Southern Oregon Adventure Day 3

A day of wine

You can say I'm a morning person.  I was up early and ready to go.  My poor traveling companions had to endure my enthusiasm around wanting to get the day started.  Our first stop was for coffee.  When arriving in Jackson we drove past a cute coffee house called Pony Espresso.  We ordered our coffee and attempted to choke down the worst coffee ever.  I try to focus on the positive but I have to warn you all if you are in Jacksonville, pick another coffeehouse...seriously.

Stop #1 Wooldridge Creek Winery

Snapped a picture while waiting for the tasting room to open

We arrived 30 minutes early.  Ok so I overshot the time on how long it took to get to the winery.  We were the first tasters there.  The winemaker poured and talked with us about the wines and his recent trip to Spain.  I inquired about the bear on the label.  The wine maker informed us that there is a family of bears that live on the edge of the property and eat the fruit.  It's interesting to learn about how the name or logo come about for different wineries.  Wooldridge Creek wines can only be purchased at the winery.  My favorite wine of the flight was the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Stop #2 Troon

Food & wine pairing

When we pulled up to Troon I felt like I had stepped into Napa.  Dick Troon planted in 1972 - so essentially the vines are as old as me.  The day we were there the tasting room was packed with so many people, it was chaotic.  They offered a food and wine pairing which is the best in my opinion.  I have learned that every bite you take should taste like your first...that wine is to not only compliment but cleanse your palate.  Think about the first bite of something incredible...to have that over and over.  Troon also has a tasting room in Carlton, OR.  My favorite wine was the Vermentino.  

Stop # 3 Cow Horn

Cow Horn is an organic and biodynamic winery.  The owner does not think of himself as a wine maker and attribute that to those who have studied for 4 + years.  He claims he lets the yeast work with the grapes, collects them, crushes and out comes wine.  He and his wife moved up from Berkeley and he ran around in his bare feet completely stained green.  I inquired about how they came up with the name "Cow Horn" and he said that they put manure into the horns and bury them.  In the spring they dig them up and the manure turns into a rich black soil, so they decided to call the winery by a practice they do.   

I have to say I loved all four wines we tasted at Cow Horn - Viognier, Sprial 36 (blend of Viognier, Marsanne, Rousanne) Grenach and Syrah.  I loved them so much I became a wine member.  

Another thing to note in Robert Parker's Wine Advocate Cow Horn received the following accolades:

2009 Reserve Syrah: 93 Points

2009 Syrah 80: 92 Points

2010 Syrah 58: 92 Points

2010 Grenache 58: 92 Points

2010 Viognier: 91 Points

2011 Spiral 36: 91 Points

2011 Marsanne Roussanne: 91 Points

I think I made a good choice as I received this information after coming home from my trip and you can only purchase wines from the winery.

Stop # 4 Valley View Winery

Valley View has a nice tasting room with patio seating to look out over the landscape of vines.  As we walked up, a woman informed me that I looked strong and asked me to open her juice bottle.  I learned later that the woman was the owner, Anna Maria.  Valley View has a lot of wines and Anna Maria is part of the name for many of their wines.  Valley View wines are good but after Cow Horn, not much was standing out for me.  With one exception, the Anna Maria Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc.  The grapes were frozen right after harvest and then pressed providing a high residual sugar and sweet wine.  We were asking so many questions about the vineyard and how the wines were made that we were invited to do a tour.

Stop # 5 MacLevin's Whole Foods Deli 

Tasting wine increases one's appetite so we headed into town and attempted to have a late lunch at the Jacksonville Inn but we were between lunch and dinner.  We looked at Bella Union Cafe but they were limited on gluten free options.  Next we spied a small deli called MacLevin's and they had gluten free items, so that Karen could have something other than a salad.  We all had the same thing (well except the bread)  It was ruben made with pastrami.  The meats were smoked at the deli and they made their own dressing.  It was so good.  I recommend stopping in for lunch!

Stop # 6 Quady North

The label for the Rose

After our late lunch we walked a couple of blocks down the street to Quady North.  Quady North labels are reminiscent of tattoo artwork.  My favorite of all the wines was the Rose which sells for $13.50 which is a steal.  As we were tasting several groups came in asking for the Rose.

Stop # 7 Valley View Winery - Private Tour

We returned to Valley View Winery to do a tour.  I actually learned quite a bit about first and second clusters of grapes...pruning...tasted viognier, tempranillo and syrah grapes right off the vines.  I personally liked the tempranillo and could have stood there eating a whole cluster.  Most wineries will wait a couple of years before harvesting the fruit.  So when a winery plants vines it may be several years before they can use the fruit to produce wines.  I also learned about grafting vines.  It was pretty interesting to get a behind the scenes tour and learn about wines outside of the tasting room.