My good friend and teammate from college (we played golf together at Vanderbilt) was in town this past weekend visiting from Atlanta. I just love when she’s working on projects in the northwest and she swings on by for a visit. The best part about having a visitor in town is that you get to show them all of your favorite places. Friday night we grabbed drinks and dinner at Red Hills Market!
Last weekend we invited some friends over and headed down to the river. Nothing beats a day on the river when it’s hot, and man was it hot! When you drive through Dundee, most people don’t realize how close the Willamette River is to OR99W, but the river is less than a mile from the main road.
When we stopped by Sokol Blosser to pick up our Cellar Club shipment this spring, I was perusing the tasting room and found a happy little book called At Home in the Vineyard – Cultivating A Winery, An Industry, and A Life. I don’t know if I hadn’t seen it before, or perhaps, I just wasn’t ready to discover it.
Our Sunday morning sure was an early one! Although the rewards of being awake early were well worth the effort, we even caught the full moon still lingering in the sky.
Early in the week I saw a few tweets about the Fueled By Fine Wine Half Marathon put on by Energy Events. I did some online investigation and realized it was taking place right in our backyard. So I shot off an email, and the next thing you know both The Renaissance Man and I were volunteering at Water Station #5.
The great part about small town living is that when a new business opens, it becomes all the buzz around town. Since moving to Dundee we’ve seen a handful of new businesses open and it’s pretty clear that this town is growing!
The latest talk has been all about the Deception Brewing Company! It’s only been open a few weeks, and we’ve already been twice. The first time we went to try out the beer, and we had to go back when we learned they’d be serving food by Red Hills Market.
We love the wood fired pizza made by the wonderful people at Red Hills Market! So when The Renaissance Man saw a flier for a pizza making class led by Red Hills Market, paired with a wine tasting at Winter’s Hill Vineyard, we reserved a spot and marked our calendars. Saturday was such a beautiful day and it was our first time visiting Winter’s Hill Vineyard.
Winter’s Hill Vineyard is located in the Dundee Hills, and as you drive toward the tasting room you meander down Hilltop Lane past thirty-five acres of sustainably farmed vineyards. What really struck me were the breathtaking views looking out southwest toward McMinnville.
Argyle Winery is always popular with our group of friends, and we’re lucky that it’s located right in the heart of downtown Dundee. Like many other wineries, they had a special tasting set up for Memorial Day weekend and I’m so glad we went!
Memorial Weekend in the Wine Country is a big wine tasting weekend in the Willamette Valley. Most wineries open up their doors in celebration of spring and have some sort of special tasting; many even release new wines. We had a few friends in town to join us for wine tasting on Saturday, so The Renaissance Man and I decided to put together a Wine Country Picnic. We picked out our seven essential food pairings for a picnic in wine country.
Thursday night was the kickoff to our Memorial Day Weekend! The Renaissance Man and I both took Friday off work so that we could maximize our weekend, be on the look out for upcoming yard improvement posts. To celebrate we decided to try out the Babica Hen Café. Driving by on OR99W, you’ll notice their large vegetable garden and friendly chickens.
If you’ve been to Dundee, chances are you’ve sat in traffic and waited, and waited, and waited…and maybe even thought to yourself, “Is any wine going to be left when I get there?”
Well the Oregon Department of Transportation along with numerous local, state, and federal partners are doing their best to fix one of the worst traffic jams in the Willamette Valley. You can follow much of the progress via the ODOT project website, Highway 99W Newberg Dundee Bypass and they have a great video explaining the work done to date.
