We are coming to the end of our time in the Willamette Valley.  As always time has flown and we are now looking at 3 weeks before we leave Hidden Hills and head back across The States.  Since our Canada trip we have been hitting selected wineries, plus we have had two lots of visitors. The veteran travellers Claire & Jack Tozier came for a couple of nights which is far too short as you really have to pack in the wine tasting and restaurants! However, they did managed to hit one of Oregon’s windows of spectacular weather – warm and sunny with low humidity!  As their time was limited, we arranged their wine tasting at Woodard Wines, run by Jeff Woodard an independent wine merchant whose family was one of the original Oregon Trail settlers.  Jeff is an amazing source of information on Oregon wines and he knows all the small producers who shun the limelight, as well as all the luminaries of the industry.  He did a super tasting for us and obviously impressed Jack who had a case of wine shipped back to Virginia.  Not sure when they will get to drink it as Jack was off to Chattanooga to do their Half Iron Man Triathlon before they headed off to Norway for a week or so!  Jack is my age by the way!  We manage to fit in one good restaurant with Claire & Jack – Thistle. It’s a small restaurant in an old store in downtown Mac, with one of the rooms a fabulous bar serving old-time cocktails.  Outstanding local fresh ingredients are used in their dishes all with an amazing wine list – the Pinot Noir section was 21/2 pages!

The Spruce Goose and others.

The morning of their departure we went to the Evergreen Air & Space Museum in McMinnville, as Jack, an ex-Navy flyer, wanted to see the Spruce Goose, the monster 8 engine flying boat transporter built-in 1947 by Howard Hughes.  Built mainly from birch the plane was only flown once before being mothballed.  An impressive space collection with everything from a V-2 to a Titan II rocket and a Mars Rover.  Found out that drones have been around since 1954!

Visited a few more wineries while putting together the schedule for Jim & Jerrie Bethels’ visit – not a trivial exercise as both are Pinot lovers and experts who have visited the WV before.  With just about all the renowned vineyards being by appointment we had a fun time getting things arranged, plus we fitted in a couple of unknown wineries thanks to Jeff Woodard.  A chance to impress J&J!  Typical Oregon weather for their visit – in other words rain, mist, sun, clouds, and more rain!  However, we did manage to fit in 13 wineries / tastings and 5 restaurants in the 4 days / 5 nights they were with us.  One restaurant was Bistro Maison, an old school French restaurant in an old house on 3rd Street.  Madam, the Chef’s wife, was probably the best sommelier I have come across.  Her knowledge of both Oregon and French wines was encyclopedic!  Needless to say we had a fantastic meal – thank you J&J!  Fabulous fun and Jim loaded up on a bunch of wine, much of it magnums, which bodes well for future visits to their Texas ranch.

As June arrived we suddenly went into 4 days of scorching heat – high 90’F/ 36-37″C – during the day – dropping to the 70sF / 21-2’C at night.  Luckily the humidity was low as our house is not air-conditioned, though we did have big floor fans.  Of course Mrs AngryAnglo complained of the heat – duh – it was fabulous!  Certainly better than the normal 4 seasons in a day weather that is typical of the north-west.  Just like the crappy English weather that I fled many years ago.  The only good thing is that it produces fantastic Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays.

Now is probably a good time to list the wineries we have visited while in Oregon.  As I have said previously one of the reasons of this blog is to act as a diary as I’m certainly not going to remember half of them.  My avid readers can just drool and be envious.  This list is thanks to Ann’s meticulous record keeping. (probably need to do one on restaurants)

Dusky Goose tasting room

Airlie Winery, Archery Summit, Bergstrom Wines, Bethel Heights Vineyard, Blakeslee Vineyard Estate, Brooks Wines, Broadley Vineyards, Cardwell Hill Winery, Carlton Cellars, Carlton Winemakers Studio, Cristom Vineyards, Dusky Goose, Elk Cove Vineyard, Elizabeth Chalmers Cellars, Eyrie Vineyards, Keeler Vineyards, Ken Wright Cellars, Lachini Vineyards, Maresh Vineyards, Maysara Winery, Patricia Green Cellars, Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, Ponzi Vineyards, Potters Vineyard, Scott Paul Wines, Soter Vineyards, Tendril Vineyard, Walnut City Wine Works, Walter Scott Vineyards, Winderlea Winery, WillaKenzie Estate.

The Dundee Hills.

There are around 400 wineries in the Willamette Valley so we have barely scratched the surface, but as none of them are free, and they are widely dispersed over a large area we are doing pretty well.  What is amazing is that out of all the tastings we have done only one has disappointed us – Cristom Vineyard – one of the top ranked wine makers in the valley. It really was a double whammy at the tasting.  The room was crowded and the young lady running the tasting was hopeless, so waited ages for our taste and received minimal information on the wines.  The whites were quite good, but when we were given a Pinot made from 17 different grapes sources that had no acidity, finished mid-palate with no structure we wondered what they were trying to achieve!   However, one of the pleasant surprises has been Pinot Blanc which not all of the wineries produce, as it is point genetic mutation of the Pinot Noir grape – a big part of champagne. An old Burgundy grape that is no longer being grown to any extent, so maybe Oregon can come through on this as it is a really good wine that pairs well with seafood, chicken, and cheese.  However, it is the other Burgundian white that has really rocked our socks – Chardonnay.  There are some amazing wines being made that are so like Montrachet it is staggering.  In a blind tasting against the Beuane Montrachets,   Hamacher and Walter Scott stand a good chance of coming out on top – really.

We really like Mac – an easy town to live in – with beautiful country side and amazing wines. Coming down off our hill on a nice day as we head out to yet another wine tasting, you see the snowy splendor of Mt Hood in the distance; truly lovely.  However, those days are rare as more often everything will be shrouded in mist, rain, and clouds!  Thank God for wine!