Portland Wine Tasting

On Friday, Oct 22nd, we packed a picnic lunch, fed the fish, sheep, chickens, cats, dog, horse, and started for Portland, Oregon. We stopped at a Stonehenge (top picture)made by Sam Hill before we visited the Maryhill Museum to look at the art there. It was very nice but wish we had more time. We drive just down the road to the Maryhill Winery. They have some of the best reds. We bought a couple of Zinfandels and ate our picnic lunch while looking out over the River Columbia. Next we checked in at the Holiday Express in Portland and went to Justin’s for dinner. He made a great Thia meal.
On Saturday, we met up with Michael and Justin for some wine tasting. First we stopped at a deli and got some food. Our first stop was Sokol Blosser Winery (45.251557, -123.050468). Usually, we like their Pinot Noir but this year: not so much. A nice limo driver told us about Vista Hills Vineyard, so off we went. Vista Hills Vineyard (45.266050, -123.070490) has great Pinots and a beautiful view(third picture). We bought a bottle and ate lunch. Next we stopped in at Wine Country Farm Cellars. They have a nice Muller Thurgau. While driving to Erath Winery, the modern architecture of Winderlea caught our eye, so we stopped. They make boutique (expensive) wines. They tasted very nice but a little too boutique for us. Our next stop was Erath. They have three flights of wine to try. Free, $10, $15. The top flight has great wine but they don’t refund your tasting fee with a purchase, which makes it easy to walk out without buying anything, but we did get a bottle of their ‘Prince Hill’ Pinot Noir.
After wine tasting, we said goodnight to Mike and meet up with Justin & Joanna for dinner at Arabian Breeze. They serve great Middle Eastern food. We really enjoy it.
Sunday, we met up with Justin & Joanna for breakfast at Paradox Café. They serve organic food which we loved. We said good bye to the kids and drive back to our casa in Cheney. What a great weekend!