I need to talk about the Willamette Valley…
Joy and I have had the pleasure of visiting Napa and Sonoma many times over our decades of enjoying wine and traveling to better understand the nature of the terroir and the quality of the people producing those wines. Our first visits to Napa/Sonoma were easy affairs. You generally planned to arrive in Napa Valley on a Sunday evening, and you arranged to leave the region by Friday afternoon. The ‘valleys’ were crowded on the weekends with many San Franciscans traversing Route 29, the Silverado Trail, and Sonoma’s Healdsburg while on day trips tasting wines.

During the week the Valley(s) were much quieter. You could find Jack Cakebread offering his extraordinary Chardonnay in a modest Rutherford tasting room and you could talk music and wine with Bruce Cohn while tasting his Olive Hill Estate Cabernet in another modest Sonoma space fronted by a gravel driveway lined with exquisite olive trees.

Things have changed in Napa and Sonoma. Wine tourism has become a big business, and the struggle between development and sustainability is reaching a critical juncture. These are concerns for discussion another day. Napa/Sonoma generate nearly $60 billion yearly to the California economy (by way of comparison, Disneyland generates $5.7 billion). The economic issues are important to understanding the future of the region.
Things are different in the Willamette Valley. Although within a half hour of Portland, the Willamette Valley has not been discovered by, or yet infected by, the wine tourism of Northern California. However, there is evidence that changes are coming. The town of Dundee is routing trucks around the quaint downtown. Wineries are opening tasting rooms along the former truck route, and there are plans for new hotels/motels. However, the Willamette Valley is not yet a battleground between restaurants and wineries for your attention and dollars.

The Willamette vistas are stunning, and wineries are dispersed across the valley with working farms as neighbors and buffers. Winemakers talk glowingly of their neighbor’s wines and encourage you to visit them.

Virtually every wine is Pinot Noir (with a few Chards and other whites for variety). The tasting room conversation focuses on terroir and farming technique. The experience is reminiscent of an older and a more user-friendly Napa and Sonoma. There are both wine ‘corporations’ and farmer-winemakers peacefully coexisting.

It is inevitable that the region will be discovered. The craft brewers of Portland are, as noted, just a half hour north, and Seattle (with their own set of brewers and vintners) just three hours north of Portland. Between Portland and Seattle there is plenty of non-wine options (in Seattle, the Art Museum, Pike’s Market, and Pioneer Square, and the Japanese Garden in Portland are worth your time).

However, this is not a travel blog, this is a wine and spirit’s blog. Wine discussion will follow shortly.