A Day on the Willamette Wine Loop–Stop Two: Tumwater Vineyard
Last weekend, I visited Lake Oswego, Oregon and the surrounding area on a media trip organized by Mt. Hood Territory. In the blog posts today and to come, I will be featuring some of the places on my itinerary that was specifically tailored to me and readers of this blog. I hope you enjoy my several mini-blogs from Mt. Hood Territory, Oregon.
On the Sunday afternoon of my trip to Mt. Hood Territory, I went wine tasting and visited three wineries in the Willamette Wine Loop. My second stop of the day was Tumwater Vineyard, which in the beginning, was not supposed to be a winery at all.
During my tasting flight I was introduced to the owner of Tumwater, Gordon Root (aka the accidental vintner). He told me that he and business partner Rick Waible had initially intended to develop the land that the winery sits on into a subdivision of about 40 homes. However, after plans were submitted and zoning changes took effect, he was only permitted to build five houses, and would have to think of a way to use the rest of the property. Gordon and Rick then decided to fix their dilemma by removing the trees, blackberries, poison oak and other vegetation on the remaining 45 acres. So in 2015, three acres of Chardonnay and fourteen acres Pinot Noir were planted on the land. An additional five acres of Pinot were planted in spring of 2018, bringing the total to 23 acres.
The houses they did manage to build (in which one of them Gordon resides) were selected for a showcase called Street of Dreams in 2016, and the structure that would become the Tumwater Vineyard tasting room served as the showroom. One of the homes is a massive 7,500 square feet and a price tag of $3.8 million. It features enormous 14-foot doors that open directly out to a view of the vineyard and Mount Hood.
$3.8 million out of your budget? No problem! You can still come by the Tumwater Vineyard tasting room and take in the beauty of the landscape for the mere cost of a tasting flight ($15 for four different wines, but complimentary with purchase of two bottles).
The lineup I tasted was the 2018 Rosé of Pinot Noir, the 2016 Yamhill-Carlton Pinot Noir, the 2016 Arborbrook Pinot Noir, and the 2016 Prince Hill Pinot Noir. Below is a menu of the wines they have available for sale by the bottle and the glass, as well as a description of the wines in the flight. If you can’t make it into the tasting room, you can buy their wines directly from their website here.
Tumwater Vineyard is located at 375 SW Barrel House Way, West Linn, Oregon. Currently, the tasting room is only open to the public on Sundays, Noon to 5:30pm.
You can like them on Facebook here, follow them on Twitter here, and follow them on Instagram here!
Disclaimer: Thank you to Mt. Hood Territory for arranging my trip to Oregon and this stop on my itinerary, as well as paying for my tasting fee at Tumwater Vineyard.
A Day on the Willamette Wine Loop–Stop One: Campbell Lane Winery
Last weekend, I visited Lake Oswego, Oregon and the surrounding area on a media trip organized by Mt. Hood Territory. In the blog posts today and to come, I will be featuring some of the places on my itinerary that was specifically tailored to me and readers of this blog. I hope you enjoy my several mini-blogs from Mt. Hood Territory, Oregon.
On the Sunday afternoon of my trip to Mt. Hood Territory, I went wine tasting and visited three wineries in the Willamette Wine Loop. My first stop of the day was Campbell Lane Winery. Campbell Lane Winery’s story begins in 1966, when third generation Oregonian Leigh Campbell, M.D. and wife Ceille bought land at the end of a country road on Pete’s Mountain (which is positioned above the Willamette River and looks out to Mt. Hood), and named their property “Campbell Lane”. They then hand cleared fruit orchards on the land and planted the largest Pinot Gris vineyard (2.65 acres) in the United States (at the time).
The Campbells expanded the original Stoneridge Vineyard over the next 50 years and experimented with many different grape varietals. The property’s climate, elevation (700-feet), and the soil–called Jory, (a series of deep well-drained soils that formed in colluvium derived from basic igneous rock, and recently officially recognized as Oregon’s state soil on May 23, 2011)–makes the grapes grown there some of the highest quality in Oregon.
In 2014, the first Campbell Lane Winery grapes were harvested and bottled to share with the public, and their current wine list is succinct with just three types: Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Rosé of Pinot Noir. The wines feature the Clan Campbell Coat of Arms (a symbol of courage and hospitality) in the logo on their labels. Campbell Lane has also just grafted 1.75 acres of Pinot Gris vines to Chardonnay, and they plan to release an estate grown Chardonnay in Spring 2021.
