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Category: Wine/Wineries
One of the perks of living in a wine-producing state with a famous wine-growing region like ours is that there are all sorts of free classes to help expand your knowledge of wine and viticulture. One of these events is planned for 6-8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14 at the Old World Deli & Cafe in Corvallis. As part of a series of Science Pubs, the Corvallis event will explore what it takes to produce great wines despite the occasionally less-than-deal growing conditions that Oregon provides and what winemakers, both professionals and home hobbyists, must keep in mind as they turn juice into wine.
Easy to make, and served on top of Parmesan crisps or just plain crackers, this spread has a wonderful flavor combination of sweet green figs, creamy goat cheese and salty prosciutto. It’s the perfect appetizer to serve whenever you’re thinking of popping a bottle of sparkling white or rosé. You’ll be amazed at how great [...]
Forget the sleeping pills. For a sleepless night, draw a dark ruby ripple of sweet plum-flavored Illahe Tempranillo Dessert Wine past your lips. Let it bathe your tongue in nectar, dark as the night. And carry you away on moonlit wispy clouds to the stars. Before you know it, the glass will be empty and you’ll be snoring away.
[gallery link="file" order="DESC" columns="2" orderby="title"] Just in time for that special date or girls night out, join H5O bistro & bar this Thursday evening for an exciting wine dinner with Sokol Blosser Winery.
Instead of sticking close to home this Memorial Day, I decided for a change to head South with my wine buddies to the Eugene area for a change of pace and visit King Estate, Sweet Cheeks, Domaine Meriwether and Benton-Lane. This allowed us to take the less-traveled portion of Highway 99 from Monroe back to Salem via Monmouth and the Willamette River Bridge just south of Monmouth on a day that we knew I-5 would be clogged with people returning from the weekend vacations.
Parlez-vous français? No? Well, that’s OK. English is perfectly fine at Domaine Drouhin Oregon, the U.S. outpost of the famed Maison Joseph Drouhin of Beaune, France. According to Domaine Drouhin, the first seeds for what would become Domaine Drouhin Oregon were sown in 1961. Robert Drouhin, head of Burgundy’s legendary Maison Joseph Drouhin, was visiting [...]
Elk Cove Vineyards in Gaston has a beautiful setting and focuses on making excellent pinot noir and pinot gris. It’s La Bohème Pinot Noir has been served twice at the White House during President Clinton’s term.
Torii Mor is a small winery in Dundee that focuses on vineyard-designated Pinot Noir and has a tasting room that is Japanese influenced in its decor. The tasting room is open year-round and the outdoor spaces are wonderful settings for picnics.
King Estate is the largest producer of Pinot Gris in the U.S. and is located near Eugene. The tasting room is open year-round and has a wonderful restaurant.
Oregon may be known for its pinot noir, but the mild climate here makes it a perfect place to also grow cool-climate white varieties such as grüner veltliner, which is starting to take root in Oregon with a handful of vineyards and wineries now growing and making this wine that is developing a strong following among white wine lovers. And many of those vineyards are in our part of the valley. Grüner veltliner is a white grape variety closely associated with Austria, where it is the nation’s most important varietal in terms of quality and volume produced. Grüner veltliner is a white wine known for its food-friendliness.
Just outside of Newport, Yaquina Head Lighthouse is a picturesque stop along the coast.
Redhawk Winery is in West Salem and is noted for its affordable and good pinot noir.
Ponzi Vineyards, just outside of Portland, is one of the most notable in Oregon and has a tasting room in a wonderful setting.
Besides being stunningly beautiful, Elk Cove is one of the oldest and most respected wine producers in Oregon. They were founded in 1974 by Pat and Joe Campbell and their focus is on producing hand-crafted, estate-grown wines. Their wines have graced the tables of White House state dinners on more than one occasion. What you’ll find at Elk Cove is a primary focus on Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. But they also make excellent Viognier and Riesling.
