Weekends in Dundee

Join us as we explore Willamette Valley Wine Country one weekend at a time!

The Blue Goat Brunch!

by

Every once in a while, I have to pinch myself when we make plans to go wine tasting on a Sunday afternoon. Nothing beats a day exploring the Willamette Valley, and we are so fortunate that we’ve found ourselves in the heart of wine country. We love living in Dundee!

On Sunday morning we jumped in the car and headed southwest to the the town of Amity. Despite clouds and rain all week, the sun was peaking out between the clouds and the fall leaves were putting on quite a show! I’ve been trying to convince The Renaissance Man that we need to plant an Oregon Vine Maple on our side yard, so I took the opportunity to point them out on our drive…I may have also been obsessively snapping pictures!?

We met our friends around noon at The Blue Goat, which they highly recommended!

The_Blue_Goat

[Read more…]

Celebrating our One Year Anniversary in Wine Country

by

Last Saturday was a our One Year Anniversary and boy did we celebrate! Given our extremely busy schedules, we decided to celebrate at home in wine country instead of traveling out of town. We started the day with a couples massage at The Allison Inn & Spa in Newberg, and I will tell you that it was the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

For those of you who don’t know, The Allison is an upscale hotel that caters to wine lovers and the property is stunning!

1_The_Allison_Spa

[Read more…]

The Best Biscuits and Gravy in Town!

by

I know I’ve said this before, but I really do look forward to Sunday mornings all week long. Something about the slow pace of a Sunday morning rejuvenates my mind and body. The Renaissance Man and I typically drink tea, eat breakfast and then go for a stroll in the park.

However, last Sunday when we woke up, neither one of us felt like making breakfast so instead we set out on our walk with our destination being breakfast at Red Hills Market.

Such a beautiful morning walk. The hot air balloons were floating by…

Sunday_Morning_Hot_Air_Balloons

[Read more…]

The Bitter Monk

by

My good friend Julie was in town a few weeks back, and one afternoon we decided to do some window shopping in downtown McMinnville. If you haven’t been, it’s a must see! Seriously, McMinnville has one of the cutest main streets in America!

Julie is a huge fan of beer! She’s well on her way to getting a plaque on the wall at T.Mac in Atlanta. For those of you who don’t know, T.Mac has a loyalty program called Brewniversity dedicated to the exploration and enjoyment of delicious, unique and rare craft beers. Once you try 125 of their beers you get a plaque on the wall, and Julie is about 15 beers away from becoming LEGENDARY!

So when we happened upon the The Bitter Monk Bottle Shop & Tap Room in downtown McMinnville our only choice was to try it out!

DSC02959

[Read more…]

We Finally Made it to Nick’s Italian Café!

by

In almost every single wine country guidebook, you’ll see mention of Nick’s Italian Café. After a long day of wine tasting, we took a chance…without reservations we walked in the front door, kept our fingers crossed, and politely asked if they had room for three?

The hostess looked at her clip board, looked at the open tables and with a coy smile out of the side of her mouth said, “I think I can squeeze you guys in.”

The wine gods were with us! I like to think of the wine gods like the parking gods, except that they handle dinner reservations.

Nick's_Italian_Cafe

[Read more…]

Wine Tasting with Julie, Sharing the Dundee Hills

by

As I mentioned in my last post, my good friend and college teammate Julie was in town last weekend vising from Atlanta. Julie is a huge fan of Oregon Pinot Noir (she finds her Oregon Pinot Noir at Total Wine in Atlanta), and on Sunday we decided to do a quintessential day in wine country. We kicked off Sunday with the highly recommend brunch from the Babica Hen Café. Our neighbors have been raving about their brunch, and ever since we had dinner at Babica Hen over Memorial Day weekend, I’ve been looking for a reason to go back!

Babica_Hen_Front_Room

[Read more…]

Order Number 28 at Red Hills Market

by

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!

Plenty_to_Drink

[Read more…]

Drinks at Deception

by

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.

DSC01687

[Read more…]

Ray’s Produce and a Raspberry Pie

by

Near the end of last summer we discovered Ray’s Produce stand located on the corner of OR99W and Highway 240 at the west end of Newberg. Ray’s has a tremendous variety of fresh fruits and vegetables with some of the best prices in town. We typically go to the grocery store and on our way home stop at Ray’s to buy all the produce we need for the week.

Ray's_Produce

[Read more…]

Pizza Making Class in Wine Country

by

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.

Winter's_Hill_Vineyard

[Read more…]