The rainy, stormy weather we have had lately and an ugly cold with a wracking cough have me dreaming of summer vacations. This gallery is from a trip in August 2011 that Jon and I took to southern Oregon, to a beach in Gold Beach. Even though it was a cool and windy summer day on the beach, we had a great afternoon walking and relaxing. You can read my post from back then here.
I was talking to a coworker the other day, and she mentioned that she would be on vacation beginning the next day. So, of course, I asked where she was going. She responded that she wasn’t going anywhere; rather she was staying at home and would be doing a few little hikes and just hanging out with her daughter.
That reminded me of a question I am frequently asked when I say I’m going to Georgia, or Arizona, or Ohio, or anywhere I happen to be going off to. “Oh, do you have family there?” More often than I would like to think, people are genuinely puzzled by the fact that no, I do not have family there.
These scenarios just got me wondering – When is a vacation really a vacation? Of course, I can only speak for myself, but a vacation must include a destination – generally with a plane ride but a road trip can certainly count too. I know the concept of a stay-cation has been much in the news lately, but to me, hanging around home is sheer torture. I look at all the organizing projects I should be working on, all the clutter I should be tackling, all the deck painting, de-mossing, gutter cleaning, weeding, car waxing, light fixture changing that I should be doing and it just makes me depressed. I can only truly unwind if I’m not stuck staring at all that stuff, thinking about what I should be doing.
That isn’t to say that I never want to do these things, but I just don’t want to use my vacation time to do it. It is a conundrum. A friend of mine only considers it to be a vacation if it includes 5 (consecutive) days off work.
Sadly, I have no vacation on the immediate horizon (under either the destination/plane ride theory or the 5 day theory) – just a couple of weekend trips nearby for the usual – a wedding, a birthday party, a baby shower. All fun, all looked forward to, but all not vacations. Now a destination wedding is a different matter! Although I have to admit that a wedding in Washington, D.C. would be more of a vacation than one in Arkansas.
Over the years, I have been on some fantastic vacations – I have had some wonderful experiences and made some great memories. Here are just a few from the last couple of years.
Crater Lake, Oregon – August 2011
Relaxing with a Glass at Schmidt Family Vineyard – August 2011
Gold Beach Whaler – August 2011
Slate Run Living Farm – Winchester, Ohio – August 2008
The Hanoi Taxi – National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Dayton, Ohio – August 2008
Hearst Castle – San Simeon, CA – August, 2010
Antietam National Battlefield – Sharpsburg, MD – February, 2008
The Biltmore Estate – Asheville, NC – June 2012
The Joseph Manigault House – Charleston, SC – June 2012
Savannah’s Colonial Cemetery – Savannah, GA – June 2012
Benson Vineyards and Estate Winery – Manson, WA – September 2012
Elk Feeding Area, near Hamilton, WA, September 2012
California Quail at Point Reyes National Seashore – Point Reyes Station, CA – March 2013
Harbor Seal – Monterey, CA – March 2013
The Lone Cypress – near Pebble Beach, CA – March 2013
So, how about you? What defines a vacation?
After we had an opportunity to settle down and relax, we did a bit of wandering around Gold Beach. On the internet, they advertise that Gold Beach has several art galleries and antique shops. We could only found 3 art galleries – one was part of a bookstore, one was the walls of a coffee shop and one was closed. So, that took up about 45 minutes. We didn’t find any antique stores – although the bookstore had a collection of antique and first edition books. So shopping didn’t quite work out as planned.
We did find the original cemetery for Gold Beach, with graves from the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s. It has been well maintained, and a lot of the headstones are in very good condition for having been exposed so long to the salty air. I enjoy walking around cemeteries; I find them to be quite peaceful, but Jon thinks it is weird. He wouldn’t let me stay as long as I wanted to… We also found the Mary D. Hume, a ship that had a 97 (yes 97!) year career. She was built in 1881, served as an ocean tug and as an Arctic Whaler, and was finally retired in 1978. Pretty cool if you ask me, and I’m sure my father in law would appreciate it.
Gold Beach Whaler
Next we hit the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day but the winds were very strong that day. My hair looked like a rat’s nest by the time we got back to the hotel. We walked for a long distance, talking about travel plans and future trips, fine wines, and careers. I took a lot of photos and even got Jon to pose for some. That is a rare occurrence. I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and got a lot of nice shots. We even managed to find the Gold Beach Monster. I know some of you will say this is simply a photograph of a fish head, but no really, it’s the Gold Beach Monster!
