Willamette Valley Wine Tasting--Graham's Bday Part 1

This past Sunday, I took Graham on a "weekend" away to begin the celebrations of his 1/4 century birthday. Because he's so hard to shop for (the only thing I've ever given him that he consistently uses is his wedding ring), I finally decided that I was not going to buy him anything but rather "give" him a memory. He knew I was taking him somewhere, but he didn't find out where until we were on the road. But you can only go south on I-5 so far before you realize that you're probably going to end up in Oregon (although Tacoma would certainly have been a good 2nd option).

The Benson, where we stayed:

We arrived at our 4 star hotel downtown Portland (The Benson) and I handed a very confused Graham 2 cans of beans and towed him down the the river to catch the last night of the Waterfront Blues Festival (the beans were our entry "fee"--a donation to the food bank). We had a great time eating African food and listening to all sort of crazy blues music. What a great place to people watch for hippie Portlanderites!

By the river:

Not quite a hippie, but pretty close:

But the theme of our weekend was actually not Portland itself, but more the surrounding Willamette Valley. To clue Graham in of what was to come, I presented him with a basket of 3 different wines (2 of which were local Oregon wines), wine glasses, cheeses, a cheese board and knife, chocolates, fruit and bread. The next morning we headed for McMinnville where we had breakfast at the coolest place called the Wildwood Cafe.

Me at the cafe, planning out the day to come:Yes those really are egg beaters hanging from the ceiling. I had granola encrusted french toast that was literally 2 inches thick (Barney, this even beat the cinnamon swirl french toast you love!) Next we headed back to Dundee where we began our wine tasting and touring at Erath Winery. We probably tried 8 different wines, specifically the region's famous Pinot Noir. I usually do not like red wines but their Pinot Noirs were wonderful (especially the most expensive bottles--I must have a very refined palate!) We enjoyed the scenery and the view of Mt Hood. It is gorgeous up there!

At Erath Vineyards:

We drove briefly through Sokol Blosser vineyards and then stopped at Argyle where we sampled sparkling wines. I think these are my new favorite and I'm going to have to experiment with what types of foods to pair them with! Somehow they ferment them long enough so the bottles carbonate themselves--nothing is added. Yum!We ended at Duck Pond Winery where we tried quite a few more wines. (At this point I was just trying the first taste and dumping the rest since I was the one driving). We sat outside for awhile, rather relaxed, enjoying the sunshine before we headed back to Portland. Of course we stopped at the outlet malls on the way for some shopping. We had super yummy Thai food for dinner at this modern place in the Pearl District a few blocks from our hotel.
I left Tuesday open so that Graham could pick whatever he wanted to do. He decided on a drive to the Tillamook Cheese Factory followed by an afternoon at Cannon Beach.

Petting the cows:

We had a beautiful drive and had a wonderful picnic of bread and cheese and fruit and wine at the beach (probably not entirely legal but the wine was hidden in styrofoam cups). What fun!

Our picnic in the sun: