The Willamette Valley - Week Two

Oregon is beautiful. It has a little something for every traveller: dramatic shorelines with crashing waves and pristine beaches that go on for miles; sand dunes and waterfalls; lush valleys with vibrant green, yellow, and orange fields of apple orchards, vineyards, and newly sprouting winter rye. Further east, where we did not venture but where I have visited before, there are amazing geological sites, canyons, and dry desert-like landscapes similar to back home.

Our foray inland from the Scenic 101 highway to the Willamette wine region was a nice change from the coast – a little dryer and a little more sunshine. It’s rolling hills and windy roads throughout the valley were stunningly beautiful and even though we were no longer in the rainforest, there was plenty of deciduous forest for us to forage in and we did indeed find several more “choice” edibles including the horse mushroom and wine cap mushroom. 

Our focus in the area though was to explore the wines of the region, not the fungi (though Judith assures me she would really like to find a fun guy). 

Wineries in the Willamette Valley are far less fancy than in the South Okanagan – most tasting rooms are picnic tables outdoors or a bar counter inside the building where they make or store the wine, and several we visited were closed despite their advertisments stating otherwise. We did visit one winery of note that more resembled an Okanagan style winery and it was delightful – Willamette Valley Vineyards.

Willamette Valley Vineyards is one of the largest wineries in the region – and one of the oldest – and while many of the smaller ones are trying hard to compete, I would say we enjoyed the wines there more than most we tasted. It has earned the reputation as "one of America's great pinot noir producers" by Wine Enthusiast and is part of a public company traded on the Nasdaq. While big is not always better, in the case of the Willamette Valley it seemes to be.

Their large building, which hosts a tasting room and restaurant, sits atop a hill looking down over a gorgeous valley – a site to appreciate in the fall with all the leaves changing colour. We were tasted on numerous wines- all of which were very good. Pinot Noir is the award-winning varietal grown in this region - and this winery had three very good Pinots. After our free tasting (fees waved because I work in the industry) we enjoyed a great burger with a free glass of Merlot. It was soooooo good, and a super end to our day of tasting.

One thing of note with the wines in this region was the stark minerality of the whites. Missing was the familiar fruit forward notes we are used to in the hot climate of the Okanagan. The cooler wet weather here (and soil types) contributes to most of the whites tasting like wet rock and lemon juice, so while the area is most definitely worth visiting for its beauty – stick the to pinot noir if you are wine tasting – and I recommend you pair it with a hefty dish of wild mushrooms!