Gold Beach Monster
I also tried my hand at finding one of the painted glass balls that are supposed to be planted on the beaches of Gold Beach. I didn’t find any; but I did find three rocks that had been painted and left there. I suppose those are the consolation prizes for people who don’t find a glass ball. I took one and left the others for other glass ball hunters.
After dinner (which was snacks from the grocery store), we went back down to the beach and watched the sunset. It was a very enjoyable relaxing evening. The wind had died down by then, so it was actually warmer than it had been earlier in the day.
Gold Beach Sunset
It was a relaxing end to a fun, but not always predictable vacation. But as always too short! The following morning, we were on the road at 5 am so we could get home at a reasonable time. Until next time!
The third full day of our short vacation, we made a reservation for a hotel on the beach in Gold Beach, Oregon. This is further down the Oregon Coast than Jon or I had ever been, so it was a chance to see something new. But first we had to get there from Medford. Who knew what an ordeal that would be.
I knew the road that went directly from Medford to Gold Beach was a smaller road – not a highway. Even some of the highways are really more like country roads. But given that the GPS had gotten us lost the day before, I double checked the directions the GPS gave us with Expedia directions. And I talked to the hotel clerk too. She said, “It’s a small road, but it’s not a bad road. It is paved the whole way.” MMMM… HMMM….
So off we went on our way to Gold Beach – we stopped for gas, got some coffee for Jon and set out. We drove through some scenic countryside and then we got to the road… Bear Camp Road – aka the Coastal Route. At some point you hit the end of the county road, and end up on the National Forest Service road. Which doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, considering that the roads in the National Forests are Forest Service roads. And then part of it is a Bureau of Land Management road. I know nothing about how the BLM maintains its roads… The one thing that this road had going for it is that there are signs along the side quite frequently marking the Coastal Route. There are mile posts too – although that isn’t all that helpful when you don’t know which milepost will mark the end of this hell on earth, but we didn’t know that yet…
The Not So Bad Part of Bear Camp Road
So, up we go – and it was paved – and we continued up and up and up. Basically we were driving straight up a mountain – well really anything but straight. At first, the road isn’t very narrow and there are other cars and you feel ok about it. Until you don’t. Once you get up to the top of the mountain, the road has gradually narrowed down to one lane, with turnouts. There were hairpin, blind curves, no guard rails and a sheer cliff drop off. There are logging spurs turning off every so often, and still you have the blind curves. Every curve is sheer terror, because you don’t know if another car is coming. Did I mention the cliff and the lack of guard rails? You are on a tiny one lane road, driving along the edge of a ridge, with nothing but a drop off the side of the road. Really the scenery is quite beautiful; as you are looking out over miles and miles of forest, it reminded me of some of the hikes that Jon and I have gone on around home. But the problem is that you are so terrified you can’t take your eyes of the road for a split second to enjoy the view.
Along the Ridge – This Photo Doesn’t Do Justice to the Narrowness of the Road, or the Cliff
Side Note: In the photo above we are driving behind a truck from Wisconsin. I wondered to myself what they might be thinking of Oregon and the crazy roads!
Jon was driving and I know he was as nervous as I was. And for me, well this was one of the most terrifying experiences that I have had in my entire life – I’ve never had panic attacks, but on this trip I think I was close! The entire trip took a little more than three hours. We were up on the mountain for about two and a half hours of the total trip. Two and a half hours of white knuckle, afraid to look down, hold your breath around every corner, driving. The strangest thing was that it really seemed like the Oregonians intend for this to be a regular route. As I mentioned before, there are milepost markers every mile, and signs every couple of miles marking the Coastal route. There are signs stating the road can be closed in the winter, and isn’t a good route for winter driving. Hello? This isn’t a good route for summer driving! But strangest of all, there are well constructed viewpoint turnouts. You know the kind that were typically built by the CCC with rock blocks or sandstone? Yeah those – quite pretty really. We couldn’t understand why they were built along a Forest Service road or Bureau of Land Management road.
So when we finally got off the mountain and into Gold Beach, our nerves were so frayed that we both needed a drink. Never mind that it wasn’t yet 2 o’clock. We went to the Porthole Café for lunch, and we each ordered a beer. And we split a second one. The seafood we had there was quite good – I had the sampler platter – but we NEEDED the beer. We sat there for awhile, just decompressing and savoring the fact that we were still alive!
