Oregon Wine Country
we set off for a long weekend in Portland and Willamette Valley since Natasha and I had both never been there and wine tastings sounded fun. We arrived in Portland luckily just as Hurricane Helene hit the southeast US. We left our families behind prepping for a huge storm as we were off to enjoy food and wine.
The Nines Hotel in Portland was lovely and the most comfortable beds! The first day we walked miles around the city, at at a high rise that overlooked the river, walked the Japanese gardens and rose gardens for great photos. It was a nice day!
The next day we picked up a rental car and drove 1hr south to Newberg, OR to the Allison hotel, another cute hotel as nice lodging is scarce in the valley. We arrived and immediately jumped into our private wine tasting tour for the day and drank our way through the valley.
L’Angolo Estate
Our first stop was cute, perfect weather, a great host (Noah) and yummy wines.
Ambar Estate
Our favorite was a new winery (opened about 1 month) that came with a food pairing with an amazingly talented and creative chef, Heidi. The views were also lovely, the entry was a Japanese garden with mist. This experience was the best!
Alexana Winery
Our final tasting and glasses #9-12 were at Alexana. Our host Carol was adorable and cute energy. We had a blast here and enjoyed a few of the wines but preferred the previous vinyards.
After a full day of wine tastings we felt bloated and over it so we canceled the next day and decided to drive towards the coast 1.5hrs to get oysters from Jandy Oyster company that was referred to us from a hotel guest. This day turned into a voyage of comedic errors.
Ode to Oysters Desire
Taking my best bae on a road trip,
We Needed a break from all the wine sips
She wanted to eat oysters by the sea
But we soon learned that wasn’t meant to be.
Our little trip became a comedy of errors
That started with car lights on and roadside terrors.
A big ole Flat tire popped up to ruin the day,
On top of that Oyster restaurant is closed, thanks to Sunday.
Couldn’t get a shuck. Sometimes life isn’t fair.
But Found a local guy to put on the spare.
Didn’t see the ocean, had to abort mission,
Then came the second light to check the emissions.
We survived the roadtrip, the day wasn’t squandered.
We came. We creamed. We conquered … nothing.
