A Weekend In: Oregon Wine Country

Top: Dreamgiver's Inn; Bottom: toasting our anniversary, lavender plants, Patrick's happy place sitting on the lawn at Dreamgiver's Inn

Patrick and I spent our anniversary weekend in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley, 45 minutes south of Portland. The region is known for it's excellent Pinot Noir wines and is a popular destination for wine enthusiasts. While I'm not sure we are at the "enthusiast" level quite yet, we do enjoy a glass of wine and beautiful views and were happy to soak up a few days of Oregon sunshine.

We stayed at the picture-postcard B&B, The Dreamgiver's Inn just outside of Newberg, OR. It was a quiet little oasis with views of the local vineyards and Mt. Hood and delicious breakfasts both mornings (including Gluten-Free pancakes for yours truly). Linda was an excellent hostess and provided some great tips on what to see in the area.

Top: Vidon boutique winery, enjoying the view from our B&B; Bottom: Recipe outdoor seating, Stoller wines.

We visited several noteworthy wineries over the course of the weekend. We'd recommend Stoller for the killer views and tasty Pinot Noir, Vidon for a more boutique vibe (feels like your in the family's backyard), Adelsheim for real wine-connoisseurs (this was a little hoity-toity for us), Colene Clemens for beautiful views and delicious Rosé of Pinot Noir wine (my favorite!), and August Cellars to taste from a wide variety of boutique wineries and get a great education on how Pinot Noir is made.

Top: Red Hills Market cold salami sandwich, Colene Clemens winery; Bottom: August Cellars Winery, my bearded jogging partner for the weekend

And now for the culinary highlights of the weekend: we started things off with dinner at Recipe in Newberg, a quaint little organic restaurant in an old farmhouse serving local specialties like onion-duck soup and buttery sole with fresh beets. On Saturday we grabbed lunch at Red Hills Market in Dundee where Patrick enjoyed "the best cold salami sandwich" he has ever eaten (they also have great GF options). And of course, a visit to Oregon wouldn't be complete without a stop off at one of the famous McMenamins restaurants. We chose to hit McMenamins Old Church and Pub in Wilsonville for some pub food to soak up all the vino. Don't miss their tasty Cajun tater tots, they will bring you back to elementary school (in a good way).