Jon talked to his mom later that day on the phone and told her about our harrowing journey. That was when she told us that one of the logging spurs off of Bear Camp Road was where James Kim died. C’mon, you remember the Kims right? Everybody remembers the Kims. They were the 30 something couple from San Francisco who were driving on the Thanksgiving weekend in 2006 from Portland to Gold Beach with their two little daughters. It was night, and a snowstorm was rolling in, and they tried taking Bear Camp Road. After getting stuck in the snow, they waited for 8 days to be rescued. Finally resigned to the fact that no one was coming, James Kim tried to hike out, and died of hypothermia. Kati Kim and her children were lucky enough to be rescued, although they were suffering from frostbite, hypothermia and starvation. That was the road.
So that was our trip to the coast on Bear Camp Road – NEVER AGAIN! Knowing that our drive took place in the late morning of a perfect sunny summer day, I am absolutely convinced that you would have to be insane to drive on that road in the winter, and even more insane to attempt it in the winter, in the snow, in the dark and with a two wheel drive car. What happened to the Kims was really a tragedy, but Jon and I have wondered more than once how or why they ever went as far up the road as they did without turning around. You won’t ever catch us on that road again. Hopefully readers, if you are ever considering taking the “Coastal Route”, you will skip it and head over at Eugene instead.
More on Gold Beach in the next post, once I get a glass of wine. This post is giving me flashbacks!
On day two, we decided that we were going to see the Oregon Caves National Monument. We had seen signs for it on the way down, but neither of us had heard of it before. We got on the road with the GPS and headed out. We drove through the lovely Applegate Valley, enjoying the country roads and the scenery. But we didn’t see any signs directing us to the Oregon Caves. When we were led up the Forest Service Road, we knew the GPS had it wrong. If you are ever trying to find Oregon Caves National Monument, don’t trust the GPS! So, we decided to give up the quest and go wine tasting. We had passed through the lovely historic town of Jacksonville, OR, and decided we would head back there at some point during the day.
So we changed the plan and headed out to Troon Vineyards. Troon is a fairly large winery with some of the oldest plantings in the state, dating back to the 1970s. You drive past vines on the way in the door, and I thought the building looked like some of the places we saw in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. When we got inside we were served by a younger guy named Jimmy – it was quite refreshing in that he actually told us his name and introduced himself with a handshake. He led us through a tasting which included their Dry Riesling and the Druid’s Fluid white, which is a blend of Riesling, Moscato (that gives it more sweetness) and something else that I can’t remember. After sampling the whites, we tried the reds, including their bestseller, the Druid’s Fluid Red, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Zinfandel. The story behind the Druid’s Fluid red is that it started out as a mistake. After growing and blending the grapes one year, the owner and winemaker Dick Troon, was not happy with the way the wine turned out. He bottled it and gave it away to friends and family, who proceeded to tell him that they enjoyed the wine – it was a bit sweeter than other reds. He took their advice and began to produce this wine on purpose – it is now their top seller. As for Jon and me, we liked it but didn’t love it. Jon really enjoyed their Cabernet and bought a couple of bottles to bring home. We asked Jimmy for his recommendations for wineries in the area and ended up going down the road a little way to Schmidt Family Vineyard.
Schmidt Family Vineyard
Let me just say that Schmidt Family Vineyards is an amazing setup. The winery and tasting room is huge, built to look like a Mountain Lodge, with exposed wood beams and a huge wall of glass in the front. The landscaping is phenomenal, and there is a beautiful stone patio with tables to enjoy wine and appetizers. Or you can head across the lawn to sit in one of the Adirondack chairs and gaze at the pond, stocked with fish! I had been excited to go there because I had read in the wine guidebook, that they produce an Albariño, which is a relatively rare wine in these parts. But unfortunately the wine was so-so, and the Albariño was nowhere to be found. Our server was efficient and polite, but wasn’t very talkative and didn’t explain the wine at all – it felt rather impersonal. After our tasting, there was nothing that I was even tempted to buy. Jon enjoyed the Soulea, which was a fairly syrupy Syrah blend, but at $34 a bottle, it certainly wasn’t worth the price. After our tasting, we picked the best ones (I went with the Sauvignon Blanc and Jon chose the Soulea) and purchased a glass of each to sit out in the chairs. It was a great mid-afternoon break on a lovely sunny day with a nice breeze to counter the heat.
