Tempranillo Trail

For the past 20-some years, our Thanksgiving weekend traditions have involved a day of wine tasting. Early on, we spent a lot of time in the Willamette Valley, especially the lower and mid-valley wineries, but we've ventured as far north as Dundee. Lately, though, with the current popularity of Thanksgiving weekend wine tasting, we have …

Crescendo! : Eugene

Limoncello is a liqueur made from lemons. It has its origins in southern Italy and if you’ve visited Italy you may have experienced it, especially if you got further south into the boot. Luckily, you don’t have to visit Italy to have handmade limoncello, instead you just need to drive out west 11th in Eugene …

4 Spirits Distillery: Corvallis

Walking into the door of the 4 Spirits Distillery tasting room is a lot like walking into a small museum, and there is a lot of history tied into this little distillery, from the location of the tasting room to its name. It is hard to know where to start, but we’ll begin with the …

Vivacity Fine Spirits: Corvallis

Walking into Vivacity Fine Spirits in Corvallis, the aroma of gin, juniper berries, Oregon grape, and other intoxicating fragrances delighted our senses. Everyone in my tasting party stopped just inside the front door, took a deep breath, and said “Wow”. Last winter at the Good Earth Home and Garden Show in Eugene, we did our …

Stillwagon Distillery: Charleston

As luck would have it, two days before we left for Charleston Oregon in our quest for fresh tuna, I was in our local liquor store browsing the rum section. I am actually a wine drinker and I am still familiarizing myself with spirits and cocktails so my forays into a liquor store are usually …

Tuna!

Some times we get a wild idea and last week it involved the desire to buy fresh tuna at the coast. We had heard that tuna runs were good this year keeping tuna prices reasonable, so we did a little online research (notably at the Oregon Albacore Commission) and called places in Winchester Bay to …

Thanksgiving wine tasting in Elkton, Oregon

Every family has their Thanksgiving weekend traditions. For some, it is Black Friday shopping at the local mall, for others it might be a game of tag football or a hike with the family. For us, it is wine tasting. With few exceptions, the day after Thanksgiving finds us on a wine trail. Last year …

Reustle — Prayer Rock Vineyards Winery: Roseburg

I love touring our Oregon wineries, not only because I like tasting the wines but also because I like exploring the back roads and out-of-the way areas where they are located. Over the years, we’ve seen much of western Oregon this way, even the more widely visited wineries outside of our major towns (Portland, Salem, …

Becker Winery: Roseburg

Touring multiple wineries in one day really accentuates the differences between them. Each winery has its own personality, from the wine, to the owner, to the setting, to the way they welcome visitors. On our Thanksgiving tour through the Umpqua Valley wine county, we visted Becker Winery. Tucked into an oak woodland setting, Becker is a small …

Glaser Estate Winery: Roseburg

How would you like to enjoy a glass of wine here? You can! This is the deck of the Glaser Estate Winery in the Umpqua Valley. This year, we took our annual Thanksgiving wine tour to the area between Sutherland and Roseburg, Oregon. For our tasting tours, I like to mix larger wineries with small “mom …