Willamette Valley Wine Country

When I was with Maggie in Missoula, Montana, her husband gave me some great advice on where to go in Oregon. One of the top things he mentioned was the town of Dundee, which is where the wine industry started. This is also part of the Willamette Valley, which has quickly become a world renowned exporter of Pinot Noir red wine. We stopped at a local place in Dundee called Hawkins Cellars. The guy who helped us was named Mark, and he was incredibly knowledgeable and happy to help us in our tasting. We tried a bunch of their wines, and each was better than the last. We ended up buying a Pinot Noir and a Rose for the road, and then we walked over to Red Hills Market, where Mark told us to get some great sandwiches for lunch. Gourmet. Classic. Flavorful. Wow. This place had it all. It reminded me of the small artisan food stores in Sonoma, California, as well as Santa Barbara. We grabbed a pizza and a sandwich and drove a few miles further to a winery called Stoller Family Estate. Wow. The pictures below and the link will give you a feel, but this was by far one of the most beautiful and inspiring places I have seen all year. So clean. So beautiful. Friendly people and a great picnic area to eat. We watched kids playing on a tire swing. Birds flying all around us. We spoke about life and how lucky we were to be alive and in this place right now. We actually closed the place down, and then decided to go to McMinnville, which is a cute town not far away. We drove through a picturesque town and then Vasili got his frisbee out and we threw it for an hour or so in the main park in downtown. So peaceful. Relaxing. The park patrolman actually stopped to talk to us and he threw the fris with us as well. Classic. After hanging out in McMinnville for a few hours we picked a hotel on the Oregon coast, in a town called Lincoln City, and headed there for the night. The hotel was called Inn at Wecoma, and we got there just in time to pass out after a full day of wine tasting and just enjoying this beautiful part of the country. 

Hawkins Winery in Dundee, Oregon

Vasili and I at Stoller Winery