Adirondack Chairs at Schmidt Family Vineyard
After leaving Schmidt Family Vineyards, we headed back into Jacksonville to hang out. Jacksonville, Oregon is a historical town outside of Medford. Gold was found there in 1851 and 1852, establishing Jacksonville as the principal financial center for Southern Oregon at the time. It was the county seat until 1927. Once the gold dried up, the town did too, and as a result, progress bypassed Jacksonville and a large number of the commercial and residential buildings were left intact. Lucky for us, because the result is a pleasant trip into yesterday, of a nature that is rarely available on the West Coast. We wandered around and did a little shopping – we got some wine from a wine shop who had a large selection of Washington wines, and I got a cute pair of Ocean Jasper earrings! We visited a tasting room that was completely empty – we looked around for an employee and waited for a few minutes, but saw no one. We did try one more time when we came back to the car and she was there the second time. We did a tasting of River’s Edge and Bradley wineries, comparing and contrasting their Pinot Noir from two different vintages. Oddly, we asked for a tasting of the entire lineup, but she skipped two of the three white wines. But perhaps that is a blessing in disguise, as the first white we tried was awful! The Pinots fortunately, were very good, and very reasonably priced. We purchased a bottle of the Bradley 2008 Pinot Noir. Actually, thinking back, I believe that those were the only Pinots that we were served in a tasting room the whole weekend. Our goal of sampling Pinots and comparing the Southern Oregon wines to the Pinots from the Willamette Valley came up short. But Jacksonville over-delivered, with both Jon and I talking about staying for a night or two next time we are in the area.
Jacksonville Inn in Jacksonville, Oregon
After visiting Jacksonville, we headed back to the hotel, had a nice quiet dinner and had swim in the pool. It topped off another fantastic day!
Once we got to Medford, we had a restful first night and woke up just before 8. Jon had big plans to take a run in the morning, but he abandoned that idea when it came time to get up early. To be honest, I’m pretty glad that he decided to relax – he doesn’t do enough of it. We got up, had some breakfast, and headed out to Crater Lake. Most of our family and friends have been to Crater Lake, but they have neglected to take me or Jon with them, so it was a first visit for both of us.
After a couple of hours of driving up into the National Forest, along the Rogue River, we made it there. We did stop along the way at a Rogue River Viewpoint and hiked a little way up the path. The signs explained that the river is a frigid 44 degrees at this elevation. Not really water I would be excited to jump into, to be honest. But the river is beautiful. After 15 minutes watching the river, we continued the last little way to Crater Lake.
The Rogue River
WOW – we were not disappointed. When standing on the rim of the crater, you look down more than 1000 feet to the lake. The tour boats below look like little bugs on the water. And everything they say about the pristine cobalt blue color is absolutely true. The water is the most amazing blue. The depth of the lake and the clarity of the water make it so all the other colors in the spectrum are lost in the depth of the lake, and only the blue and purple hues are reflected back.
Crater Lake
We looked at the lake from all angles. We sat on the wall looking down and enjoying the serenity. Even though there are dozens of people around you, it still feels very peaceful. We also visited the lodge which was built back in 1915. It is still operating today, after extensive renovations in the 1990’s. One day we would like to stay there for a night, but it was booked for the entire summer long before we decided to take this trip.
The unfortunate part of the trip to Crater Lake was that Jon was violently allergic to something that day. He started sneezing early in the day, and his sneezing kept up even after he took multiple doses of allergy/cold medication. I felt really bad for him, because I know how drowsy I get when I take those meds. He was a trooper, and didn’t complain at all, but I could tell it was really getting to him.
On our way back to town, we stopped at our first winery of the trip. It was an impulse stop, a winery called Agate Ridge that we had never heard of before. The tasting room manager, Sharryl, served us, and she was welcoming and friendly. We tasted through 7 wines, starting with a Semillion/Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, a white blend called Weeknight White, Primitivo, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines were excellent, with the exception of the Viognier, which I didn’t like. The Cabernet Sauvignon pleased Jon without being overly oaked, so I could enjoy it too.
