OUR AUGUST ROAD TRIP

Hello,

Dorianne and I took a 4100 mile road trip last month, with stops in some interesting wine locations, specifically, the Okanagen region in British Columbia and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Here are a couple of highlights from the trip:

One was Summerhill Pyramid Winery in Kelowna, BC. Their specialty is sparkling wines. Like many of the 80 wineries surrounding Lake Kelowna, a 90 mile long glacial lake in central BC, Summerhill specializes in white grapes. Those who offer red wines (other than Pinot Noir, which can grow around the lake), grow their red grapes to the south, near the US border.

Summerhill ages their wines in a Pyramid - a unique feature that gets lots of attention. And yes, Californians, you can meditate in the Pyramid!

We had a fabulous Sunday brunch at Summerhill's beautiful winery. A number of Okanagen wineries have restaurants, and Summerhill's is excellent. A buffet featuring seafood and other items accompanied the sparkling wine very nicely. We sat on a patio with lake views.

We were joined by our hosts in Kelowna, Dr. Kenn and Rev. Deborah Gordon.

The Okanagen region is beautiful, but has a short growing season. The winters are mild by Canada standards, but not mild enough to provide a long enough season for most red grapes. Of course, Ice Wine is featured - which is harvested after the first freeze.

Summerhill is the largest organic winery in Canada. You can visit their site at http://www.summerhill.bc.ca/.

Later in the trip, we visited Oregon's Willamette Valley, the home of some of the finest Pinot Noir on the planet. We only had a short stop - a late afternoon and an early morning, so we visited only two wineries. The highlight was definitely Adelsheim Vineyards in Newberg. After a 5 hour drive, it was nice to have a tasting in their beautiful tasting room, then a picnic lunch (with goodies purchased that morning from Pikes Place Market in Seattle) and a half-bottle of Adelshien's 2006 Pinot Gris. Dave Page, in the tasting room, was both knowledgeable and helpful.

This was a nice, crisp wine with dominant pear and apple flavors that were a wonderful complement to our picnic goodies.

We also purchased some of Adelshein's 2005 Pinot Noir. This is their standard Pinot, and I found it to have the nicest character of the several we tasted. It's not that the higher-end Pinots were not wonderful - it's just that THIS Pinot was just as wonderful, if not more so. This signature wine can be found at better wine stores, at least on the west coast (where you can usually get it at Bev-Mo).

These are a couple of the highlights of the trip. One more was the Dreamgiver's Inn, the B&B just outside of Newberg, OR, where we stayed. Just 2 years old, the home is beautiful and the hospitality of owner Linda Kessler is just what you want. We highly recommend it.

'Till Next Time,

The Wine Saver