Wine and Wine Tasting

One of our true enjoyments is wine tasting and drinking good wine. We enjoy traveling to the Yakima Valley here in Washington in the spring and Yamhill County in Oregon at Thanksgiving time. Since we will be traveling all around the US, we will be checking out the various wine areas. It is amazing where grapes are being grown for wine and where you can find wineries.. Jim is into reds (Cabernet and Merlot) and Kim has also been converted. She still enjoys the while also (Chardonnay, Pinot Gris). One of the things that we will miss being in the motor home is our wine "cellar". There is not room to store wine, nor is the temperature stable enough to store it. Besides, we don't want the additional weight. So as we travel, we will be checking out local wine shops and grocery stores that have wine selections.

We have some wine ordered on futures at a couple of our favorite wineries in Oregon, Chateau Benoit and Cuneo's. We will have to have the wine shipped to where we are when it gets bottled later this year, that is if we get to it before Kim's brother! He and his wife have done a lot of wine tasting with us as have our friends the Bolams.

Last year, we made it to Napa Valley for the first time in May. We stayed at a local bed and breakfast called Erica's Hillside (I think). It was a nice way to do wine tasting. We made it to Newlan, Mondavi, Chandon, Silver Oak, Mumm, and Sattui. We really enjoyed them all. Silver Oak is a favorite for Cabernet as is Mondavi. We tried a single glass of Cab at Mondavi that was $25.00 for the taste. The bottle that we were tasting from sells for $125.00 a bottle. It was wonderful and we sat there sharing the glass and savoring the flavor.

Kim has also been wine tasting in Missouri, outside of St. Louis. There is a large German community that started the wine growing in that area a long time ago. She was really surprised to find so many wineries and some very good wines. Very different from the west coast, but good. She will be taking Jim to that area later this year. We have also done some tasting in previous years in Ohio and Texas and in the future will be doing so in upstate New York among other places.

Newsflash:  We just returned from a Saturday (June 10, 2000) of wine tasting with friends and family.  I had purchased through an auction a tasting tour at Archery Summit for 10 people.  Archery Summit is open to the general public twice a year, Thanksgiving weekend and Memorial weekend, otherwise, it is by reservations only.  So we had the entire place to ourselves.  We barrel tasted three different Pinot Noirs, their Red Hills, their estate and their Arcus, all were 1999's vintage.  We then got to taste their proprietary white, Vereton and three of their Pinots, the 1997 Red Hills, the 1997 Arcus, and the 1997 Estate.  They are all great wines and worth mentioning.  Prior to the tour, Jim and I did a little tasting on our own at Duck Pond, we had not been there for years.  It was as good as usual.  After the tour, all 10 of us went onto Lange to try their Chardonnay and their Pinot Noirs.  This has been a perpetual favorite for us and for some reason it was a little disappointing this time.  The Chardonnay wasn't up to snuff (as my Dad would say) and the Pinot's were OK.  Maybe we had been spoiled at Archery or just a little worn out.  After leaving Lange, we headed over to Erath.  We tasted a few here also, but by now, our wine taste buds were pretty tired and we were getting hungry.  Erath has a boxed "Vertical tasting" of their Cabernet Sauvignon available, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 for $160.00.  This is a fun way to learn about differences of the same wine, same vineyard over time (and no, I didn't buy it, but I did think about it).  We then went to dinner at Red Hills Provincial Dining in Dundee, Oregon.  The food was excellent as was the service.  We would recommend this to anyone wanting a wonderful atmosphere along with great food in the middle of the Yamhill Wine Country of Oregon.

Wine tasting at the Oregon Coast:  Jim and I did sample a few wines at the Nehalem Winery.  It was in a very picturesque setting but the wines were so-so as far as we were concerned.  There where several other couples in and out tasting while we were and they seemed to enjoy the fruit wines as they bought a couple of bottles.  We didn't buy anything, but always enjoy trying new wines.  What I really wanted to write about is The Wine Haus in Seaside.  Kathy Bolam and I went in looking for a bottle or two of wine to enjoy for the rest of our stay at Cannon Beach and to take along to the Portland CART races.  We visited with Jeff Kilday, the owner, for quite awhile.  He was very knowledgeable and fun to talk with.  He knew he had a "buyer" when I asked about a couple of very expensive bottles of wine, hoping that I might find a bottle or two of some favorites.  Well, they are unavailable, but he brought out some others to talk about that should be as good.  I didn't want to spend that kind of money without tasting, so he brought out some other bottles under $20.00 a piece that I tasted.  They were all very good.  I tried 1998 Waterbrook Melange (75% Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc), 1997 Sterling Merlot, and a 1998 Greg Norman Coonwarra Cab (yes, from Australia).  They were all great, but the Greg Norman would have to sit a year or so if you were to buy it now but you probably won't be able to buy it later because people will snatch it up.  So, if you get to Seaside and you enjoy good conversation around wine and like to do a little tasting, check out Jeff's (and Karma Herd's) shop.  He sells fine wines, champagne, and has over 300 varieties of Beer.  The address is Factory Outlet Mall, 1111 N. Roosevelt, Suite 200, Seaside, OR 97138.  Toll Free 1.877.841.8132, email: winehaus@usa.net.  He hopes to have a web site up soon, to browse and order.  He will take orders and ship also.  They also serve food and Kathy and I had homemade Chicken Noodle soup with the best Beer Bread made from scratch.  Go for the food, the wine, the knowledge and the friendly atmosphere!  I forgot to mention, that he was even willing to sell me a bottle of 1995 Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepage from his own cellar, he had his wife bring it in within the hour of my asking for it.  That is service!