Agate Ridge Vineyard Tasting Room
Sharryl recommended that we visit a tasting room in Central Point, Oregon that houses Daisy Creek Vineyard and Madrone Mountain Vineyard. We were served by Don Mixon, the owner and winemaker for Madrone Mountain. Daisy Creek wines were hit or miss, with some being outstanding, and others being ho-hum. I really liked their Rose, and bought a bottle. The reds were decent, but nothing to write home about.
Madrone Mountain Vineyard focuses on Dessert wines. They had a Riesling and two Cab based Port-style reds out that day. Apparently when they were first starting out, they had Joe Dobbes from Dobbes Family Estate make the wines for them (the reds we tasted were still from the Joe Dobbes winemaking days, so I’ll be curious to visit again and see how the owner has done). Since they have learned more about the art of wine production, they have taken over the winemaking. The wines were very good (the other couples in the tasting room raved about the Riesling). What surprised me most is that Jon liked the Port-style reds so much. He couldn’t get enough, so we came home with a bottle of each, the Mundo Novo and the 2004 Vintage (Don explained that he hadn’t yet come up with the cool name yet in 2004).
We ended our day with a visit to RoxyAnn Winery, a large winery located just outside of Medford. We went on our way back to our hotel. On our Friday evening visit, the winery was packed! They were hosting a small farmer’s market, and there was an upcoming concert on the back lawn. There were so many people there, it felt very impersonal. Our server was very good, keeping track of where we were even though she was serving about 15 other people, but it was elbow to elbow, and so loud and busy you couldn’t ask any questions. Again, we thought the wines we decent, but not out of this world. The exception was the Claret, a red blend that is 45% Cabernet Sauvignon. Combine the crazy atmosphere with Jon’s horrible allergy attack, and we didn’t spend much time there.
We got some dinner and headed back to the hotel, to enjoy some wine and have a nice relaxing swim in the pool. A great end to a fantastic day.
For our first vacation in many moons, Jon and I headed down to southern Oregon to visit Crater Lake and the Rogue River Valley. Our first day was a long, long drive. It was made even longer by Jon’s periodic outbursts about the traffic. UGH.
So, by the time we got down to Medford and checked into the Medford Red Lion, I was completely pooped and ready for a glass of wine. We went to Safeway and decided to try out a local Pinot Noir, the Del Rio Vineyards 2009 vintage. The nose is very mild, and doesn’t have much of what I think is the typical Pinot Noir pickle smell. The taste is very light, with a soft light mouthfeel as well. I find the taste to be like ripe blackberry, with a hint of Bing cherry. There was none of the tartness that Pinot Noirs usually have. Jon says it is more of a French style Pinot. When we do more tasting in this region, I’ll find out if this is a regional distinction, or just this particular wine.
We both really enjoyed this wine, will certainly get it again. Jon says, and I quote, “it was delicious… I slurped my tongue on it.” He said this in a robot voice, by the way. I’m not sure what that means, but what’s new?
It’s been awhile since I’ve been on vacation. Jon and I took a Memorial Day wine trip down to the Willamette Valley, and I went to Portland to see my family for a weekend in early July, but that’s been it. I’ve been completely aching to go on vacation, and it has been so difficult to stay home.
Jon is finishing up summer classes next week, and his courses have been tough, to put it mildly. Thursday night he got two and a half hours of sleep, because he had to finish up a project before heading to work at 7:30 Friday morning. He needs a break as badly as I do.
We are taking a long weekend off in a couple of weeks to head to Medford, Oregon and the Rogue River Valley. It is a long drive for us, but we are really looking forward to the trip. We are planning to take some time doing a few different activities. One day, we will head up to Crater Lake, one day we will do some wine touring, and one day we will head over to the coast for some time near the Pacific Ocean. Jon has driven through this area of Oregon several times on his way back and forth to California, but has never stopped. I haven’t been in the area (unless my parents took me as a child and I don’t remember). The weather is forecast to be in the 80s and 90s, which will be hotter than I have experienced all year at home. I’m thrilled about the idea of swimming in a pool, and not wearing my jacket in July (to give you an idea of how cold it is around here – on Friday morning at work I was wearing a fleece jacket over a light sweater).
