The Best Willamette Valley Wines

Wander With Wonder – Discovering Wow Moments Around the World or Across the Street

Immerse yourself in the beauty and bounty of Willamette Valley with visits to exceptional wineries to sample incredible wines. Read on for my favorite Willamette Valley wines and wineries.

I wound through the lush and vibrant Willamette Valley on a spectacular fall day. The rolling hills, covered in vineyards stretching as far as I could see, were alight in shades of yellow and red. I’ve visited this picturesque region in Oregon, renowned for its world-class wineries, at various times of the year, but fall is my favorite. The air is crisp, the skies are brilliant blue, and it’s harvest time for some of the finest wines in the Pacific Northwest.

Whether you’re a seasoned wine connoisseur or looking to go wine-tasting with friends, the Willamette Valley has something for everyone. Join me on a journey through some of the best wineries to discover this region’s best wines, where each sip tells a story of passion, craftsmanship, and terroir.

About the Willamette Valley

Oregon’s Willamette Valley has always been an agricultural area; today, it is one of the country’s premier grape-growing regions. It has the Cascade Mountains to the east, the Coast Range Mountains to the west, and lower hills to the north, allowing for a cool climate ideal for pinot noir and chardonnay grapes.

The Willamette Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) was established in 1983 and has been divided into six smaller AVAs:

Willamette Valley AVA, established in 1983, covers 3,438,000 acres from Portland to Eugene
Dundee Hills AVA, established in 2005, is home to the first grapes in the Willamette Valley
McMinnville AVA, established in 2005, covers 40,500 acres west of the town of McMinnville
Ribbon Ridge AVA, established in 2005, is within the Chehalem Mountains AVA and features ocean sedimentary soils
Yamhill-Carlton AVA, established in 2005, covers 60,000 acres is north of McMinnville around the towns of Carlton and Yamhill
Chehalem Mountain AVA, established in 2006, is southwest of Portland in the northern part of the valley, extending 20 miles long and 5 miles wide
Eola-Amity Hills AVA, established in 2006, features shallow volcanic soils and the Van Duzer Corridor, which is Oregon’s lowest coast range pass to the Pacific Ocean
Van Duzer Corridor AVA, established in 2019, features a unique opening to the Pacific, through which afternoon winds bring a cooling effect just after lunch
Laurelwood District AVA, established in 2020, is within the Chehalem Mountains AVA and includes 25 wineries and 70 vineyards
Tualatin Hills AVA, established in 2020 but home to the state’s first commercial vineyard, is a 15-mile-long AVA in the northwestern corner of the Valley
Lower Long Tom AVA, established in 2021, is between Corvallis and Eugene and home to 24 vineyards
Mount Pisgah, Polk County, Oregon AVA, established in 2022, is the Valley’s second small AVA, but is densely planted with the Van Duzer winds and Laurel Mountain as factors in the wines

Allison Inn & Spa is an Ideal Home Base

While I’ve explored all across the Willamette Valley, my favorite spot is Newberg, located about 30 miles southwest of Portland. I like to start my journey there and set up my home base at the luxurious The Allison Inn & Spa. Read my full article about staying at The Allison Inn & Spa.

Wines with Dinner at JORY

JORY is the Allison Inn’s signature restaurant and a favorite with hotel guests and locals alike. This Forbes 4-star restaurant is the perfect start to a Willamette Valley wine weekend. The menus change seasonally but always feature the native flavors of the Willamette Valley and its rich agricultural heritage. Executive Chef Jack Strong and his team prepare delicious meals, and they can customize wine pairings for your meal. 

True to its wine-country roots, JORY has an incredible wine list. Before dinner, I stopped in the lobby for the evening’s wine tasting. They pour local wines almost every evening. I sipped my wine and sat by the crackling fireplace while waiting for dinner. 

I always ask the sommelier to suggest wines when I dine, and JORY did not disappoint. We had three wines with dinner, and each one was exquisite, offering the best introduction to Willamette Valley wines. You can read about my dinner at JORY here. 

Corollary Wines 2019 Cuvée One Rosé

Corollary Wines 2019 Cuvée One Rosé, a lovely blend of pinot noir, pinot gris, and chardonnay, was the perfect start to my evening. I adore this Oregon sparkler, with aromas of fresh raspberries and a bit of the chalkiness I love in French champagnes. You’ll have fresh peaches and a bit of citrus on the palate, with a long finish.

