want to taste the wine and you want it to be good.
The atmosphere, the size, the the vibe of the place and the host, the person that is pouring your wine, talking to you and having the experience.
45:59
Greg made it such a good experience and Domain Willamette has all three of those things.
Really good wine, amazing, beautiful atmosphere and fantastic people working for them and speaking with you.
After the tour, we get to kind of station ourselves in this private area.
46:17
The private area happens to be where they’re.
Sweets are one other distinction that I realized along the way.
That’s different than Napa or Temecula.
You will not find a lot of lodging that’s right on the vineyard.
I know you guys stayed in a vineyard in Via de Guadalupe in a glamping experience.
46:35
You will not find that in the Willamette Valley.
There’s a lot of regulation around land use in Oregon.
So a lot of wineries don’t serve food and a lot of wineries do.
Most of them do not have any lodging options.
They’re starting to become a little bit of a loophole system.
46:52
You’ll see a little bit of this in some of the bigger ones like Domain.
Willamette has these gorgeous suites.
It’s a 2 bedroom suite, gorgeous patio.
You can’t rent it though.
It’s an offer that’s available to their members, but you have to spend a certain amount of money on wine.
47:09
Say it’s like $2000 on wine.
Then you can stay a night or two.
The details of it can all be found when you contact Domaine Willamette, but that’s a little bit of the loophole, like you’re not paying for the stay, you’re paying for the wine, and it comes with the stay.
It’s almost like a casino comp in a way.
47:27
Yeah, sort of.
And and then sometimes with the food, the workaround is like the charcuterie board is included with the wine tasting.
You’re there for the wine tasting, not the charcuterie board.
Hopefully that changes.
I know there’s rules of why they’re doing it, but I think that that would make Willamette even more special if you could actually stay on the vineyards and the whiners could expand in that way.
47:50
OK, back to the sabering experience.
I have always dreamed about doing a sabering since we saw it at the Ritz Carlton in Hawaii like 10 years ago.
Do you remember that?
You know, yes, I do remember that.
And as you were talking about booking the Sabering experience, it immediately brought me back to that moment.
48:10
And we have seen Saber rings since Jamal Knight had one at the Saint Regis in Singapore while we were there.
But it’s such a cool experience to see, but to be able to actually do it yourself, that’s even cooler.
And I know you got a really cool video that you’re going to have to post for our squatties.
48:26
Yes, squatties, I’ll teach you how to Saber a sparkling bottle.
Now that I know.
Greg was a great teacher and he showed me exactly how to do it.
So what you do is hold the wine bottle with one hand at a 45° angle with a strong grip.
48:42
Turn the wine so that you find the seam that goes from top to bottom.
That’s the seam that you’re going to want to slice with your very heavy knife.
Most of the sabering knives have a blunt edge.
The one that you’re using at the domain, Willamette is even branded with their name on it.
48:59
It feels heavy in your hand, but it’s not sharp.
So Greg says take a few swipes along the seam, just run it across.
You’ll start to hear it ring a little bit differently than the rest of the bottle.
So kind of get your your swipe practicing in and then when you’re ready to go, you push it and you follow all the way through with your arm.
49:21
Don’t stop when you hit it.
You got to keep it going all the way through like a golf swing.
Boom.
And when I post the video squaddies, you will see the shocked look on my face because it is actually so much easier than you would think it is.
It just poof.
49:37
It just slides right off.
Do you shake the bottle or anything beforehand?
You do not.
OK.
And then what did you do with the wine afterwards?
We drank it well, we we sampled it and we sampled different types.
The ones that they’re using for the Sabering were a few years older.
49:54
So then we compared them with the the newer releases that are the premium wines that they’re sampling for the tastings.
You can definitely tell the difference that once they’re sabering, they’re still drinkable, but there’s better sparklings out there and that’s why they’re being used for sabering.
50:10
So I had thought when I was reviewing things, oh, what if the sabering experience is just sabering?
Does it come with the tasting?
It absolutely comes with the tasting and then your experience to check out the winery as well.
Like I said, very, very much recommend Domain Willamette.
50:25
I tried all of their wines.
Well, not all of them.
They have so many, but I tried many, many of their other wines.
The red wines, they’re they’re from a family of vineyards.
So they had wines from the different vineyards and the different brandings, and one of them that I took home was probably the best wine that I’ve ever had.
50:44
It was a Pinot Noir self rooted, and there’s a story behind that.
These vines that were planted many, many years ago withstood all of the survival of the fittest things that happened to the other vines.
Other vines around it all died.
50:59
These ones prevailed.
They’re very old and you can really taste the maturity in that Pinot Noir bottle.
