Winery Weekend

Wine Grapes at Cooper Mountain Vineyards

Sunday was a rainy day and we decided to go wine tasting at some of the area wineries. (This picture is an old one, there are no grapes on the vines at this time of year and we didn't visit Cooper Mountain on this particular trip).

There are a lot of Oregon Wineries (map) and most of them are open for tasting on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

First, we went to Willakenzie Estate where the wine was good but expensive and the tastings were free.

Then we went to another vineyard right across the street from Willakenzie. Unfortunately I can't remember the name and it's not on any of the maps. I think it must be pretty new. The wines there were expensive and not very good, and they charged 5$ to taste 4 wines. We did end up with a funny story from there though. A plate of cheese and fruit and other goodies was on the bar. Sami picked up a bite to eat, and then I got a cracker. Then Sami went back and found out that the cheese plate was only for people on a wine tour. Oops! We couldn't have known. A lot of the wineries provide a bit of food with the tastings.

After that we did a couple geocaches and then stopped by a place called Cana's Feast Winery. Their tasting list was full of italian style wines which I often don't like. The first one was called Rosato and was a deep pink color. Normally we wouldn't drink a rosé, but this one was not sweet and very tasty. They also had some very good Sangiovese - another wine I often dislike. All things considered, the 5$ tasting fee was very reasonable. Plus they refunded it with the purchase of a bottle of wine.

Just next door to Cana's Feast, there's a place called the Carlton Winemaker's Studio. There they sell and offer wine tastings for several different vineyards. When we walked in the door, we heard live music coming from upstairs. Sami made a beeline straight towards the music and we found ourselves in a special tasting for Ribbon Ridge. They had incredible appetizers and 7 or 8 different kinds of wine to taste. With the dessert wine they were serving lavender teacakes (that's actually a cookie) yum! Also, we got to take home a couple of those nice little plastic clips that you can hang the wine glass from your plate while you walk around. Not that I imagine we'll really use them at home.

Finally, we stopped by Kramer, Sami's favorite vineyard. The first time we went to a tasting (three years ago) it was late in the day and we were the last customers. The wine was great and they gave us a whole loaf of bread left over from the event and Sami has been a loyal customer ever since. They're very friendly and not wine snobs at all. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone else has realized how good the wine is and it's doubled in price in the last 3 years.