Portland Wine and Waterfalls, Part 1 (Wine)

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Portland, Oregon, to visit friends. It had been over ten years ago that I last visited, but I’ve had several friends move there and it seemed like a good excuse to return for a visit. In addition to many lunches and dinners with friends (and an Austin FC match against the Portland Timbers, which Austin unexpectedly won), I spent some time visiting wineries and waterfalls.

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I didn’t know much about which wineries to visit (and there are hundreds to choose from). My friend Trish sent me a list of wineries and a list of wine tour companies. I decided to book a day with Tesla Custom Winery Tours. (The name comes from riding around in a Tesla to visit the wineries.) I spoke with the owner, Rodger, to select five interesting (and great) wineries to visit. I never would have found some of them on my own. On the drives between wineries, Rodger shared a wealth of knowledge about the Oregon wine industry. On the map above, the wineries were all about an hour southwest of Portland in the Willamette River Valley.

Our first stop was Natalie’s Estate Winery, where the wine dogs were happy to greet me. I met one of the owners–the other was hauling grapes from a vineyard near The Dalles. The Assistant Winemaker poured the tasting.

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With the personalized experience, I got to taste fresh grape juice, see their manual wine press, and see grapes that had just been placed into fermenters. (I visited at the tail end of the harvest.)

Another winery I visited was Granville Wine Company, another small winery with a beautiful hilltop location. One of the owners poured the wine. As you can see, the weather was fabulous for most of the week I was in Oregon.

While three of the five wineries I visited were small, family-run producers (Natalie’s Estate, Granville, and Ayoub), I did visit a couple of larger wineries. Argyle Winery specializes in sparkling wines. They have a nice tasting house in Dundee.

Another larger winery I visited was Archery Summit, which has several tasting location options such as a beautiful hilltop terrace or a wine cave. (I chose the cave.)

The week wasn’t all about wine. More coming in parts 2 and 3.