Wine Tasting In Oregon and Washington

Last weekend we drove to The Dalles, Oregon spent the night and visited three wineries the next day.

We stayed at an amazing airbnb with hot tub and pool. The hosts were wonderful, we had drinks, appetizers and breakfast with them and chatted a whole lot. Conversations were great. We would love to go back.

The wineries we visited were one in The Dalles, OR and two in Lyle, Washington.

Sunshine Mill Winery

This winery located in The Dalles, Oregon has a very unique interior and holds a very interesting history.

The Sunshine Mill has milled wheat on this property for more than 130 years, and was the first building in The Dalles to have electricity, powered by a Thomas Edison Motor which can still be seen in The Mill. It is also the only designated skyscraper in The Columbia River Gorge.

Tasting

$7 Wine Tasting of Quenett and Copa Di Vino

They also offer wine by the glass, beer and food.

We actually didn’t taste wine here as we visited pretty early on the day and we had two more wineries to go to, maybe next time!

COR Cellars

This winery is located in Lyle, Washington.

History

COR Cellars was started in 2005 by Luke Bradford. After working in the Val D’Orcia in southern Tuscany for Tenuta di Trinoro and then on Mt Etna in Sicily for Passopisciaro from 2000-2002, Luke returned to Washington and  seeing the enormous potential in Washington fruit, Luke embarked on his own and planted vineyards.

After spending one harvest in Tuscany and returning to college, Luke Bradford studied Latin and this quote jumped out to him:

VINUM BONUM LAETIFICAT COR HUMANUM
(Good Wine Pleases the Human Heart)

COR is also a root word for all the Latin and Romance words for heart and body.

Tasting

$10 for a tasting variety of whites and reds.

Thursday through Sunday
11am – 6pm

We shared a tasting between both of us.

Syncline Winery

Syncline Wine Cellars is located in Lyle, Washington.

syn-cline (‘sin-klin)
a trough of stratified rock in which the beds dip toward each other from either side

History

Poppie and James met during the harvest of 1997 while working together in the cellar at a custom crush house, LaVelle Vineyards (Willamette Valley, Oregon). Shortly after, they had fallen madly in love, married and began plans for a new endeavor: a winery of their own.

Four years later they relocated their home to the Columbia Gorge; where passion for Rhône wines led them to explore the emerging potential of vineyards in the Columbia Valley, Washington.

Tasting

Thursday thru Sunday 11am – 6pm

$5 Tasting fee including a variety of white and red wines (fee is waived if a bottle of wine is purchased).

They also offer wines by the glass, local organic cheese, salami and crackers for sale.

We each had a complete tasting and we both enjoyed the wine here a lot. Hubby purchased a bottle of Grenache Blanc. My favorites were Picpoul and Syrah.

It was no Tuscany, but it was an enjoyable experience. We also didn’t go to very big wineries which offer a different experience.

Have you ever gone wine tasting to a winery/vineyard? Do you have a favorite place?