Corollary Wines is a small and relatively new winery opened by two Champagne lovers. The wine I sampled has garnered a 95 rating from Wine Enthusiast, which is well deserved. The owners started producing sparkling wines in 2017 and recently purchased 57 acres in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA, which is dedicated to sparkling wines. I’m excited to follow Corollary Wines over the years and will head back to try those sparkling wines from the dedicated vines.

Walter Scott 2022 Chardonnay, La Combe Verte

I started my most recent visit with the comment, “I’m not a fan of chardonnay.” After a few days of tasting Oregon chardonnay, I decided to rethink that comment. I thoroughly enjoyed the chardonnay wines I sampled across the Willamette Valley, and the Walter Scott 2022 Chardonnay, La Combe Verte, was a great start.

Walter Scott Wines began in 2008 with husband and wife team Erica Landon and Ken Pahlow. Over the years, Sue and Andy Steinman and Jess Pierce joined the Walter Scott team. The winery is located on Justice Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA.

This is a fun wine. The fruit comes from five vineyards: Freedom Hill, Hyland, Koosah, Sojeau, and Witness Tree. The chardonnay grapes are blended with 2% Aligoté, a Burgundian white grape that brings the wine a crisp, bright flavor. They age it for ten months in 25% new French oak and then finish with one month in stainless steel, giving it the brightness I grew to appreciate in Oregon chardonnay. It has peach and nuts aromas and is light-bodied with a smooth acidity level. It paired beautifully with our fresh salads and would go well with fruit and dessert.

Big Table Farm 2022 Laughing Pig Rosé of Pinot Noir

I adore a nice, dry rosé—especially an unfiltered rosé—and enjoyed this wine. Big Table Farm only created 620 cases of Big Table Farm 2022 Laughing Pig Rosé of Pinot Noir, but 2023 has just been released and is worth trying if you can’t get 2022.

Big Table Farm is owned by winemaker Brian Marcy and his partner, Clare Carver. The 70-acre farm produces some beautiful pinot noir and chardonnay fruit. The vineyards are in Gaston, but you can stop by the tasting room in downtown Carlton to sample wines.

The 2022 Rosé of Pinot Noir uses equal amounts of fruit and direct-press fruit, which are allowed to soak for several days. After pressing, the wine goes into neutral barrels, where it ferments to dryness and is bottled unfiltered.

Its sweet aroma reminds me of watermelon Jolly Ranchers, but the flavor is much more than candy. The flavor profile is fruit-forward with a nice hit of acidity. There are lovely spices, a hit of pepper that balances the luscious ripe strawberries. It is super balanced, has a smooth mouthfeel, and paired beautifully with my pork.

A Day of Wine Tasting Around Newburg

I recommend hiring a driver to take you around the area for wine tasting. The Willamette Valley is filled with hundreds of wineries. The Willamette Valley Visitors Association puts the number at more than 700, while Wine History Tours sites the 2023 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Report, putting the number at 919 wineries. Either way, that’s a lot of wine! You can’t begin to see everything in a single trip. If you reach out to Black Tie Tours, owner Stefan Czarnecki can help guide you to the best tasting rooms. He’ll also navigate the back-country roads you’ll traverse to discover the best wines in the Willamette Valley.

Czarnecki met us at The Allison Inn, and we headed out for our first tasting. He explained the surrounding area and chatted about his favorite eating spots. And Czarnecki knows the area. His father, Jack Czarnecki, founded The Joel Palmer House in Dayton, while his brother, Chris, serves as the restaurant’s executive chef.

Sequitur Wines

Our first stop on our day of tasting was Sequitur. This is one of my all-time favorite tasting rooms. Sequitur has a story that shows the owners’ devotion to the land. Michael Etzel, owner of nearby Beaux Freres, and Carey Critchlow. In 2010, they purchased a 60-acre Douglas fir tree farm and a former dairy farm from a local farmer and school teacher. They had to convince him they would take care of the land and continue to take that responsibility seriously. The Douglas fir forest borders three sides of the property. They have lovingly remodeled the original buildings into the winery, where they now make the wine in the beautifully repurposed barns.

The team at Beaux Freres farms the land while Etzel and his son are winemakers. They produce pinot noir and chardonnay. They usually do a small amount of pinot noir in an Italian clay amphora and craft a fantastic white pinot noir.

