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Articles from June 2007
Our third day in the valley was a Sunday and Father’s Day Sunday at that. Be aware that many of these wineries don’t like opening for tastings and even rarer for tours on a Sunday so plan ahead. Our first stop of the day was likely the best overall tasting and touring experience we had during the entire trip. BHVineyard setup for us a vineyard tour of Le Cadeau Vineyard and a joint tasting at Chehalem of the Chehalem wines and the Le Cadeau wines. We first met up with
Our second day of tasting was in the Salem area. Our first stop of the day was at Witness Tree. The name of the winery comes from a “Witness Tree” or large oak tree on the hill above the winery that was used in the 19th century to mark one of the corners of the property. The survey information is carved in the trunk of the tree and still visible to this day. The winery makes quite a few wines including a mix of whites and Pinot Noirs. The 2005 Vintage Select Chardonnay was quite interesting leaning heavily towards soft brown spices on the aromatics and one of the better Chardonnays we tasted during the trip. The Pinot Noirs are all fairly solid running the gambit between the high 80’s and low 90’s on the WIML scale. Definitely a winery worth watching.
Our first day of tastings was in the Carlton area. We started with a winery tour and barrel tasting with the assistant winemaker at Hamacher. Hamacher has been recognized as one of the few truly “green” facilities by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System from the U.S. Green Building Council. It’s a very interesting facility if you’ve gone green yourself so call ahead for a tour. Currently nine independent, smaller production wineries call the Carlton Wine Studio as their home. While there we mostly tasted the 2006 vintage from aged barrels (Hamacher typically uses 30% new French oak). I found each of the three barrels samples to be clean with good, pure fruit. I’m optimistic towards what I tasted and will be buying as a result.
Coming and going...
We spent 8 days in Oregon including travel days. The best option for visiting the coast and the Willamette Valley area is to fly into Portland International Airport which is serviced by many carriers with direct flights from most major U.S. cities. The drive from the Portland airport is a very comfortable hour and fifteen minutes to the Willamette area and just a hair longer to the Oregon coast. If visiting Oregon for at least a week my personal recommendation is to spend at least two days on the coast at the beginning of the trip to ease into the easy going lifestyle of Oregonians. Then follow that up with 3-5 days in the Willamette tasting wine at your favorite wineries.
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| | These winery links are specific to those who have contributed to the VinoCellar Wine Forums. Just my small way of saying thanks, I'm glad you are here! -- Brad
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