After our initial taste of the 2007 Prismé, Pinot Noir Blanc, Vic utters, “Quelle surprise!” while scratching the phrase in his notebook.
We three tasters look at each other as if to say, “Can we just linger here with this bottle for the rest of the day and order in the butter-poached lobster in truffle cream sauce?”
Every year on the weekends around Memorial Day and Thanksgiving, vineyards and winemakers in the Willamette Valley invite the public to taste their latest wines in their cellars or tasting rooms. Many of these are boutique wineries that cannot operate tasting rooms year ’round, so this is your chance to discover newer and smaller producers.
Wine tasting ranks almost as high as outdoor activities in Oregon and it does get you out in nature, too, off the main roads and into the rolling hills of the vineyards.
For those of you who love Oregon Pinot Noir but have never been here, now’s your chance. One of our favorite wineries, Willamette Valley Vineyards, is sponsoring the “Why I Love Oregon Pinot Noir Contest”.
All you have to do is tell them why you love Oregon Pinot Noir in approximately 100 words. The contest deadline is June 30. The writer of the best response, chosen by the winery staff, will win a trip for two to Oregon Wine Country. Read our blog post for a link to their contest.
The beautiful rolling hills around the Lorane Valley south of Eugene may not be as well known outside of Oregon as the Willamette Valley to the north is, with its name made synonymous with the rise of Oregon Pinot Noir, but it’s the home of America’s leading producer of premium Pinot Gris, King Estate. Unlike [...]
My inspiration for this post was simply a desire to braise some pork in the wonderful cider from Wandering Aengus Ciderworks in Salem. I settled on combining some ingredients and methods from the recipe mentioned in the previous paragraph with another for Stuffed Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Calvados from Saveur Magazine. Amazingly, all the ingredients came from Oregon.
My inspiration to make a seafood sausage came from a cookbook I purchased many years ago called Spa Food, by Edward J. Safdie, a beautiful pictorial book with recipes from The Sonoma Mission Inn. In there is a photo and recipe for their Seafood Sausage which is described as “a delicate sole mousse mixed with fresh herbs, diced seafood and sautéed greens.” Other than the preparation method, that’s all I needed to take off on my own.
My “Sage and Mozzarella Sandwich” began to take shape quite a few years ago. I was thumbing through The Fine Art of Italian Cooking by Giuliano Bugialli. I became fascinated with a recipe titled Foglie di Salvia Ripieno or “little sage sandwiches.” I imagined Catherine de’ Medici serving these little packages at one of her repasts in France. And by the way, her personal chefs inspired the beginnings of French cuisine as we know it today.
The one thing that I quickly learned from Oregon natives after moving here is you can’t let the weather deter you. The weather in Salem or Portland can be nice and sunny, but by the time you get to the coast an hour to the west, it can be blustery and rainy. You just [...]
Some years ago The Commonwealth of Virginia launched a tourism slogan declaring “Virginia Is for Lovers.” With tongue in cheek and not to be outdone, Maryland promoted “Maryland Is for Crabs.” Since almost all the hazelnuts in the USA are grown in Oregon, one could infer that “Oregon Is for Nuts.” As a matter of fact, the noble hazelnut was declared the state nut in 1989.
When we first moved here from Baltimore more than 6 years ago, it was the middle of winter. In Oregon, that means days and days of drizzle. I think that December I counted 30 days of rain in a row. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll take 30 days of drizzle in the winter over stretches [...]
There were lulls in the morning, with no bites, but we were often treated to schools of iridescent and brilliantly hued jellyfish. Some were tiny and others had tentacles trailing several feet. It was an impressive show. An even more stunning show was the ever-changing and colorful dawn viewed from offshore.
My partner and co-author of this blog, Charles Price, and I last weekend joined the throngs of Baby Boomers at the theater to watch Julie & Julia and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Of course, Charles owns both volumes of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” He notes that he scored both of them at used [...]
