PDX and Willamette…..Dammit! - Part Two

Willamette Valley

While Portland was great and we could have spent a lot more time exploring the city, let's be realistic.  We were in Oregon for the wine so off to the Willamette Valley we went!

Dundee Bistro

We headed out of the city around 10 am and were in the wine country in no time.  The drive was easy but not as pretty as I thought it might be.  This is mainly because our route was basically a four lane road with chains and strip malls.  However, we were amused by the number of independent coffee shops we saw with names like Brewed Awakenings and the Human Bean.

We didn't really have an agenda so we stopped at the Dundee Bistro for some lunch and a very important strategy session!  The restaurant was exactly the type of place you would expect in a wine region.  Lots of great soups, salads, pasta, etc. 

Where We Stayed

Entryway

Outdoor Lounge at Allison Inn

The Allison Inn and Spa is one of the best resorts I've ever been to.    It's located about a  mile from downtown Newberg and is tucked into a small hill with a walking path around the entire property, numerous art exhibits and meditation area.

Just for you!

In addition to a complimentary shuttle to take you into town, they also have several cars you can borrow to explore the expanded area on your own.

Our room had a fireplace, jacuzzi tub and shower, a large patio and a large sitting area.  I could have stayed a week just in the room!  The also have complimentary snacks in the room as well as a complimentary coffee service in the lobby every morning.  

Day One - On our own

Woolly Mammoth

Our first stop was Domaine Serene.  Once you enter the gate, the driveway winds up the hill to a
beautifully landscaped winery.  The  tasting room was downstairs and while not hard to find, it was kind of pain to get to since it was raining while we were there.  The wines were very good but the thing that stood out the most to me was the Woolly Mammoth.  Really, they have a 15 foot tall sculpture of a Woolly Mammoth.  According to the lady at the tasting room, some remains of a woolly mammoth were found years ago on the property but who knows….

Domaine Drouhin

Just down the hill was Domaine Drouhin so who were we to fight gravity.  Until our visit, I had no idea how strong the relationship was between Oregon and French wine making.  The Drouhin family has been making wine for over a hundred years but in France.  One of them visited the U.S. and decided that Oregon was far better suited to making Burgundy than California so they started planting grapes in Oregon too.  They have great wine and great views.  The head of sales actually did our tasting.  He grew up in the area so we asked him where we should go next.  Without skipping a beat he said White Rose. 

Easter sale!

So, we headed back up the hill and turned down the dirt road with the White Rose Estate sign.  When we got there we saw a parking lot, vines and a windowless building that looked like it could have been in Game of Thrones.  There had been a "tasting room" sign in the parking lot which pointed to this building but there wasn't anything on the door other than a big padlock (unlocked) hanging from the handle.  Not sure what to expect, we slowly opened the door. 

White Rose Tasting Room

Even though it was overcast outside, it still took our eyes a second to adjust to the round room with dark furniture.  The first thing I saw was two little girls at a table that appeared to have baked goods and handmade cards and boxes.  It turns out these were the owner's daughters and they were having an Easter Sale.  That was just the beginning of the charm of this place

Dago led our tasting so if you get a chance to meet him, do it.  He explained that the building was actually built into the hillside because it is the best way to control temperatures.  We were actually standing above the barrel room and they purposely designed the tasting room to be windowless because they want people to focus on the taste of the wine, not the views.  To be clear, White Rose has gorgeous views and they have a great little area lined with benches where you can soak it all in.  However, I can't recall another tasting room which was completely windowless.  This is definitely worth checking out. 

DePonte Cellar

Our final stop was De Ponte Cellars which Dago recommended to us.  When we got there, we parked and made our way into the tasting room.  It was around 4pm but there was nobody in there including anyone working.  My husband went to find someone and came back a minute later with Rae who we soon learned was the owner. 

We had the best time with her learning about the wines but more importantly learning about their story and what brought them to Oregon.  She and her husband both had successful careers but wanted to do something different.  They also wanted to move somewhere that would be good for their young son so they settled on Oregon.  They purchased the vineyard even though they knew nothing about growing grapes.  Luckily, there are companies who can help with that! 