I have heard good things about the wineries down in the Rogue River Valley, and I’ve heard that Crater Lake is amazing. I’ve been to the Oregon Coast and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I have never been that far down the Coast. I’m excited for the photo opportunities too – I need to start a new photograph collection since I sadly lost a lot of my photos when my hard drive crashed last week. As much as my husband makes fun of me for posting so many photos on Facebook, I’m glad I do. They are ones that I still have a copy of now.
So the next couple of weeks will be devoted to finding info on restaurants and side activities. Shopping, wine bars, music, parks that we can enjoy in our much deserved down time. If you know the area and have any ideas, please let me know.
Sadly every wine tour has to come to an end, and we wrapped up our Memorial Day tasting tour with our favorite – Chehalem. Chehalem is one of the wineries that Jon’s grandfather told us we had to try, and he was right about it’s quality. Chehalem has a tasting room in Newberg, Oregon that is very conveniently located as you head north on Highway 99. It is a standalone brick building, and once you are inside, you are greeted by local art on the walls that changes quarterly. Whoever is in charge of the art has done a great job choosing beautiful works that really fit the wine country and local agriculture theme. I’ve been tempted by several of the pieces. The tasting room staff are always friendly and knowledgeable about the wines, and are very down to earth and fun to talk to.
But this trip we didn’t go to the tasting room – twice a year they open up the winery for tastings there and tours, so we headed there instead. The winery is a few more miles north on 99, close to August Cellars on the other side of the road. We got there and checked in, and told them we are wine club members, which gave us the privilege of a barrel tasting of their 2010 vintage “Best of Barrel” wines. We got our glasses and were told to head on over and start tasting the whites, and Harry would come get us when he was ready for our barrel tasting. We got our wine club shipment a few weeks ago, so we were looking forward to the opportunity to tasting some of the new releases before we opened our bottle.
We started our tasting with a perennial favorite – the Inox Chardonnay. The Inox is a stainless steel aged Chardonnay, so it doesn’t have the oak flavor that so many Chardonnays have. It is an extremely crisp and clean Chardonnay, that pairs well with spicy food and rich foods.
The second wine was a Grüner-Veltliner – a varietal that isn’t very common in the United States yet. The grape is primarily grown in Austria, Slovia and the Czech Republic, where it is commonly grown on extremely steep terraces where it is difficult to retain the soil. Apparently when DNA researchers went looking for the parents of the Grüner-Veltliner grape, they found that one parent was the Traminer grape (also a parent of Gerwurztraminer) and the other parent was unknown. Eventually they discovered one lone vine hanging on in an abandoned vineyard in Austria. The pasture had not been used as a vineyard since the late 1800s, and this was the last remaining vine they could find. They are currently trying to cultivate this last vine to see what kind of properties its grapes have. But I digress. Chehalem’s Grüner-Veltliner is a refreshing white with a lot of minerality.
The last white that we tried was the 3 Vineyard Riesling. This wine is one that I have discussed before in a previous post. I’m happy to say I enjoyed it as much the second time I tried it.
After we tasted the whites, Harry came and got us for our barrel tasting. We happened to be the only ones going on the barrel tasting tour at the time, so we got a private tour. Harry is the owner and founder of Chehalem, and his knowledge and expertise are evident when he talks about his wines. It is Harry’s opinion that the 2010 vintage won’t be horribly ruined, even though the spring weather was cold and rainy, and we got early fall rain as well. For him, it is all a matter of the expertise of the winemaker – and if anyone can do it, Harry can.
The Chehalem Barrel Room is big and plain – not a lot of ornament, just a commitment to making good wine. Each year, Harry selects one barrel from each of the four Pinot Noir vineyards (one isn’t really its own vineyard, rather a section of the Ridgecrest vineyard), and that becomes the “Best Barrel” for the year. That barrel is aged and bottled as a single vineyard wine that is sold as futures to wine club members. The theory behind the Best Barrel choice is that it represents that absolute best of that vineyard for the year. Harry also chooses a Best Barrel for the Chardonnay. This is what we had the opportunity to taste that day. And I tell you, these wines were amazing! We started off with the Chardonnay, which is aged in oak. The other barrels of this Chardonnay become the Ian’s Reserve Chardonnay, so it was nice to have the opportunity to see what our bottle might taste like. The oak on this wine is light and not overpowering, with a light butter that gives it a richness. Jon was head over heels over this wine – I foresee buying futures of it – well, in the future.