Comes in probably around 80 to $100.
Well, well worth it.
So if you go to the Domain Willamette, try some of their other varietals and from some of the other vineyards and brands, and if that one’s there, taste that one and maybe take home a bottle because it’s really good.
51:24
I actually took home 2 bottles.
Day 4 we’re up and at it again and coming in with a curveball on this one.
I started my morning with a hike.
Well, after all that wine, I think it would be good to get a hike in.
51:40
But you did one, Kim, that Brittany and I have been telling you about from our time in Oregon, which is the trail of Tin Falls at Silver Falls State Park, which probably one of my favorite hikes that I’ve actually done.
So why don’t you tell us a little bit about your experience and did Brittany and I overhype it or was it everything you expected it to be from what we’ve described?
52:01
It’s so beautiful.
You have to come out here.
This was not really on my radar to do.
I was hoping to do some hiking, but I didn’t think that I would have time.
And as I have all these conversations at the wineries, it keeps coming up Silver Falls State Park.
And so I look it up and it’s only about 30 minutes from where I had moved down into the valley and where I was going to be at this point.
52:24
This was more closer to Salem.
It was only about 30 minutes from there.
So I figured if I get up early in the morning, I can go out to Silver Falls State Park, hike for two hours and come back.
I won’t do the whole Trail of 10 Falls, but I’ll see some waterfalls and I’ll enjoy myself.
52:41
I actually didn’t even realize that you guys had been here until I was there.
And then I was like, wait a second, Trail of 10 Falls sounds really familiar.
I think Brittany and Jamal did this one.
There can’t possibly be another.
Well, you know what’s so funny is I prefaced it wrong.
I thought you did this simply because you remembered and we talked about it several times.
53:00
But no, you were listening to your wino friends and all that good advice and then it dawned on you.
But nevertheless, really cool spot.
Well, a lot of people were saying S falls go see S falls, S falls.
So I didn’t even really realize trail of 10 falls until I got there.
53:15
And I, I did briefly look at a map, but Squatty’s, if you go to this area, take a picture of the map, download offline maps if you need to, you will lose service in this area as you pull into the State Park, you will lose your data connection.
53:33
So that’s what I did.
OK, don’t be like me.
Download offline maps.
Yeah, Kim posted a story when she was here, and she was like, didn’t bring my water bottle, didn’t check the map, didn’t download offline maps.
She was like, Brittany would be so disappointed in me because these are all of the tips that, like when we talk about a hiking episode, we give to you guys.
53:53
And of course, she followed Dennis.
I think I just wasn’t in the hiking mindset ’cause I I just took a recommendation from people I was talking to and then I saw it was 30 minutes away and I had the instructions.
They said park in the South lot, go left, you’ll see the big waterfall.
54:10
I didn’t realize until I was already in it that I was like, well, this is actually a really long hike and there’s a lot of stairs and I don’t have cell phone service and I didn’t bring my water.
It is a really great hike if you were to see 1 waterfall along the trail.
S Falls is the waterfall to see.
54:27
It’s the biggest, most majestic fall and it’s one of the ones you can walk behind as well.
And.
Not only that, it’s like the closest to the parking lot is one of them too.
So, and that’s but.
There are multiple parking lots.
Yes there are, and it does get busy.
I got there about 30 minutes after it opened.
54:43
There was plenty of parking, but by the time I left two hours later, parking was completely full.
I mean, you could still get in, but it was completely full, unlike the two hours prior.
So you got yourself in a little morning hike, got yourself excited for some more wine.
Where did you go after that?
The only other winery that I did on Day 4 was Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate.
55:04
Now we’re getting into big wineries.
This is a very beautiful winery.
It is part of the same family as the Domain Willamette.
It’s one of the oldest wineries in the region, one of the most impactful wineries in the region, and it’s gorgeous.
55:21
Brittany, do you remember in Napa when we were at Sterling Vineyards?
Yes.
We were up on a hill, we were overlooking everything and there was all that seating outside and there’s seating inside that was very similar to how Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate is.
55:37
Huge, huge long driveway to get in all the way back to the parking vineyards on both sides as you’re driving in a lot of parking space because it’s a big tasting room.
They also have a full menu here, so people come for lunch, people come for dinner.
55:53
It’s one of the few wineries that I saw in my research that stayed open later in the summer.
They’re actually staying open till 8:00 PM.
I didn’t find a single other winery that was staying open that late.
And there’s lots of places to sit, lots of different levels in the outside patios inside.
They have a tasting table, They have a piano in there.
56:11
They have a wood fired oven for pizzas.
I really wanted to come here and do a meal.
I hadn’t really been eating dinner a lot or like the night before.