The tasting room blends Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics but fits perfectly into the Oregon farm setting. I was so comfortable sitting in the window seat, sipping wine, and feeling the heat of the nearby woodstove. It was perfect on a cool October day, and I look forward to returning with friends to enjoy another tasting at Sequitur. We tasted five wines at Sequitur, and I enjoyed each, although the White Pinot Noir was my favorite.

Sequitur 2016 Ribbon Ridge Chardonnay

The Sequitur 2016 Ribbon Ridge Chardonnay sold me on Oregon chardonnays. They blended this with wine made in new French oak and the amphora. It was 27% wine fermented in new French oak and 73% in the amphora.

The nose was fall in a glass, blending the freshness of apples with a bit of spice and honey. It is a medium-bodied wine that tastes of apple pie, with baking spices, fruit, and nuts. It has a lovely acidity and a long finish, so you can savor the juiciness for a bit.

Pinot Noir Vertical Wine Tasting

I love vertical tastings—sampling wines from the same vineyards and varietals but from different years. It’s always amazing how the weather can impact wine, and you can taste it in the final product. We sampled the 2017, 2019, and 2021 Sequitur Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noirs for this tasting. Each was subtly different, and yes, I did have a favorite.

2017 was what many Oregonian winemakers call a perfect growing season. There were plentiful harvests. The fruit ripened slowly, and the weather held out for just the right picking conditions. You could taste that in the 2017 Sequitur Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir. The medium-ruby wine had a smoky aroma that brought fresh blackberries to mind. The medium-bodied wine starts with the taste of juicy, ripe blackberries but has a nice minerality and a touch of citrus with a long finish. This one was my favorite, and I think it would be even better if it were left to decant for an hour or so.

The 2019 Sequitur Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir is a full-bodied, beautiful ruby pinot noir with dark cherry and tobacco aromas. It is smooth on the palate, with a lovely earthiness, a bit of cinnamon spice, and maybe a hint of toasted orange. It doesn’t punch you with flavor but invites you to savor it.

The 2021 Sequitur Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir has a more earthy aroma and taste than the 2017 or 2019. It’s a medium-bodied wine with balanced tannins and an excellent acidity level. This one has red fruit on the palate—juicy raspberries with a touch of plum. There is a bit of baking spice on the long finish. This complex wine might be the biggest hit in a year or two.

2020 Ribbon Ridge White Pinot Noir

The 2020 Sequitur Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir was one of my favorite sips of the trip. I would have bought some, but the tasting room was sold out, and we tasted the last bottle. This wine came about because of the massive 2020 fires in Oregon, and the attempt to salvage the precious fruit turned into a big hit with consumers. The aromas offer a bit of smoke and wet stone, along with white pepper, but it’s not overpowering. You get a lovely apricot, white pepper, and a touch of spice on the palate. It is truly a pleasure to drink.

REX HILL

Our next stop was REX HILL, where we headed for The Somm’s Table, an exclusive food and wine experience guided by Hospitality Manager and Sommelier Mark Smith and featuring incredible dishes by Head Chef Billy Brownlee. Read more about the fabulous food we sampled in this article about the foods of the Willamette Valley.

REX HILL is another beautiful tasting room. REX HILL impresses with walls of glass and expansive views of the vineyard-covered hillsides.

REX HILL has been a part of Oregon winemaking for over 40 years. It was founded in 1981 by Jan Jacobsen and Paul Hart. In 2007, the founders sold to A to Z Wineworks, which allowed them to focus on REX HILL as a luxury boutique brand creating unique wines that require extra attention. It produces fewer than 10,000 cases of pinot noir and chardonnay each year.

The REX HILL Estate Vineyard comprises 38 acres, of which 17 are planted in pinot noir. The fruit is farmed with organic and Biodynamic principles, and the company became a certified B Corporation in 2014. The Jacob-Hart Vineyard, on land that was once a turkey farm, is on the warm southeast-facing slope of Chehalem Ridge. It features rocky soil that is rare in the Willamette Valley.

REX HILL Grande Cuvée Sparkling 2017

I love sparkling wines. I’ve frequently said that there is never a bad time for bubbles. So, I was thrilled to walk into REX HILL’s tasting room and start with the REX HILL Grande Cuvée Sparkling 2017. It is 80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay, two of the grapes used in Champagne. REX HILL uses the traditional Champenoise style, and it’s a delightful sparkling wine.

