Wine Flurry

If he had to pick a time to tour Oregon’s wine country, Dan Nechemias says he’d try for the fall crush. The short but furiously busy grape harvest season is “chaos and madness, and a lot of fun to watch,” says Nechemias, the tasting room manager of Argyle Winery in Dundee.

The heady crush season, when wine-ripe grapes are picked by hand, carefully delivered to the winery and mechanically stomped on a crush pad, takes place in early October. But the fun continues throughout the months ahead, with new wine releases, barrel tastings, winemaker dinners and special holiday events at many of Oregon’s 250 wineries.
Oregon is a paradise for oenophiles and novice wine buffs alike, with five distinct touring areas that cover the length of the state’s diverse landscape. Wineries and tasting rooms are found from the craggy cliffs of the Columbia River Valley/Eastern Oregon region to the verdant flatlands of the North and South Willamette valleys, and south through the sun-kissed country of Southern Oregon and its Umpqua and Rogue regions.

Most are open year-round to visitors interested in tasting the award-winning Pinot noir and regional varietals for which Oregon is increasingly gaining recognition. The highlight of the touring season throughout the state is Thanksgiving weekend, and Yamhill County growers take the holiday celebration to a new level. For the three days after Thanksgiving, more than 80 area wineries and tasting rooms open their doors to the public—many of them for the only time during the year.

Your road map to Oregon’s self-guided wine tours is available at the Oregon Wine Board’s website, www.oregonwine.org, where you can also request a complimentary copy of the 144-page Oregon Winery Guide. Details on Yamhill County’s Wine Country Thanksgiving can be found at www.yamhillwine.com.—Megan Monson