DePonte Cellars

They have a fun "game" for tasting room visitors too.  There is a painting behind the bar of famous athletes and if you can identify all of them you get a free bottle of wine.  I'm not going to spoil it and say what sport(s) or who the artist is but I will say this.  My husband has more useless sporting knowledge floating around in his head than Bob Costas, Marv Alpert, Greg Gumbel and Scott Van Pelt combined and he didn't get it right.  There have been less than ten people who have!

Day Two - Guided Tour

Prior to our trip, we did quite a bit of research on wine tours.  We wanted a driver as well as someone who knew the area.  Our goal was to visit some of the smaller, off the beaten path wineries and quite frankly didn't need to see how wine was made.  We chose Oregon Wine Tours because the owner Ron  would do a private tour for just the two of us (yes, we can be snobby that way) and he wanted to talk to us prior to booking anything to make sure he understood our vision for the day.

Ron picked us up in his Oregon Wine Tours van at 10am on Saturday.  One note, if you need a fancy car to make you feel important while you tour the wine country then this isn't the tour company for you.  Because Ron is an independent small business owner, he has one van that he uses for group tours as well as private tours like ours.  However, if you are looking for someone who has lived in the area his entire life and who knows more about wine and the Willamette Valley than just about anyone he is your guy!

Willakenzie Tasting Room

Willakenzie Vineyards

Our first stop was at Willakenzie Vineyards.  As we wound our way up the driveway, we saw a ton of cars and close to a hundred people standing near a gate to the vineyards.  We weren't exactly looking for big crowds so we weren't quite sure what to think.  It turns out that the winery was having an Easter Egg Hunt and it was my kind of hunt.  There were no children and the plastic eggs had "prizes" inside in the form of tickets for free tastings, free bottles of wine, etc.  Willakenzie has the largest continual land mass of vineyards with over 400 acres.  The tasting room is at the bottom of some of the hills and the scenery looks as good as the wine tastes.

View from Roots Wine Co.

Chris Berg and his mom

Next, Ron took us to Roots Wine Company.  While in operation for over ten years, they just opened a tasting room earlier this year.  The owners Chris and Hilary Berg live on property with their son and the tasting room is basically their renovated garage.  We loved everything about this place.

Youth Relived

We spent a ton of time with Chris learning about his background and how they came up with the name (he's originally from Racine, WI which actually means "root" in French).  My favorite thing about Roots is that they take what they do seriously but don't take themselves seriously.  This is illustrated by the Pac Man gaming table that sits in the tasting room as well as the membership levels in the wine club.  You can choose between Soil Yourself and The Dirt Bag!  We enjoyed everything so much we joined the wine club and recently received our first shipment which included some oak barrel staves transformed into barbecue chips.  

We spent so much time at Roots that we had to reconfigure our afternoon a bit.  Ron's flexibility and ability to read how much we were enjoying ourselves is one of the things we liked the best.  He didn't rush us and was able to quickly come up with a plan B.

Arbor Brook

A quick lunch at The Horse Radish was the perfect call.  They have a great selection of sandwiches and are used to getting people in and out without making you feel rushed.

Our next stop was Arbor Brook Vineyards.   Unlike the two previous stops, this winery was located in a valley.  The morning mist was beginning to break and it was the perfect spot for an outdoor wine tasting.  We enjoyed it as well as the wines but if we had to rank the places we visited on day two, it would be #4.  Of course, this is like saying that Ringo Starr is my least favorite Beatle because they are all great!

Native Flora

Our final stop was at Native Flora.  I thought Ron had taken a wrong turn at first because we pulled up to an intercom at a gate that clearly looked like someones private home.  Turns out I was right but that's because Scott and Denise the owners only do tastings by appointment.  After many years in the corporate sector, they bought a vineyard and built an amazing house in the Dundee Hills.  Their wines were great and I especially liked their Rose.

Fun facts:  In addition to grapes, the Willamette Valley is home to  Christmas tree and grass farms.   Also, Oregon produces 99% of the hazelnut production in this country.  Who knew?