I immediately smelled the toasted bread I love in sparkling wine. I also smelled green apples and honeysuckle. This is a delicate sparkling wine on the palate, with flavors of brioche and those crisp apples or perhaps pears. It was a delight to drink this.

REX HILL Blanc de Blanc Sparkling 2017

I was thrilled that we then sampled another sparkling wine. The REX HILL Blanc de Blancs Sparkling 2017 is 100% chardonnay sparkling and made in the traditional Champenoise style. This is a much lighter sparkling wine with notes of lemon and honey.

REX HILL Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2021

Next up was the medium-bodied REX HILL Dundee Hills Pinot Noir 2021. This was a nice introduction to the REX HILL pinot noirs. The aroma made me think of Oregon with raspberries, blueberries, and a touch of sage. The wine touches the palate with plums and a touch of spice. It has lovely tannins with medium acidity.

REX HILL Sunny Mountain Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019

We moved on to the REX HILL Sunny Mountain Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019, a medium-bodied pinot noir with chocolate earthiness and ripe blackberries on the nose. On the palate, black cherry with a touch of spice was present. It is a smooth, moderately acidic pinot noir.

REX HILL Jacob-Hart Estate Pinot Noir 2019We ended our tasting with my favorite pinot noir at REX HILL. The REX HILL Jacob-Hart Estate Pinot Noir 2019 was big and bold, with a delicious aroma and taste of fresh blackberries and a touch of cinnamon. It has a deep garnet color and a long finish. I could enjoy this lovely balanced wine with food or sitting in front of the fire while reading a good book.

The Painted Lady

On my last night in Newberg, I dined at the Forbes 4-Star The Painted Lady in downtown. You can read about my meal in my article about the best Willamette Valley food. That evening, we sampled two incredible Oregon wines.

Gran Moraine 2014 Yamhill-Carlton Brut Rosé

We started the evening with the Gran Moraine 2014 Yamhill-Carlton Brut Rosé. Another great Oregon sparkling wine, this is a lovely blend of the three Champagne grapes—pinot noir, chardonnay, and pinot meunier. This was a lovely, balanced sparkling wine with an almost floral nose. On the palate, it was bright with a touch of citrus. You can visit the beautiful tasting room in Yamhill, Oregon.

Patricia Green Cellars 2019 Estate Pinot Noir

Our second wine was the Patricia Green Cellars 2019 Estate Pinot Noir. Patty Green and Jim Anderson started Patricia Green Cellars in 2000 in what is now Ribbon Ridge AVA. Patricia Green Cellars works to create wines that distinctly showcase Oregon pinot noir, using fruit created using organic or high-level sustainable farming. Patty Green passed away in 2017, but Anderson and his team continue to honor Patty Green’s vision of being “a great company that produces great wine.”

This beautiful medium-bodied ruby-red pinot was created from old vine fruit Green and Anderson planted in the early years of the winery. It offers aromas of juicy, ripe blackberries, baking spices, and a touch of smokiness. On the palate, it has a lovely, smooth mouthful with fruit flavors on the front and a lovely spiciness on the back of the mouth.

CHO Wines

One of my favorite experiences was tasting the sparkling wines of CHO Wines. I was there before CHO Wines opened their beautiful new tasting room, so we met at Nerburgundian Bistro for brunch and wine tasting. I was so impressed with these young winemakers. I’ve seen the tasting room before it was complete, so I’m determined to return and see it now that it’s open. The tasting room is in the Chehalem Mountains overlooking the Wapato Lake Wildlife Refuge, and it is most definitely a work of passion.

CHO Wines is the first Korean-American-owned winery in Oregon. The husband-and-wife team of Lois and Dave Cho were named Future 40 Tastemakers in 2023 by Wine Enthusiast, and I look forward to following their careers. Dave Cho is the winemaker and the couple moved from California to Oregon to pursue a wine career. After completing a degree in Enology & Viticulture from Oregon State University, he worked for some of the best wineries in the region, including Argyle Winery and Stoller Family Estate.

The Chos began making wine in 2000 and purchased 77 acres in the Willamette Valley, where they are creating a sustainable vineyard. We tasted two wines and a cider.