The four Pinots each had different characteristics. We tasted Stoller, Corral Creek, Wind Ridge and Ridgecrest. Harry explained the differences in the types of soil and the temperatures of the vineyards. With his descriptions, you can really taste the differences and how the vineyard plays a role. They were all amazing, but our favorite was the Wind Ridge. Wind Ridge is actually a section of the Ridgecrest vineyard, at the highest elevation of the vineyard along a ridge. This is a fairly young planting, and you can tell that the wine is going to improve with age as this vineyard matures. When we have a bit more disposable income, we will certainly be interested in buying these futures wines.
After the barrel tasting, we headed back outside to where they were tasting the reds. They started us off with the Cerise, which is one of my absolute favorite wines. Frankly, I don’t think it gets enough credit. The Cerise is a blend of 80% Gamay Noir and 20% Pinot Noir, and it has a rich Bing cherry flavor. It is really like drinking a delicious cherry pie. It is very reasonably priced as well, with the 2009 vintage retailing for $24. Unfortunately, you don’t see it around outside the winery much, I think because they don’t produce much of this wine.
Next we moved to the 3 Vineyard Pinot Noir, which is a blended Pinot Noir that includes grapes from Chehalem’s three estate vineyards (that means that Chehalem owns the vineyards, and they don’t buy the grapes from someone else.) The 3 Vineyard Pinot is a great wine – it has excellent structure, and a nice balance between the fruit and the light oak that it is aged in.
We finished off with the 2009 Corral Creek single vineyard Pinot. This is a big Pinot, mixing cherry and chocolate tastes, but still delivering without being overpowering. It was a great wine to finish off the tasting.
We brought home several bottles for ourselves, and purchased some for Jon’s mom as well. She has been interested in Chehalem since trying their Inox Chardonnay a couple of years ago. Our Chehalem wrapped up the Memorial Day tasting weekend, but we can’t wait for our next visit.
The second day of our tasting tour took us to Newberg, Oregon. We decided that we would focus on just a few places, since we had done so many the day before. I received an email from Artisanal Wine Cellars a few weeks before, announcing that they were opening a new tasting room in Newberg. They also offered half off their tasting fee for their first two weekends in the new location. We had first tried Artisanal when we visited August Cellars last November over Thanksgiving weekend, and we really enjoyed their wines. Ever since then, Jon has been talking about “Arsenal” and wanting to visit again. I don’t think he’ll ever get the name right. The owner/winemaker Tom Feller is a science guy, who likes to explain the effect of the soil, the residual sugar, and the PH levels of the wines he produces. It reminds me a lot of Tom at Glacial Lake Missoula, whose exacting detail and scientific attention result in some fantastic wine.
So armed with our coupon, we ventured on in. The tasting room is in a historic building on the main drag of Newberg, with beautiful wood floors and the original exposed brick wall. It has a great feeling – the kind of building that strikes you with its elegance, but still you feel very comfortable. We were treated to a tasting by the owner/winemaker, and we started with a Viognier/Roussanne blend called Dovetail White. It was a light, fresh table wine – great for summer. The Viognier was very nice, with a nice balance of floral and apricot – it has a lot of flavor without being too heavy, as some Viogniers are. Their third white was a lovely Pinot Blanc, with nice apple flavor, stone fruit and a hint of honey. I enjoyed this wine immensely.
After the whites, we moved into the reds with the Evangeline Gamay Noir Rose. Of all the Roses that we tried over the weekend, this one stood out as the best by far. He explained that he uses a different process to make his Rose, by aging the wine for a few days with the skins to give it a robustness that many of the Roses lack. It is going to be a perfect summer wine!
Next, Tom led us through the Pinot Noirs that Artisanal produces. First we tasted the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, which is a blend of the three vineyards that they source they Pinots from. It has a cherry flavor with a light body and a touch of chocolate, and is a great everyday drinking wine, considering its reasonable price. We sampled the Jubilee Pinot Noir, a single vineyard Pinot from their Jubilee Vineyard. The Jubilee is a relatively light Pinot, with the tart cherry flavor shining through. It is excellent, but Jon and I both preferred the smokier, more robust Pinot that comes from the Adams Vineyard. We finished with the Reserve Adams Vineyard Pinot – also an excellent smoky, heavy, with flavors of blackberry and lots of spice on the palate.
We left there with four bottles and wanting more – wishing that the money fairy were coming to make a visit at our house anytime soon.
Wine and History Visited 