We drive to Newberg located in the famous Willamette Valley for wine tastings and maybe some hiking if the weather accommodates. Uneventful checkout around 09:00 and on the road with arrival in Newberg around 12 Noon, so three (3) hours of driving. Traffic was pretty decent for most of the trip. Mostly on Highway 22 West. The first part of the trip was a copy of our day one hike and then much of the scenery was similar to the interior of British Columbia. There was both rain and sun during the three hours. Car operated very well in the slippery conditions and really good at passing where necessary. No speeding tickets, yet! There was one highway patrol on the side of the road, but he didn't pull me over despite the fact I was speeding.
Why are we heading to Newberg? Great location in the heart of the Willamette Valley and famous as a premiere wine growing region for Pinot Noir and some white varietals. We both love Pinot Noir so excited about trying their variation of this grape that requires a lot of care. If you watched the movie Sideways, you might have been convinced to give this grape a try. This was a super informative and funny movie for anyone who is interested in wine and relationships.
Google Maps. We took the quicker and more southern route.
We arrived at our Newberg Airbnb prior to check-in time scheduled for 15:00. We are about three hours early. Our Airbnb place is actually a separate building located pretty close to the host's home. The lock combo number does not work though. Mariso provides her master number and the door opens. The place has not been cleaned as yet given we are early. We drop our stuff in the kitchen area and then check online for recommended lunch places in Newberg (population about 25,000). We are both pretty hungry, but check the menus to ensure we make a good choice. Weather here is overcast, but not raining and maybe the sun is trying to come out?
Online picture of our Airbnb back deck overlooking the river.
We decide to try Newbergundian Bistro located in the heart of Newberg. Excellent ratings and a lunch menu that meets both our needs. Finding parking was a challenge. Upon entering the place is very busy. We elect to take two seats at the bar which looks onto the chef and sous chef workstations. Great opportunity to speak with both during our lunch. We didn't take any pictures of our food, but the food was pretty good. Randy ordered the Fish & Chips and Lana ordered the Arancini. Randy had a glass of dry Riesling wine from an Oregon winemaker. Lana drank a Ginger beer.
Online pic of The Newbergundian Bistro. Pretty humble exterior.
View from our seats at the counter. We will choose to sit at the chef's counter as it overlooks the kitchen The two chefs worked very quickly and with lots of skill. Our food took quite long to show up though.
While at the restaurant we used Lana's iPhone to check on highly rated and local wineries so we could do a wine tasting before we headed back to our Airbnb. Some of the wineries I checked were not open, but ArborBrook Vineyards was open and highly rated. This will be our first wine tasting in the Willamette Valley.
Vineyard along the road towards the winery. As you can see the grapes have been harvested.
These vines are loaded with Pinot Noir grapes just waiting to be picked.
ArborBrook Vineyards wine tasting building. Kind of looks like a barn or old farmhouse.
Informative placement after entrance to the wine tasting room. Always good to know the terroir as it is very instrumental in determining the actual taste of the wines.
Our wine tasting sitting at an old oak wine barrel. Sandy was our pourer/wine hostess and very friendly/personable.
Lana sampling a Pinot Noir.
For wine tasting at ArborBrook you have three wine flights to choose from. We select the cheapest being the ArborBrook Flight at $15 for which you get three white wines and three Pinot Noir to taste. In addition, Sandy pours a 2016 Vintners Select Estate Pinot Noir and a 2015 Sydney Semillon Late Harvest Klipsun Vineyards sweeter wine. We buy the bottle of Late Harvest as it is the best of the bunch and we love the sweeter wines. Great interaction with our hostess Sandy. We had a very enjoyable time and discovered that that the wine prices so far seem to be pretty high! We are hoping this is an aberration? Even worse when you factor the exchange rate. We did enjoy the white and reds (Pinot Noir) but the prices were pretty high. After that much wine tasting, Randy gives the car keys to Lana to drive home.
We return to our Airbnb and the cleaners are just finishing. Lana has more SAP work to complete before she needs to leave for her spa treatment at Moonstone Massage scheduled for 17:15. Unfortunate that works gets in the way of her vacation time, but it is what it is. I made contact with a Portland wine merchant who may have some Ulli Stein German Riesling for our purchase, but they have not arranged for the Ohne we are wanting. They will order the wine and hope to have it for some time on Friday afternoon.
Lana returns with the car just in time for our dinner reservation for 19:15. She has a big spa smile on her face. Another memorable spa treatment and some information on local wineries to try tomorrow. We have reservations at Subterra in Newberg. A little tricky to find the entrance, but parking right outside the restaurant. Not super busy and the acoustics appear to favour the louder customers around us. We enjoy an excellent meal and a superb server. The restaurant is located in what was probably a wine cellar. Pretty extensive wine menu. We ordered the three-course menu choice:
Pork with Leek and Mustard (GF)
Tender Carlton Farm’s Pork Shoulder, Seasoned and Roasted, and Finished in a White Wine, Dijon Mustard, Caper, and Leek Cream Sauce, with Roasted Garlic Parsnip and Potato Puree, and Seasonal Vegetable
Tender Carlton Farm’s Pork Shoulder, Seasoned and Roasted, and Finished in a White Wine, Dijon Mustard, Caper, and Leek Cream Sauce, with Roasted Garlic Parsnip and Potato Puree, and Seasonal Vegetable
Also, a small plate:
Smoked Duck Breast with Cranberry Mostarda and Pear
The meal was awesome. Everything tasted fantastic. We would recommend this restaurant for certain. Our best restaurant meal so far on our brief trip.
Online pic of the interior of Subterra.
The reason for our title was that to this point it has not appeared that we are in 'wine country'. Very few vineyards to be seen. The wineries we have seen from the road are very few and some don't appear to have their own vineyards. Perhaps, we are just not in a central location for the Willamette Valley?
We finished our day by playing pool on the pool table in our Airbnb suite. Pretty cool! Randy beat Lana 2 games to 1 which may be a first!
We finished our day by playing pool on the pool table in our Airbnb suite. Pretty cool! Randy beat Lana 2 games to 1 which may be a first!
No comments:
Post a Comment