2018 CHO Blanc de Noirs Laurel Vineyard

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2018 CHO Blanc de Noirs Laurel Vineyard. The pinot noir grapes for this sparkling wine come from Laurel Vineyard, which sits 1,000 feet above sea level in volcanic soils on Bald Peak. This bright, sparkling wine is created in the traditional Champenoise style I love. It has strawberry aromas with a touch of citrus on the palate. It has lovely tiny bubbles and spends 48 months on lees. It is a zero-dosage sparkling wine, meaning it is bone dry. I enjoyed this one a lot.

2022 CHO Pétillant-Naturel Cancilla Vineyard

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2022 CHO Pétillant-Naturel Cancilla Vineyard. I love a good pet-nat, which undergoes fermentation in the bottle in the méthode ancestrale, a method older than the Champenoise style. This one is 100% pinot noir from the Cancilla Vineyard, which sits about 600 feet above sea level in the Tualatin Hills AVA.

Cho presses the whole clusters, then the wine ferments in stainless steel. It is a bright, lightly effervescent wine that smells and tastes of fresh watermelon and strawberries. The considerable acidity adds a touch of citrus to the finish.

Concidre Apple Grape Coferment

CHO created this con cidre (with cider) to use the best Oregon products. The Concidre Apple Grape Coferment uses heritage cider apples—Beeveston, Browns, Frequin Rouge, Kermerrien, Kingston Black, Santiam Cherry, and Sweet Coppin—and coferments the apple juice with the juice, skins, stems, and seeds left over from the lightly pressed premium pinot noir and chardonnay grapes used for the Cancilla Pet Nat sparkling wine.

At 8.5% ABV, this is easy to drink and a lot of fun. It is crisp, clear, and fun to drink. This is great for a summer barbecue.

Résonance Wines

Résonance Wines sits about 15 miles west of Newberg in the Yamhil-Carlton AVA. It is a beautiful 32-acre property with 20 acres of pinot noir grapes. Even though the winery was only established in 2013, this storied winemaker has a history of making great wines. Résonance is the first winery outside of France for renowned winery Maison Louis Jadot. In Burgundy, Maison Louis Jadot planted its first grapes in 1826, and the winery was founded in 1859.

In April 2013, Thibault Gagey, whose family has operated Maison Louis Jadot since 1962, and Jacques Lardière, who had retired as winemaker at Maison Louis Jadot for 42 years, fell in love with the Willamette Valley. They purchased a well-established Oregon vineyard named Resonance and added the accent mark to name their new winery Résonance.

Today, Gagey is the Director of Operations. Lardière came out of retirement for the founding and continues to consult with today’s winemaker, Guillaume Large, a native Burgundian who grew up on his family’s vineyard in the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation. The estate vineyards are organically dry-farmed, which makes the terroir even more prominent in the wines.

The Résonance Wines Tasting Room

My husband and I drove up to the Résonance Estate in Carlton during harvest. It was an exquisite day, and we toured the winemaking facilities with winemaker Guillaume Large.

After that, we explored the fields as the teams were harvesting the last fruit from the Résonance Vineyards.

After the grounds tour, we returned to the Grand Tasting Room, situated dramatically on a hilltop overlooking the Valley. It is a gorgeous tasting room under old-grown Oregon oak trees. There is a massive patio for good weather and a comfortable tasting room that requires reservations. We settled in with a lovely charcuterie board to begin tasting the wines.

2020 Résonance Les Coteaux Estate Chardonnay

We started with the 2020 Résonance Les Coteaux Estate Chardonnay, a blend made with grapes from the hillsides of the two estate vineyards: Résonance Vineyard and Découverte Vineyard, thus the name of Les Coteaux, meaning the hills in French. This is a complex wine that closely mirrors Old World chardonnay. The aromas of fresh melon with citrus are the first thing you notice. The wine is aged 14 months in French oak barrels, of which 25% is new, followed by aging in a concrete egg. I could taste the difference the concrete egg made because this wasn’t an over-oaked chardonnay. The lovely fruit was foremost on the palate, with a nice citrus finish.

2022 Résonance Rosé of Pinot Noir

The 2022 Résonance Rosé of Pinot Noir was a delightful Old World-style rosé. It’s a beautiful pale color and a strikingly complex flavor profile for a rosé. The nose was a bit floral, with strawberry and watermelon. It was well balanced on the palate, with fresh red berries and a hint of citrus for lovely acidity.

