The wineries are very different in styles and prices. Some make you feel like you are part of their family, or at least really good friends, while others are trying to be a “destination estate.”
The first Winery we visited was Brigadoon Wine Co.
Next stop was the Pieffer Winery. They have won many medals for their Pinot Noir.This was a very elegant tasting room with a beautiful outdoor gardens and seating area. I’m sure that many weddings and parties are held here every year. The owner was in the tasting room and I think she was training a new barista, so we really got a lot of history about the wines. Their bottle of Pinot Noir was $60.p00, so we passed. But I did have to do a walk through their beautiful water garden and outdoor seating area.
On to the next stop, which is a very small tasting room, with a really nice gentleman of our age group, doing the pouring. We were even let in the back door! “Come on in, either door is OK,” he said. “Our tasting room is so new we don’t even have business cards printed.” We felt so welcome and, of course, we bought a bottle here. Because there weren’t any signs or brochures I took a picture of the Tee Shirt with their name on it. The wine making is in the big building attached to the little tasting room in front.
LaVelle Vineyards is our next stop. It has a beautiful building with a great garden area leading up to the tasting room. But the path to the front door from the parking area is pretty steep. Part of the vineyard was just below the tasting room and we had to go through an electric gate to get inside the winery area. The doors into the tasting room were beautiful. I just had to take a picture of them.
Domaine Meriwether was our next winery. We came up a dirt driveway, through a pine forest and behind the tasting room. “Buzz” welcomed us to the tasting room along with his dog. He said we came up the fire road and that the driveway in front of us would take us out to the main highway. Love our GPS, we see things and go places we wouldn’t ever know existed! The wine barrels were stacked and displayed in the back of the tasting room and there were even yummy desserts you could purchase. Another winery where we felt very welcomed. They had the neatest cork displays I’ve ever seen, so I hope you can see it in the picture. We were told that one of their customers made it and then moved to a house where there was no room to display it and asked Buzz if they wanted it. Sure glad he said yes, as it is outstanding.
We are getting tired and hungry. The next winery will be our last visit of the day. The name is Sarver Winery, and it is up on a hill overlooking Eugene, OR. It was the busiest winery we visited. They had two or three people doing the pouring's, and outside on the patio was live music. The singer/musician was very good and nice to listen to. There was a good size audience for her.
Oh, back to the winery. I got carried away by the food. Frank does the tasting and this was a good one, so again we purchased a bottle of Pinot Noir. We did not drink wine with our dinner. Still had a way to drive back to the RV!
Doesn’t that look delicious! It was! So much of it we had it the next day for lunch. This was the end of a perfect day. Weather was wonderful, in the high 80’s with a slight breeze. Gidget rode along with us all day. She didn’t do any tasting!
Our next excursion to the Wineries of the Willamette Valley is further north out of the city of Albany, OR. The wineries are further apart here, so we didn’t go to as many.
Our first Winery was Willamette Vineyards. This one you can see from I-5 going north. It is a big operation with more than one vineyard. So they do some wines that are blends using grapes from different vineyards. Their Pinot Noir’s range in price, for the blends at $24.00 a bottle to the prize winners at over $50.00 a bottle. The tasting room is located on the top of a hill overlooking one of the vineyards. It is a beautiful spot and very nice accommodations for weddings, parties, etc..
Gorgeous Views!
On with our quest, to Emerson Winery. We drive about 40 miles to find this one. It is in a valley with rolling hills and the drive to the tasting room is up a gravel driveway. Our GPS told us we would have to get out and walk—it was wrong! Thank goodness there were signs to guide us. Very interesting as two wineries share the same tasting room/and storage room for their barrels. The tasting “rooms” are in with the barrels and are just counters with a few stools. But, the wine is good and we purchase a bottle from here.
Just a metal building with stacks of wine barrels inside.
Just down the road is our last winery of the day. A few others that we tried to find were either not where the GPS took us, or were closed until the weekend. (We went the Friday after the 4th of July.)At Arlie Winery we were greeted by two very wet Irish Setters. There is a big pond on the property just below the tasting room, and the dogs greet everyone that come to visit. A very homey feel to this place and one where you want to just sit and enjoy the view and the very nice lady that serves the wine. We did purchase another bottle of wine here.
We both enjoyed our days of visiting the wineries and have learned a lot about wine, wineries and tasting rooms. And I guess we learned a lot about ourselves. We prefer the homier family run places rather than the fancy, party oriented estates. They both have their niches in providing venues for the day picnic or the big gala gatherings.
Although, I (Dixie) cannot drink the wine because of allergies, I really enjoy the hunt for the beautiful settings each of these wineries have. Frank gets to do the tasting and I think he is learning what kinds of wine he really enjoys.