I think I got Taco Bell drive through, which we did that Napa too.
So I think that’s just a winery tradition now.
56:30
I don’t think I got Taco Bell.
I think I was in bed.
That that might be true, you might have had to go to bed before we went there.
What a bad friend.
Kim didn’t even bring you back.
I’m pretty sure we did, actually.
You might be right.
You might be right.
See.
Jamal So anyway, tonight I’m like I want to have a real dinner and I want to do a food and wine pairing.
56:53
They do have recommended wines to pair with different dishes.
They don’t do like a multi course meal or the small bite pairing.
It’s an actual menu and I was prepared.
I was looking at this cheeseburger they had on the menu.
It looked so good.
Everything on the menu looked great.
So I arrive and something, some freak accident happened, maybe Reformer, what do they call him?
57:14
Transformer was hit a little bit in the distance.
We don’t really know what, but for whatever reason, their power had suddenly gone out.
Most businesses when their power goes out, they would stop serving.
They would say like, you know, let’s, you know, kind of encourage people to go when they’re ready and close things down.
57:31
There’s nothing we can do.
Powers out, not Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate.
They kept it going.
Now they couldn’t serve food.
So that was a little disappointing.
I’ll have to come back and try the food another time.
But they were definitely still doing tastings, serving bottles tableside.
There were a lot of people sitting outside.
57:47
It was a beautiful day.
There were still people sitting inside, people who had gotten food before the power went out and they were eating still.
So there was no power, but there was a lot, a lot of good vibes.
The wine was really good.
That’s all that matters, just good vibes and some wine.
Exactly.
58:02
And that’s the the evening that I had here.
I tried many, many of their wines.
I actually took home a lightly sparkling Muscat when we were in Napa, discovered Muscat and I loved it and they had a really good one here.
They also, their wine’s very reasonably priced.
58:20
A lot of these bottles to take home were in the $20 range, $30 range.
Now of course they had the full vineyards just like Domain Willamette did, so you can try things from different vineyards and they had more advanced wines as well, but very approachable, really good place on any given day squaddies, I would recommend coming in here and planning to have a meal at this place as well. 01 Other thing that Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate has is a wine blending experience.
58:46
They weren’t doing it because of the power.
I would love to come back and try this.
This is on my list of wine things I want to do where you can actually sample the different wines and make your own combination of a red blend.
How cool would that be?
Yeah, that sounds really interesting and cool.
59:03
You’ll have to come back here for two reasons, to make your own blend and to have the dinner pairing with the wine.
With the Italian restaurant Rosemarino, yes, another thing I want to do.
Doesn’t have to be here, but I would love to do one of those long family style dinners in the vineyard, which sounds great until.
59:21
Not in Willamette though.
Willamette has yellow jackets in the summer, so they’re attracted to meat.
Yeah, that’s not a good idea or a good combination.
I’m sure it’s still very enjoyable though, but that’s on my list. 5th and final day of wine tasting.
59:37
Now Squatty’s.
You don’t have to go as crazy as I did with five days of wine tasting.
You could do a weekend trip in and out of Portland, like I said earlier, but I went all out.
I wanted to bring you the southern aspect of the Willamette Valley as well, so the next one I went to was Saint Innocent Winery.
59:55
This is actually 2 minutes down the road from Willamette Valley Vineyards Estate so you could pair these together on the same day if you wanted.
I really wanted to go to Saint Innocent because they actually do a sip and savor wine and small bite pairing.
Hadn’t done one on this trip yet.
We did a lot of those in Napa and I love the experience.
1:00:13
The difference is this one was $45.00.
The ones in Napa were $145.00.
What a great deal.
Yeah, and St.
Innocent Winery is beautiful.
They have a really big inside space with tables for eating and drinking wine inside.
1:00:29
But outside they have all this gorgeous lounge space.
They’re overlooking this beautiful Creek in this huge forested area.
So you really feel like you’re in the forest when you’re sitting on your lounge couch outside and they bring the tasting to you.
So it starts with a welcome tasting and then you have a pairing of four wines with four small bites.
1:00:49
The small bites when I went was a cold zucchini soup, pork pot, sticker beef and lamb ragu and biscotti with chocolate drizzle on top, each paired with a delicious wine.
And he see like recommended, like sample around, see, see what your palate likes together.
1:01:05
I think they did a perfect job pairing the wine with the food.
Then he brought out another wine.
I was kind of looking asking questions.
He brought out this other wine.
No, you have to try this one.
And then he brought out another one.
He’s like, you have to try this one.
So I said earlier like the the five tasting that you think you’re getting the the hosts and the wine makers want to share their wine with you.