2019 Résonance Les Coteaux Pinot Noir

I was excited to move on to the pinot noir options from Résonance, and I was not disappointed. Our first tasting was the 2019 Résonance Les Coteaux Pinot Noir. Again, Les Coteaux refers to the hills from the estate properties in the Yamhill-Carlton and Dundee Hills AVAs. The fruit for this one came from the Découverte Vineyard and Jolis Monts Vineyard, which sits next to Résonance.

As other winemakers told us, the 2019 vintage was challenging. The year was wet, and after a warm March, April grew cold, with frost at the end of the month. That led to warmer-than-average May and June temperatures, a cooler and humid summer, and heavy July rains. Despite the challenges for the winemaker, Large succeeded in creating a lovely wine.

It is a lovely ruby color with aromas of cherry blossoms blended with a touch of orange and licorice. It is a well-balanced wine with a medium level of acidity. You get a delightful brightness on the palate and a long finish that isn’t always possible with a pinot noir.

2018 Résonance Découverte Vineyard Pinot Noir

The word Découverte means discovery in French; I think that’s the perfect name for this vineyard. Découverte Vineyard, in the Dundee Hills AVA, is the second estate vineyard owned by Résonance. The 2018 harvest ran for two weeks, from mid-September to early October, and the grapes had a complex profile because of a perfect growing season with plenty of sun and little rain. The 2018 Résonance Découverte Vineyard Pinot Noir reflected the best of the vineyard and the season.

The wine ages 17 months in French oak barrels, 30% of which are new oak. The nose is a delight with juicy, ripe plums, wild cherry, and almonds with a touch of vanilla. The palate highlights the complexity of this wine, offering deep red fruits with a subtle earthiness and a long finish.

2021 Résonance Vineyard Pinot Noir

The 2021 Résonance Vineyard Pinot Noir was my favorite wine of the tasting. It is an estate-grown pinot noir from the Résonance Vineyard. These south-facing 20 acres create exquisite wines that showcase the terroir better than most of the Willamette Valley wines I have tasted. Thanks to a warm, dry summer, the 2021 pinot noir grapes were ready for an early harvest, and everything was complete by the third week of September.

The aromas are captivating. Its freshness almost made me feel as if I could smell the air surrounding us on that mountainside. I savored the aromas of ripe blackberries, which had me salivating before I took a drink. I could imagine drinking this with a lovely elk or venison steak. It doesn’t disappoint on the palate. It is a complex wine with smooth tannins and a lively acidity. Those blackberries on the nose became a luscious blackberry jam on the palate, with a nice long finish.

I brought a bottle of this home and wanted to keep it for a while. However, opening it for a special dinner with friends seemed appropriate. It paired beautifully with steaks and a dark chocolate dessert. I’ll have to make a return trip to purchase another bottle.

Sokol Blosser

I discovered Sokol Blosser almost 20 years ago when I first went wine tasting with my sister in the Willamette Valley. The winery began in 1972 when Susan Sokol and Bill Blosser planted grapes in what is now the Dundee Hills AVA. Today, brother and sister duo Alex and Alison Sokol Blosser run the winery and carry on their parents’ legacy of producing stunning wines.

Sokol Blosser 2022 Rosé of Pinot Noir

The Sokol Blosser 2022 Rosé of Pinot Noir is another product of a wet spring—a rare late frost in mid-April followed by Oregon’s wettest May and June in recorded history—then a hot, dry July and August. After destemming and a gentle press, the juice received four to six hours of skin contact. Two weeks in stainless tanks followed, allowing the fruit to shine.

This is a delicate wine with a lovely light pink color. The nose is a beautiful strawberry and rose, which carries over to the fresh berries on the palate, balanced by touches of tropical fruits. It is a lovely wine to sip with goat cheese or a salad.

Sokol Blosser 2021 Kalita Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir

Kalita Estate Vineyard is in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Arthur and Sherry Kalita planted the vineyard in 2000. Sokol Blosser purchased the vineyard in 2021 and is gradually transitioning it to organic certification. Sokol Blosser 2021 Kalita Vineyard Estate Pinot Noir was the first wine Sokol Blosser produced from Kalita Vineyard, and I was quite impressed. Unlike most of Sokol Blosser’s pinot noirs, this one was darker, richer, and more full-bodied.

While the folks in Oregon sweltered under the “Heat Dome” of 2021, which brought the dryest spring and the hottest summer, including three days of triple-digit temperatures, Sokol Blosser’s grapes thrived. The winemaker says the growth over those three days was incredible. The dry weather continued into September, allowing the fruit to mature fully. It was hand-harvested at the end of September.

