So, what do you do to top off a wonderful birthday party with your friends? Rent a mini-van, and invite your friends to go wine tasting!
Everyone who knows anything about me knows that I am a wine geek/freak. I love to go wine tasting, and enjoy collecting as well as drinking. I'm just as passionate about sharing my knowledge with friends, and helping them to learn about the mysterious world of fine wine. To that end, I arranged a special day of touring Oregon wineries in Yamhill County.
I decided that it would be best to rent a mini-van since there were going to be seven of us in the party, and I didn't want to have to deal with two cars and/or someone over indulging and then not being able to drive. I've done so much wine tasting, I know when my limits, and am very careful not to drink too much.
The first stop was Crema, a local coffee shop. Hey, after a day of preparing for and then hosting a party, we all needed some coffee and sweets to start the day. Now let me just say, getting 7 people up, showered, fed and on the road after drinking into the wee hours of the night is not always easy, so my original plan of hitting Bergstrom winery first kind of went out the window. We had a set appointment for 1 pm at Domaine Drouhin Oregon (DDO), and we didn't end up leaving Crema until 11:30am, so out went the plan, and I did what I do best, started winging it.
We made good time down to Dundee, so we stopped in at Sokol-Blosser on our way to DDO. Sokol-Blosser was the first Oregon winery I became a club member at, and I always enjoy tasting there with friends. They make some really good wines, and we happened to hit the release day for Mediterina III, their third version of a Pinot Noir, Syrah, Zinfandel blend. In addition, they just released their new White Reisling made in an ice style, which is one of my favorite dessert wines. We did a quick tasting there, trying their Pinot Gris, an Estate Pinot Noir, Meditrina III and then Evolution their blend of 9 different white grapes, followed by the White Reisling. It was a nice start to a wonderful day.
Next came DDO, probably my favorite winery in Oregon. I signed up for their club before it was even started, and have never regretted it. Being a club member has its benefits, one of which is being able to schedule tours of the winery for your group. I had arranged for a tour, hoping my friends would like it. They loved it. Harvest had just finished a couple days before, so we were able to some of the process up close. We strarted off out in the vineyard, tasting some of the second set grapes that were still on the vine, and learning about some of the history of DDO and how the vineyards are planted and maintained. After that, we went into the production floor of the winery where they let us try some of the fresh Pinot Noir juice that was still undergoing primary fermentation, and then took us down to the barrel room. The DDO winery was built to allow a gravity flow process, meaning that each major step in the winemaking process is flows down to a lower floor. After learning about the entrire wine-making process, from the vineyard to the bottle, we were treated to a private tasting of the wines of DDO and a selection of wines from their French parent company, Joseph Drouhin.
We sampled the new release of 2004 Arthur Chardonnay, along with a Premier Cru Chablis from Joseph Drouhin. Then we moved on to the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir from DDO which we tried with Chambolle-Musigny from Joseph Drouhin. Finally, we got to try the new release of the Laurene Pinot Noir, which we also compared with the Chambolle-Musigny. Along with these last two wines, we sampled some aged Comte cheese which helped bring out some of the flavors of the wine.
After spending almost 2 wonderful hours at DDO, it was time for everyone to take their newly acquired knowledge of wine and apply it. We still hadn't stopped for lunch, and it was 3pm. I suggested that we eat at Bergstrom, but first we'd make a quick stop at Argyle to sample some sparkling wines.
Argyle isn't one of the wineries I usually take people to, but the thought of some good sparkling wine sounded good right about now. We cruised back into Dundee and stopped at the tasting room/haunted house. (Make sure you ask about the haunting if you ever stop there, the stories are fun.) I don't really have any contacts at Argyle since I don't go there very often, nor do I belong to their club, so I warned the group that they'd actually have to pay for this tasting. :-)
Argyle makes some very good sparkling wines, my favorite being the Blanc de Blancs. Our group bellied up to the bar (made from old oak fermenting tanks) and tried some of their sparkling wines and their red wines. They actually have a really decent Merlot ("Sideways" derision not with-standing).
Everyone was getting pretty peckish...okay, downright hungry, so I said let's hurry off to Bergstrom, and we can snack on the leftover party food I brought along in a cooler. (Along with a large supply of bottled water for people to drink.) Now, the challenge was it was 3:30pm, and Bergstrom closes at 4pm, and we were 20 minutes away. So, I pulled the old Chevrolet Town and Country mini-van out onto Hwy 99W and started driving with haste to our final stop of the day.
We made it to Bergstrom at 3:50pm, and after much apologizing for keeping them late, they rolled out the red carpet and helped us cap off a wonderful day with a perfect ending. We tried some Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Reisling, and a couple of wonderful Pinot Noirs. Then, well after their normal closing time, we retired to their patio, and broke out some snacks, and a couple of splits of Pinot Noir to wash it all down with.
Wine tasting doesn't get much better than this, but in part III you'll see that sometimes really good days turn into perfect days.
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