1:01:25
So you will end up with a lot more tastings than you you think you’re going in and paying for.
Yeah, that always ends up happening to us as well.
Like we’ll taste a wine and we’re like, oh, this one’s really nice.
And they’ll be like, oh, if you like this one, here’s another one for you to try.
And then you just end up with this rabbit hole conversation and wine pairing like side tangent with these extra flavors, which is great, but you get a lot more than what you pay for sometimes.
1:01:50
Yes, you do, and we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again.
The tip to ask for another sample of wine is may I revisit the Pinot?
May I?
Reuse.
It actually Greg at Domain Willamette, so he gave me that fun fact too.
1:02:06
And I’d already learned it many, many wine tastings before, but so it is a common thing that’s well accepted in the wine community.
Saint Innocence known for their Pinots or chardonnays.
What they also try to focus on is bringing the flavors of the earth of the Willamette Valley Terrar up into the wine.
1:02:26
So try to add this one onto your list.
It’s it’s a really good one.
And did you visit one final winery on your fifth day in Willamette Valley?
Yes, final winery is King Estate Winery.
This is just outside of Eugene.
Eugene, OR also has a major, major airport also, I’ll say I use that major term lightly.
1:02:47
Smaller than Portland, but still big enough to go to a lot of major cities.
So Eugene is a perfect place to fly out of.
If you flew into Portland, went down the Willamette Valley and flew out of Eugene, that’s what I would recommend.
The King Estate Winery is the largest producer of wine I think in Oregon, definitely in the Willamette Valley, but I’m I’m pretty sure it’s in Oregon as well.
1:03:07
They have vineyards all over, not just in the Willamette Valley, but here.
They have a grand European Chateau on a 1000 acre organic property.
They also have lavender fields here that you can see.
I’d already did a little bit of lavender fielding up near the bed and breakfast, so it was nice to see them here as well.
1:03:28
Here I felt like this is the end of my trip.
I just want to kind of relax a little bit, catch up on some things and and hang out.
So I came here a little bit later in the day.
So Sunday they were closing at or I want to say I came around 1:32.
1:03:45
There was people there but very calm.
Plenty of tables open, huge inside tasting room.
They make really big bottles of wine, like 3 bottles in one type size.
So they have a lot of those big beautiful bottles all over decorating the inside tasting room space.
1:04:03
They have a menu of food.
I think it could be a little bit better.
They of course have charcuterie, They have soup.
They had a couple of small bites.
It’ll use meals lightly.
And they had a special that Sunday that was steak frites.
So more food than you would see at some of these other wineries, but wouldn’t necessarily call it a full on kitchen.
1:04:23
But the wine was really good here.
I did the the estate tasting here, came with four wines.
I also got a glass of the method organ sparkling, very delicious.
Had a few other bonus you have to try this tastings thrown in here too and I thought the service was really great.
1:04:42
The view from the top where you’re sitting, vineyards in every direction, just absolutely gorgeous.
Very chill place to just relax and have a tasting with a friend.
It sounds like such an incredible weekend.
Like when I think of Willamette Valley, I had no idea that there were 800 plus wineries in this region.
1:04:59
Like I was just thinking of it being a smaller scale wine region and it really seems like there’s such a variety and a lot that it has to offer.
Absolutely.
When I first asked someone how many wineries are there, I heard 600, and then I heard 800 a few more times.
1:05:17
So there are wineries popping up every month in the Willamette Valley that are small.
You know, a couple with a dream who’s moved across the country to start their own winery, and now that one’s popped up.
So it’s 800 now.
By the time you guys get there with your schedule, it’ll probably be 1000.
1:05:35
Even more reason to go.
Well, I’ll tell you what, a flight from San Diego to Portland can be done relatively easy for a short week.
And we might not be able to spend as much time as you did, but we may get there sooner.
But if we love it as much as we think it will, especially after your description of it, we will probably go back and do equally as long as you did.
1:05:56
There, so I definitely have to go back.
I could see myself going back to the Willamette Valley every summer and going to different wineries or returning to some that I love.
Some of these.
I loved every single winery that I went to and Squatty’s.
If you took this exact same trip, you would not be disappointed.
1:06:12
We do have an itinerary on the Willamette Valley following this exact same trip.
It brings you into Oregon, down in the optimal route, through the Willamette Valley and flying out of Eugene.
It is LinkedIn the show notes and you can always find that at shoptravelsquad.com.
1:06:28
We’ve also linked all of the wineries and the bed and breakfast that we stayed at.
And if you have any questions about the Willamette Valley, please send it in.
We will be more than happy to answer you.
DMS on Instagram are great, emails great, and thanks so much for tuning into this week’s episode.
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