About 85% of the fruit was destemmed, while the remaining fruit was left in whole clusters for the initial fermentation. It spent 12 days in 3-ton stainless steel tanks. After that, it aged for 10 months in French oak barrels.

While this one has some blackberries on the nose, I also got black cherry, winter spices, and a touch of coffee. That followed through to the palate, where I tasted black cherry and a lovely earthiness that gave this wine a depth that will continue to improve over the next decade.

Wine Tasting Near Corvallis

Another place where I enjoy spending time—mostly because I have family there—is Corvallis, home to Oregon  State University. There are numerous excellent restaurants in town serving up Oregon wines. If you want a great spot to sample wines and take home a few bottles while in town, I recommend stopping by Corazón Wine Bar and Kitchen. The tapas selection pairs nicely with a variety of wines from around the state and across the globe. You can order wine and tapas Tuesday through Friday from 3 to 10 PM, Saturdays from noon to 10 PM, and Sundays from 2 to 7 PM. Dinner service is Wednesday through Saturday from 5 to 9:30 PM.

I have explored several of the wineries closer to Corvallis, and each of them is quite unique. They are unpretentious, and you’ll likely have the winemaker pouring wine or wandering through the tasting room. Below are three wineries in the area, each a little different from the other.

Lumos Wine Company

Lumos Wine Company is in Wren, just a few minutes west of Corvallis. The tasting room is a lovely big room that makes you feel as if you’re hanging out in the barn—albeit a lovely barn—sipping wine with friends and gazing out at the valley.

Dai Crisp and his wife, PK McCoy, started Lumos in 2000 on a historic family farm. The barn that houses the tasting room was part of the H bar H Dude Ranch, popular in the 1940s. One of the original guest cabins remains on the property, which guests can rent for a rustic overnight stay. We enjoyed sitting out on the back deck since it was a gorgeous early fall day.

All of the grapes in Lumos wines are from USDA/Oregon Certified Organic vineyards and created using a natural approach with minimal manipulation of the fruit. Lumos now uses fruit from three vineyards:

Temperance Hill Vineyard is 100 acres in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA. It is a second-generation vineyard at 660 to 860 feet above sea level. Lumos grows pinot noir, chardonnay, gewürztraminer, and pinot gris in Temperance Hill Vineyard.
Logsdon Ridge Vineyard is a small, 10-acre vineyard just north of Corvallis planted entirely in pinot gris.
Wren Vineyard is the home site, planted in 1985 by Dai and his parents. There are 15 acres planted in Pommard pinot noir, pinot gris, and Dijon clone chardonnay.

2022 Lumos Aligoté

I started my tasting with the 2022 Lumos Aligoté, a white Burgundian variety that predates chardonnay grapes by a couple of centuries. This one is unique for Oregon wines, with lemon and thyme on the nose but with a bit of the wet rock you often find in this area. It is fun on the palate with fresh peaches and a punch of lemon. It has a high acidity and a short finish.

2019 North Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot North

The 2019 North Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot North comes from the northern parcel of Temperance Hill, at about 850 feet above sea level. On the nose, it brought me visions of an old English library—leather and tobacco—with a touch of strawberry. I had juicy strawberries and delectable plums on the palate but with a nice herbaceousness and good tannins.

2018 Eola-Amity Hills Double Barrel Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir

Sampling the 2018 Eola-Amity Hills Double Barrel Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir and the North Temperance Hill Pinot Noir back-to-back was a great way to experience the diversity of the Willamette Valley. This wine evokes the Pacific Northwest forests with aromas of pine and fir trees. It tastes like beautiful, ripe berries on a late summer day. It has a much higher acidity than the North Temperance Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir and is full-bodied so that you can savor it with hearty dishes.

Cardwell Hill Cellars

Cardwell Hill Cellars is just down the road from Lumos, so it makes sense to spend time at both on the same outing. Dan and Nancy Chapel purchased the land in 2000, thrilled that it had a north/south exposure and views of Mary’s Peak. All Cardwell Hill Cellars’ grapes are organically farmed and certified sustainable by Salmon Safe and LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology). They are also certified by Bee Friendly Farming and the International Organization for Biological Control (IOBC).

