Oregon Day One

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Ahhh. We awoke to the peace and quiet of the small town of Carlton, Oregon this morning. We were on the road at 8:59 yesterday morning and at our first winery by noon. The first stop was J. K. Carriere. It's one of my favorite wines and one of the first wines I picked out for Francis all by myself...with a little nudging from Jason at Pike and Western Wine Shop.

J. K. Carriere was great. Jim, the producer, was at the winery filtering a white pinot noir called "Glass." His neice showed us around the winery as they worked. We saw the underground tunnels where the barrels are stored and walked up to a loft overlooking the production floor. Their wines were delicious. We bought a bottle of Chardonnay, which you won't likely find in any Seattle wine store.

Next we stopped for a quick lunch in Newberg, and hit the ground running. We stopped at three more wineries and ended the day with 6 bottles of wine. Each winery we visited was quite different from the next. Willakenzie is a large winery perched on a big hill. Their wine has been served at multiple White House functions. The staff was very knowledgeable and we tried about 7 wines there. The grounds at Willakenzie are beautiful.

From Willakenzie we stopped at a Ken Wright tasting room to pick up the key to our winery loft. The loft is right on mainstreet in the heart of Carlton and the perfect place to end our day. It's a large studio apartment we found on vrbo.com, with a kitchen area, bar area, comfy seating area (where I'm currently sitting after enjoying breakfast from the complementary minibar) and luxurious bed. The loft is painted in warm tones and has an exposed brick wall. There are leather chairs, dark hardwood floors, a cozy faux fur throw and more silk pillows on the bed than I can count.

After dropping off our bags we set off for our next destination Maysara, but got lost along the way. Luckily in Willamette you're never far from wine. We stopped in at Scott Paul for a quick tasting. They were serving two French wines as well as two of Mr. Paul's wines. The tasting room is located in an old brick building just off Main Street Carlton next to a grain barn. After Scott Paul we gathered our bearings and headed for our last winery of the day, Maysara. Maysara typically closes at 4, but when we pulled up at 4:30 they were happy to accommodate us. Maysara is a biodynamic, "organics on steroids" winery owned by Moe and Flora Momtazi. They have three daughters that help to run the winery, one of which was gracious enough to offer us a tasting that afternoon. All the wines we tried there were delicious, and we ended up buying two bottles, a rosé and a pinot noir.

We took a cat nap and then debated where to go for dinner. We finally decided to take the opportunity to try the critically acclaimed Tina's in nearby Dundee. It's regarded as one of the best and most progressive restaurants in the Northwest. The food was as delicious as it was beautiful. I enjoyed perfectly cooked halibut with a red wine reduction and Francis cleaned his plate of duck con fit with walnut cornbread. We split a chocolate soufflé served with vanilla bean ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce and raspberry coulee for dessert. It was heavenly.

Today it's on to a couple more wineries and then Portland! You know what Portland means...Buffalo Wild Wings!

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