For my tasting experience that day, I tried the 2018 Rose of Pinot Noir, the 2015 Pinot Gris, the 2016 Pinot Gris, the 2016 Pinot Noir, and the 2017 Pinot Noir, shown below. Since the tasting room was incredibly busy that day, I moved to a table in the tasting room so I could take my time examining the wines and not be in the way of other customers.
I was not really expecting to enjoy the wines I tried as much as I did. I admit I am kind of a California wine purist and a superfan of Sonoma Pinot Noirs. Sorry! Anyway, I tried to keep an open mind going into the tasting rooms on Sunday, and I am glad I did. From wine number one (the Rosé of Pinot Noir) I was impressed.
I went on to the 2015 and 2016 Pinot Gris, and noted they have a wonderful petroleum quality that I really enjoy. I might be buying some wine after all! By the time I tasted the 2016 and 2017 Pinot Noirs, I was sold. I won’t go into describing them too much, because wine is a very personal thing and who wants to read a bunch of meaningless descriptors anyway? I just know that I liked everything I tried, and I recommend them to you. I came home with the 2016 Pinot Gris and the 2017 Pinot Noir! I can’t wait to open them at home and share them with my husband Andy. 🙂
Before I left, I walked around the grounds of the winery (which are extremely beautiful) and took a few photos to share with you. I noticed people buying wine by the glass and the bottle and enjoying the afternoon with their families and a picnic of both food they bought in the tasting room and food they brought to the winery themselves. I’d really love to go back with a group of people and do the same thing!
If you need another excuse to visit Campbell Lane Winery, they are having a “Last Friday (of the month)” event tomorrow, May 31st from 5-9pm. Join them for tapas including crostinis, arugula salad, and an apple crumble along with shrimp and chorizo paella from Nineteen 33 Taproom. They’ll also have musical guest Rob Rainwater, performing a “rich mix of originals and classic blues and rock covers.”
Campbell Lane Winery is located at 27411 SW Campbell Lane in West Linn, Oregon. Their current tasting room hours are as follows: Sundays, 12-5pm through December 22, 2019. Last Fridays, 5-9pm March through October 2019.
If you can’t make it to the winery, you can contact the winery and buy wines from the comfort of your own home.
You can like them on Facebook here and follow them on Instagram here!
Disclaimer: Thank you to Mt. Hood Territory for arranging my trip to Oregon and this stop on my itinerary, as well as paying for the wine I purchased at Campbell Lane Winery.
A Duo of Delightful Wines to Try
One benefit of having this website is that I am often sent complimentary bottles of wine to try so that I will write about them and give my opinion. It makes my job even easier when I actually like the wine and am enthusiastic about recommending it!
This was such the case with the pair of wines I present to you in this post: a bottle of Vivanco Tempranillo Blanco, and a bottle of Vivanco Tempranillo Garnacha.
I was highly intrigued by the Tempranillo Blanco, because though I have had my fair share of Tempranillos (red wine) I had never tasted a white one. This wine is actually a blend of 60% Viura, 20% Malvasia, 20% Tempranillo Blanco. It is entirely fermented in stainless steel, which makes this wine fruitfully crisp. I would recommend this wine as a starter glass with appetizers such as cheese, or other tapas of some sort–Tortilla Española and Gambas al Ajillo come to mind. I was really impressed with the wine’s quality vs. the price. If you care to know, the wine scored 89 points in Wine Spectator. You can find Vivanco Tempranilla Blanco online here. As I write this, it’s only $9.99 per bottle. Wine.com also sells it, but they are currently out of stock.
The second wine I tried was the Vivanco Tempranillo Garnacha. The wine is a blend of 85% Tempranillo, and 15% Garnacha. It’s a true deep pink versus a pale salmon color, but it is still a dry wine (as sometimes a darker color can indicate a sweeter rosé). This rosé is made using a method called “free-run”, a term used to describe the release of juice from the grapes (after they are harvested) as a result of the weight of being stacked on one another (and before any pressure is applied to crush them). This is a good wine to enjoy with tapenade or a salade Niçoise, paella, and grilled chicken or fish. It also scored 89 points in Wine Spectator. You can find the Vivanco Tempranillo Garnacha online here. As I write this, it’s only $8.99 per bottle.
You can find Vivanco Wines on Facebook here, follow them on Twitter here, and on Instagram here.
*I was sent these two complimentary bottles of wine so that I might share my thoughts about them with my readers. Photos of the wine and opinions on the wine are my own.
Wine Wednesday: A Simple Duo of Rosés
Recently, two of Italy’s leading wineries released their first rosé wines—Mezzacorona from Trento, and Sicily’s Stemmari—each reflecting native varietals and terroir, and Andy and I were fortunate enough to sample them.