They produced the first pinot noir in 2003 and opened the tasting room in 2004. We enjoyed a lovely fall day on the patio, with ripe pinot noir grapes dangling from the overhead arbor. After ordering our wines to taste, the owner’s son invited us to pick the grapes overhead to sample. Those were the sweetest pinot noir grapes I have ever tasted, and we took a couple of bunches home with us.

Cardwell Hill Cellars 2022 Estate Rosé from Pinot Noir

We started the tasting with the Cardwell Hill Cellars 2022 Estate Rosé from Pinot Noir. The fruit is 80% Pommard and 20% Dijon 777 pinot noir. Cardwell Hill does a whole-cluster press immediately after picking. Then, the juice settles for a few days. After that, it ferments in stainless steel, followed by a cold stabilization, giving it a dryness and a lovely pink color.

It is a balanced rosé with notes of cherry and citrus, which give it a lively acid level and a bit of tartness. It is fruit-forward and medium-bodied, making it ideal to pair with poultry. This is not a long-lasting wine, so it’s best to drink it immediately.

Cardwell Hill Cellars 2022 Estate Pinot Noir

Next up, I tried the Cardwell Hill Cellars 2022 Estate Pinot Noir. The vineyards are in a cooler part of the Valley, so the wines naturally have higher acidity levels. This one was made from Wadenswil Pommard, Dijon 115, and Dijon 777 pinot noir clones.

It offers a fruit-forward cherry flavor with touches of raspberry that keep it light and bright. The acidity makes this a longer-lasting wine. Pair it with pasta and salmon.

Cardwell Hill Cellars 2021 Reserve Pinot Noir

I finished my tasting with the Cardwell Hill Cellars 2021 Reserve Pinot Noir. The grapes were processed through gravity flow just after harvesting. After destemming, the juice was cold-soaked for 48 hours and then inoculated with yeast for fermentation. Fermentation occurs at cooler temperatures, never above 82°. Then, the wines were gravity-fed to the barrel room. The Reserve is then made up of 30 barrels selected for their exceptional flavors, then aged 16 months in new and used French Oak barrels.

This was a delightful wine; I opted for a full glass after tasting it. It is a balanced wine with a lovely garnet color. Ripe raspberries and blueberries were on the nose, with a touch of fall spices. The mouthfeel is soft with black cherry and blackberries. It has smooth tannins and a medium—to long finish.

Bluebird Hill Farm & Cellars

For something completely different, we drove south of Corvallis, to the far end of the Willamette Valley, to visit Bluebird Hill Farm & Cellars. Neil and Sue Shay bought the land in the Village of Alpine, west of Monroe, in 2010. They were met by a family of bluebirds, a symbol of happiness, as they unloaded the moving van and named their property Bluebird Hill. It took a few years to clear the overgrown Christmas tree farm and plant grapevines, but the first few vines went into the ground in 2013.

Bluebird Hill is in a beautiful location. The expansive grounds and lovely wrap-around porch are ideal spots for wine tasting.

The winery is known for its small-lot, handcrafted wines. Between 12 and 13 wines are available at any given time. You can taste four, six, nine, or all of the wines. We tasted all of the wines—pinot gris, chardonnay, rosé of pinot noir, pinot noir, red wine blend, syrah, and a dessert wine that is cherry wine and pinot noir created in a Port style.

2021 Zenith Vineyard Reserve Pinot Noir

The Bluebird Hill Cellars 2021 Zenith Vineyard Reserve Pinot Noir was aged 27 months in 20% new French oak, and only one barrel was made of this one. It’s still a young wine with light strawberry aromas and flavors. The palate also offers a light touch of black pepper and cloves.

2021 Barrel Select Reserve Pinot Noir

The Bluebird Hill Cellars 2021 Barrel Select Reserve Pinot Noir was my favorite of the tasting. This one has more depth than the Zenith Vineyard Reserve, with lovely blueberries on the nose and a touch of fall spices. The ripe blueberries were accented on the palate, along with chocolate and spices. It is a medium-bodied wine that is nicely balanced.

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When You Visit Oregon’s Willamette Valley

In conclusion, the Willamette Valley is a treasure trove for travelers, foodies, and wine lovers alike, offering an experience transcending mere tasting. Whether savoring a glass of exquisite pinot noir or enjoying a delectable meal at a local eatery, each moment spent here weaves a narrative rich in passion and craftsmanship. So, gather your friends, embark on this delightful journey, and let the valley’s wines tell you their stories. For more insights into Oregon wines, check out Wander With Wonder. Your next adventure awaits!

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