We loved the Willamette Valley and can't wait to go back and try new places (as well as visit some of our new friends again!).  While Napa and Sonoma is great, Oregon is much easier to navigate and enjoy at a more relaxed pace.

#rootswineco  #orwinetours #willamettevalley  #oregon

PDX and Willamette…..Dammit! - Part One

With a last name like Pope, Easter weekend has special meaning so what better way to celebrate then heading to the Pacific Northwest for a quick getaway to Portland and then the Willamette Valley (you know, the whole "turning water into wine" thing).

We flew into Portland on Thursday afternoon.  You could see the mountains including Mount St. Helen and Mount Hood on our approach into PDX which followed the Columbia River and provided a great view of the gorge.  It's almost like flying into DFW…minus the river and scenery.  

The rental car center is on site (at least for most of the major companies) which makes it easy.  The drive from the airport to downtown was around 20 minutes at 5pm.  However, the traffic coming out of Portland did not look so good!

Where We Stayed - Portland

View from our hotel

Because I was only a few nights away from reaching the next level of their loyalty program, we stayed at the Marriott Downtown Waterfront. It's located on the Willamette River off on Naito Parkway and was fine for our purposes.

While it looks like an older property when you pull in, they are undergoing a massive renovation to Marriott's "new room experience" and our room was actually pretty nice.  We were within walking distance to the courthouse and several shopping and dining areas but there really wasn't much in the immediate vicinity.  Next trip we will probably stay someplace like the Nines or one of the Kimpton properties. 

Portland is a very cool city and easily walkable.  It's clearly a city that cares deeply about the environment (Dallas….you could learn a thing or two).  There are bike lanes on almost every street, recycle bins everywhere and mass transit was heavily utilized.

Where We Ate - Portland 

Departure Restaurant

Only having one night in the city, we had to be pretty sure about our restaurant choice.  My husband wanted something with a view and I wanted great cocktails and amazing food.  Luckily for us, Departure fit the bill on all three fronts.

Located at the top of the Nines hotel, you feel like you are walking through a tunnel at an airport when you exit the elevator which honestly was a bit off-putting and sterile feeling.  However, as soon as we reached the host stand and could see the various areas of the restaurant we were feeling pretty good.

There is a very large bar with dining areas surrounding it in every direction as well as a large corner patio.  We of course chose the patio and were able to see a great sunset over the mountains.

Portland at night

The restaurant focuses on flavors from the Far East but did not feel like a typical Asian restaurant.  They had a great selection of cocktails and the food is done small plate style so we were able to try a variety of things.  We did not have a bad thing on the menu and the service was great (which isn't always the case at high profile restaurants in bigger cities).

The pork belly at Departure is to die for. It's crispy with pickled cherries and pumpkin seeds and I'm still dreaming about it.  In case you don't understand how good it was….I grew up in North Carolina where  some part of the pig is part of every meal, every day so I know what I'm talking about!

Best Pork Belly EVER!

After dinner, we decided to walk to Blue Star donuts based on our waiters recommendation.  He said they had one with a Grand Marnier shot in it so how could we not check it out!?! It was about a 15 minute walk and a nice night so off we went.  We saw the sign from the bottom of the hill and our pace quickened.  Unfortunately, we weren't quick enough as we got there at 8:10pm and they closed at 8 pm.  We were disappointed but we were in a donut state of mind at this point.

Voodoo Doughnuts is somewhat of an institution in Portland so we decided to head that way.  It was fun seeing the city at night and we never felt unsafe but again we never veered off of main streets.  It was another 15-20 minute walk and there was lots to see in the area around Voodoo Doughnuts, especially if you are into crack addicts, strip clubs or prostitutes.  There was a line out the door which is not uncommon.  They have all kinds of regular donuts as well as all sorts of creative ones including ones with Fruit Loops, bacon and Tang (not all together though!).  It wasn't the best doughnut I've ever had but I would recommend checking it out if you are in Portland.

At that point, we were pretty tired and decided to turn in so we could hit the Willamette Valley the next day!