Andy made this paleo dinner to pair with them:
Ground pork burgers with an aioli dressing in a red cabbage shell. The meat mixture was a pound of ground pork and 4 ounces ground chorizo.
On the side we had a medley of roasted vegetables roasted in coconut oil.
We also had a salad with the meal (as we almost always do), studded with mushrooms, blueberries and toasted pine nuts.
Though both wines were solid choices, especially with the upcoming hot weather this weekend, I preferred the Mezzacorona Rosé. 🙂
About the wines:
MEZZACORONA ROSÉ 2014: 100% Lagrein; 12% ABV; $8.99 SRP
Mezzacorona’s Rosé is made from 100% Lagrein grapes, a local variety grown along the Adige Valley north of Trento, where Mezzacorona calls home.
STEMMARI ROSÉ 2014: 100% Nero d’Avola; 12% ABV; $9.99 SRP
The Stemmari Rosé is produced from 100% Nero d’Avola, Sicily’s most famous grape variety, which is cultivated on sandy soils in the Ragusa province.
For more information about Mezzacorona go to www.mezzacorona.it or visit Mezzacorona on Facebook here and follow the brand on Twitter at @MezzacoronaWine. To learn more about Stemmari, go to www.stemmari.it; visit Stemmari on Facebook here and follow the brand on Twitter at @StemmariWine.
Total Wine & More’s Local Favorite: My Rosé Picks for August
A few weeks ago, I was chosen by Total Wine & More for their Total Wine & More “Local Favorite!” program. This program features a local media “influencer” each month and allows them to pick their favorite wines to recommend to customers. For the next month, I’ll be pictured next to my wine selections (with a tag that will resemble the one above) in the Sacramento (Arden) store with a link back to this website.
I was very honored to be approached, and I quickly decided I would select some rosés for the month of August. I couldn’t think of a more perfect wine for summer––a wine that pairs well with almost anything. I feel rosés are overlooked, slightly under appreciated and all too often confused with that sickly sweet white zinfandel stuff that was first made by mistake, (but a serendipitous one for them at that) by Sutter Home in 1975.
No, the rosés I am talking about are so much more than their cloying white zin “dopplegängers”. These wines have finesse, refinement and are fruity and flavorful, yet much drier. I discovered I truly did like pink colored wines again (and the difference between a white zinfandel and a rosé) a few years ago (2008 to be exact) when I tasted the Valley of the Moon Rosato di Sangiovese at the California State Fair’s Grape and Gourmet event. Since then, the rosé thing has been slowly catching on. I have tried and enjoyed several since: Bray Vineyard’s Rose of Barbera and Nichelini’s Rose of Cabernet to name a few.
Since that Grape and Gourmet event, every time the thermometer rises, my go-to wine is a rosé. And I think this summer especially, I am completely obsessed with interested in them and want to try as many as possible so I can learn even more about them.
Andy and I met up with Total Wine’s (Arden Store) Wine Manager Theo Snyder last Friday evening to taste an assortment of French and California rosés, so I could personally recommend three of them to you and the customers at Total Wine & More, Arden.
My first selection is a French rosé, Domaine Rabiotte Aix Provence Rosé 2012 ($11.99). It would fall into the “very dry” category, and it’s almost apricot/peach in color. It’s great appetizer wine, but I would be just as happy drinking it with sushi, a light fish dish, or even pork loin. It’s everything I look for in a rosé and it’s French, so it has sex appeal, no? 😉
My second pick is the Sobon Rose Rezerve 2012 ($11.99). This rosé is a special blend of grenache, syrah and carignane and another great food wine. I could really smell the fruit when I examined the wine, and I could taste some minerality (I tend to love a little bit of earthiness in my wines) present. I wasn’t shocked that this rosé made my top three, because I have been a Sobon fan for years. Check out their Cougar Hill Zinfandel and their Barbera for more tasty adventures. 🙂
My third choice is the Truett Hurst Zin Rosé Dry Creek 2012 ($17.99), which I feel is the perfect rosé wine for red wine lovers who might think they aren’t a fan of rosés. It delivers a burst of flavor and settles in between a Goldilocks-esque not-too-sweet, yet not-too dry flavor. This one works with or without food and if I stuck with straight rosés through a whole dinner, I would have this one for dessert with fresh fruits and cheeses.
I’d like to thank Total Wine & More for asking me to take part in their “Local Favorites” promotion. You can find them on Facebook here and follow them on twitter here.
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