Visiting Oregon's Willamette Valley: Winery Tips and Tasting How-To

Van Duzer Vineyards

WINERY TIPS AND TASTING HOW-TO

By Anne Klumpp

In my previous life, before I became a nomad, I earned a living by selling wine. Over my 25-year career, I had incredible opportunities to visit wineries in California, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa. These adventures fueled my passion for travel and primed me for rootless living.

While I left my job behind, I didn’t abandon my love for food and wine. In fact, my husband, Brian, and I explore local culture through food and beverage whenever we get a chance. This year, we thought we’d bring our travels and our passion for wine together by exploring some of our country’s best wine-producing areas, including four weeks in the northern Willamette Valley, the heart of Oregon’s wine country.

WHETHER YOU’RE VISITING OREGON’S WINE COUNTRY OR ANOTHER GROWING REGION, THESE GUIDELINES WILL HELP YOU WITH YOUR SCHEDULE:

☑ Plan 90-plus minutes for each tasting. Ninety minutes gives you time to get a seat and purchase any wines you want before leaving without rushing the tasting.

☑ Consider the travel time between wineries. If they are all in one central area of the Valley, you could probably see four wineries in a day, but why push it? We prefer a morning appointment and one or two afternoon appointments, with lunch in between.

Illahe Vineyards

☑ Investigate what wines they produce before booking the appointment. For instance, you may not want to visit a winery that only makes red wine if you prefer white wines.

☑ Think about your goals. If you want to restock your wine rack and your budget per bottle is $20, you probably don’t want to visit wineries where the least expensive option is $50. On the other hand, if you’re trying to understand why some wines cost so much, investing in the price of a tasting flight at a higher-end winery is less expensive than buying multiple bottles from them to conduct a tasting of your own.

☑ Take note—with the small size of some wineries and COVID restrictions, many wineries recommend or even require reservations.

St. Innocent Winery

FOLLOW THESE GENERAL RULES FOR GETTING THE MOST OUT OF A TASTING:

Elk Cove Vineyard

☑ Don’t wear fragrances, including perfume, aftershave, and scented hand lotion. Trust me! Everyone is there to smell what’s in the glass, not what’s on your skin.

☑ Eat something before you go. Even if you spit or only take tiny sips, your tongue absorbs some alcohol. Having something in your stomach before you begin tasting will prevent you from getting sloppy or sick.

☑ Designate a driver. There are also guides you can hire who will set up your day and escort you and your group from winery to winery. Keep in mind these guides don’t always pick you up at home, so make sure you can get yourself safely back home from the pickup/dropoff point.

☑ Wait to taste until the person pouring finishes their presentation. They may suggest how to taste or prefer you hear a portion of the story first.

☑ Ask questions. There are no stupid questions! If you have a question, someone else is probably wondering the same thing.

☑ Split the pour into more than one sip. The first taste is often a surprise. After your palate has had a chance to adjust to what it’s currently tasting, the second sip is a better time to judge the wine.

☑ Give feedback about your preferences politely— avoid words like hate, gross, bad, etc.

☑ Express gratitude. Support the business through purchases, and thank your host for their time, answering your questions, or having a good sense of humor.

Willamette Valley Vineyards

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM A WINE TASTING:

☑ The tastings we attended in Oregon ranged between $10 and $50 per flight. Many tasting rooms will comp the tasting if you purchase a bottle or sign up for their wine club.

☑ Flights generally consist of four to six wines. Depending on the questions you ask, the feedback you give your server about your preferences, and what the winery may be trying to promote, the server may pour additional wine for you.

☑ An average pour is one ounce, but some wineries are very generous. Keep in mind that there are just over 25 ounces in a bottle. Counting the number of wines you taste will help you track how much wine you are consuming.

Adelsheim Vineyard

FIVE S’S TO TASTING WINE LIKE A PROFESSIONAL:

☑ See—Notice the wine’s appearance. Is it light or deep in color? Transparent or opaque? How quickly does the wine move about the glass? Does it appear thick or thin?

☑ Swirl—I’ve always found it easiest to keep the wine on the table for this. With your fingers at the base of the glass’s stem, draw small counterclockwise circles. This action exposes the wine to air, which releases the aromas of the wine.

☑ Smell—Close your eyes, stick your nose in the glass, and imagine you’re standing in the produce section of the market. What fruits do you smell? What things other than fruit do you smell?

☑ Sip—Taste the wine, moving it around in your mouth before you swallow. Skilled wine tasters slurp in a bit of air while sipping. Like swirling the wine in the glass, this releases aromas as the wine enters your mouth.

☑ Savor—Take a moment to decide how the wine was for you. Do you like it? Unsure but want another sip? What would you enjoy eating while drinking a glass of this wine? Do you want to buy it?

Most of the wineries we visited made our list because of their reputation and our past personal experience with their wines. As it was our first time in the Willamette Valley, we explored many areas. We divided the locations into separate days, which worked out very well for us.

Argyle Winery

HERE’S HOW WE SPLIT UP OUR DAYS:

Day 1: Eola-Amity and Van Duzer Corridor (north of Salem)—Illahe Vineyards & Winery, Bethel Heights Vineyard, Van Duzer Vineyards

Day 2: Dundee Hills/Ribbon Ridge—Argyle Winery, Patricia Green Cellars, Adelsheim Vineyard

Day 3: Yamhill/Carlton—Saké One, Anne Amie Vineyards, Elk Cove Vineyards

Day 4: Eola-Amity (south of Salem)—Willamette Valley Vineyards, St Innocent Winery

Anne Amie Vineyards

The Willamette Valley offers lots of other things to do beyond wine tasting, with plenty of hiking, biking, and waterways to explore. And since it’s only about an hour to Portland or Oregon’s coast, it’s a central location for exploring beyond Oregon’s fabulous wine country. ■

About the Author

Anne Klumpp, her husband, Brian, and their dog, Skipper, have been traveling full time in their Class A motorhome since April 2019. They share their adventures, including their experiences of local culture through food and beverage, home cooking, and RV travels on Instagram @ontheroadofadventure and Facebook. Or visit their blog: ontheroadofadventure.com.