A Willamette Valley Winery Trip

Much to the probable dismay of my family and friends in Portland, I took a trip to the Willamette Valley to hit a few wineries during the holiday and did not visit with any of them during my time in Oregon. What follows is a recap of the trip.

The trip started with a visit to August Cellars. This is a new winery to me. I thought we were stopping at a winery I'd previously visited, but it turned out to be a (relatively) new one. As it turns out, the winery I was looking for was Rex Hill. Given the similarity of the entrances to the two wineries, it's an easy mistake to make.

August Cellars was an unexpected gem along the way. The person working the tasting room (unfortunately I didn't get her name) was great. She was very warm and friendly. She had an interesting life history (grew up in Missouri and lived in France for a few years). She had a good knowledge of wine, and was quite dismayed when I referred to the 2004 Pinot as "typical". Look for reviews of the 2003 and 2004 Pinots in the near future. August did not charge for their tasting flight.

The next stop was the Torii Mor winery. Overall, I found them to be overly pretentious and overpriced. I ended up buying two wines from them. The rest of their wines were, quite frankly, over priced and not very good. That said, their port is the best I've ever tasted, so I blew the dust off my wallet and sprung for a bottle. Due to the cost, I will save it for a very special occasion. I also bought a bottle of the dessert wine. Everything about Torii Mor was pretentious, especially the people working the tasting room. The wines were over priced, without exception. They seriously need to cut all of their prices in half. Tori Mor charged $10 for the tasting flight.

I tried to go to Erath, but they were seriously slammed and I didn't feel like waiting around to sample their wines. I knew that I could find their wines in Seattle, so we left without sampling anything.

The last stop was Sokol Blosser. I know, I know. I gush over these folks. But they are GREAT! Being a Cellar Club member, I got my tasting for free. I try to get to Sokol Blosser a couple times per year, and really appreciate this benefit. Sokol Blosser really does things right. Their tasting room is well laid out and the staff is always very attentive. While my tasting was a free benefit, the normal charge is $15 with a souvenir glass, or $10 with no glass.

I tried to hit a few other wineries, but they were all closed for the holidays.

Now for a bit of editorializing. While I don't mind paying for tasting, I remember when most wineries didn't charge for tastings. As a consumer, I am MUCH less likely to buy wine if the winery charges for tastings. I would propose that a good solution would be for wineries to credit the cost of the tasting towards the purchase of any wine you purchase. That way the consumer is buying the wine they like, and the winery is not giving away wine for free.