Wine Tours

[howopeeps]

I will be staying tin portland for a weekend in June was wondering if you know any wine tours/ wineries I should try out as a day trip

[lilhellie]

I've known Ron from Oregon Wine Tours (http://www.orwinetours.com/) for awhile and he has a great company. I know him from when I worked in a winery tasting room and he always brought respectful, knowledgeable people and was always welcome. I know this is true for other wineries too. He gets two thumbs up in my book!

[JillO]

Much better idea to DIY, IMO, but Wayne's a trip and half, and is incredibly knowledgeable:

http://agreatoregonwinetour.com/

[Leonardo]

There have been many threads on this. Just do a search, takes a few seconds.
Advice: concentrate on a small geographical area, as Willamette Valley is sprawling.
I agree that Oregon Wine Tours is the only one to consider.

[selena03]

We are also planning on doing a tour (on our own though) and were wondering if there was a specific area of the Willamette Valley that you would recommend. We will traveling from downtown Portland and will have our own car. We would prefer to tackle one area (hopefully go to about 6 wineries?) as our 4 year old will be accompanying us. Will we be able to accomplish this in a half day or is a full day required?

[lilhellie]

Selena03- traveling with a 4 year old to wineries can get tough as most people see wineries as a 'no kid' zone. Also, the Willamette Valley is know for its small boutique wineries that are often very rustic (tanks, fittings, tractors, etc.- no child proofing). Here is a list of wineries all within the same area that have established tasting rooms and will be child friendly.

- Stoller (ask about their frisbee golf course)
- WillaKenzie Estate (best place for a picnic and I highly recommend you plan for a picnic since detouring back to town for lunch can waste 1-2 hrs of your day)
- Solena
- Anne Amie

have fun!

[selena03]

Thanks lihelie. We took our daughter with to Napa/Sonoma a month ago and she was fine for the most part. The big mistake we made in Napa was going to Sonoma as it was just too much driving for her. Thanks for putting together a concise list for me.

[chalmers]

I had an excellent experience with Oregon Wine tours http://www.orwinetours.com/

The guy who runs it has been in the industry for a long time, and creates a custom tour depending on your tastes and interests - he took us to the wineries we wanted to see, then chose some excellent less-well-known ones with interesting winemakers and great wines. He explained a lot about local history, viticulture and vinification, helped us pick a good place for lunch and was good conversation.

Most of the other tours I found are more set up for bachelorette parties or are incredibly expensive.

I also recall him saying at the time that if he couldn't take a booking, he sent them to Grape Escape http://www.grapeescapetours.com/

If you have a car though, just do your own tour.

[EpicuriousOenopheliac]

Head to the Willamette Valley - about an hour south of Portland. You can visit wineries on your own. I'm sure if you wanted to go on a tour you can find someone who runs tours through a Google search.