Willamette Valley Wine Tasting

I went down to the Willamette Valley this last weekend on a whirlwind trip to visit my good friend Liz. I drove down with her little brother Tre, which was pretty fun. On the way down, we even saw a DeLorean Gang. Four rustless DeLoreans driving through Olympia.

Rustless

Back to the Future

Then it was off to the Willamette Valley on Saturday.

We stopped by Sokol Blosser first and tasted through six fine wines from the white Evolution, to the red Meditrina, and the set of fabo Pinot Noirs. Umm, my fave. A wine after my own heart.

Then it was off to find Maysara, which is Farsi for House of Wine. This winery was a pleasure to visit, tucked away in the McMinnville AVA. Maysara is owned by a Iranian family passionate about biodynamic farming. Their daughter walked us through the tasting of three whites and six Pinot Noirs, an amazing lineup produced primarily by their daughter. Each Pinot Noir was stunning, beginning with a very light 2007 3° Pinot Noir and finishing the very smooth 2006 Delara.

Next we tried to find Coeur de Terre or Coleman, but alas, time was running out and we couldn’t find them. So we headed back to the tasting room in Dundee for a quick Pinot tasting and some buttery green olives. Very fun. Our evening end with a perfectly marinated and buttery duck confit from The Bistro and a bottle of sparkling wine. Very spoiled were we.

On Sunday, the fun began again. Our first stop was Montinore.

The tasting was fine and we again learned more about the Demeter certification for biodynamic farming, however the tasting room staff were a little different. Cordial enough, but I left feeling less than enchanted. Conversation was strained and stranger-like, but not to put a damper on our experience.

Next we hit up WillaKenzie after a slight protestation to the increased mileage, it was completely worth it for us. Such fantastic wines, such nice ambiance, yet they use screw caps for most of their wines. This fact made for a bit of cognitive dissonance in my personal marketing perspective. Nonetheless, we left with several bottles and a potential new wine club member on Liz’s part. Again, I wasn’t impressed with the elitist tasting room staff, but at least elitism matched the ambiance and the fabulous view of an amazing plot of land.

And finally, we stopped at Lenné. The new kid on the block serving several nice wines including some from several wineries such as Owen Row and Fausse(sp?).

This was a truly fun tasting trip with a view to set anyone’s heart aflame and an adorable tasting room.