Many people still mispronounce Willamette. We are guilty also. It’s Willamette, Dammit! Great marketing by the Willamette Valley Vineyards. They even have a fun t-shirt. 
The Willamette Valley is the première wine growing region in Oregon. It extends from Portland south to California. Surrounded by Cascade mountains to the east and the Coastal Range to the west. Our journey started at the Portland Airport. We picked up another wine blogger we never met before at the rental car company and jumped on hwy 5 and headed south. Luckily he was pretty cool and works in the Aerospace industry, so he and Dan had something to chat about. We stopped off at two wineries, Seufert in Dayton and Lange in Dundee.
Our first stop was at Seufert Winery in Dayton. There we met with their resident Pinot Noir expert Jim Fischer. We tasted through 4 of their single vineyards. We fished off our visit with the three Pinot Noirs I am familiar with. The 09′ Vine Idyl, 09′ Johan and the 09′ Zenith vineyard.
We then made our way over to Lange Winery and Vineyards. Our GPS took us the most direct route on winding uphill dirt roads which had spectacular views, but after having Pinot Noir for breakfast the journey made me wish I was in flat Florida. All was forgotten when we arrived to this beautiful vineyard. The wines blew me away. I was quite impressed with the 09′ Estate Pinot Noir and the 09′ Freedom Hill Block Pinot Noir.
We then made our journey south to Eugene, Oregon. This was our pre-conference excursion. We were greeted by Meg and Molly with the Eugene Travel Board. Our first venture was to Heidi Tunnell’s Catering Company where she hosts Barn Dinners. What a beautiful setting and I cannot say enough about the food, it was outstanding. The best BLT I have ever had.
Our final stop was King Estate Winery. Where we enjoyed a tour of the winery and dinner. Our Host was Elizabeth Allcott, very personable and accommodating to our group of Wine Bloggers.
With full bellies and happy heads we retired to our rooms. Tomorrow is another day with fantastic wines, eccentric new friends and a landscape like no other.
Looks amazing!
Looks like a great trip, so happy you got to attend!
It was beautiful! The wines were amazing and it was wonderful to see people that share the same passion.
Nice post winehooch! Great to have met you and Dan. Such a fun trip. I always say “have glass will travel.” But I didn’t think I’d really be traveling with it like our group did to dinner
Hope to cross paths in wine country again soon. Give me a shout if you guys make it out to Santa Barbara area.
Cheers!
Thanks Shawn! We were commenting on what great people we met. Love the motto to live by “have glass will travel”. When the police drove by us, I did get a little nervous. I am sure they were thinking: oh there are the wine bloggers, jaywalking with glasses of wine in their hands. When in Willamette, dammit..
Really enjoying your blog, amazing photography. I am glad I was able to follow you around a little and get some pointers. I added you to my site with a link. Hope to see you at WBC 2013 in B.C.
Cheers!
You are so sweet thanks so very much!
Thanks for the memories!
So much fun with you guys!!
I”m SO bummed as when I packed up my Willamette Damnit tee was gone! But thankfully our good friends at the Willamette Valley Vineyards are sending me another one.
Hopefully see you at Epcot Food & Wine…we’re there 1-4 Nov! Cheers!
Had a blast! We will definitely make it to Epcot Food & Wine. Let’s chat and make a plan. Such a great time and already looking forward to WBC 2013.
[...] Wine Hooch — It’s Willamette, Dammit! Part 1 [...]
Great blog post by my friend Frank Morgan at “Drink What u Like” . Click on the above link to check out his take on the road trip through the Willamette.