Harvest Those Grapes! It’s WINEMAKING TIME!

Some year I hope to make a visit to Oregon during the harvest season. Watching some of our favorite winemakers in action is on my Bucket List for sure!

In the past we have always visited the McMinnville, Oregon area during the summer. The grapes are ripening and the impending harvest is still just a vague future time frame on the calendar.

We had hoped to return to Oregon this past summer, but our schedules simply didn’t mesh with a Western trip this year. But we do know the perfect place to stay when the stars do align the next time.

La Bastide Bed and Breakfast in Dundee is located in the heart wine country in the Willamette Valley. 

The wonderful owners (Mark and Elizabeth Moisan) have built their boutique hotel literally from the ground up.

Their attention to detail is incredible…and their breakfasts are a thing of beauty! In fact, Mark gave me some of his fabulous breakfast recipes and I plan to recreate some of them and I’ll share them with all of you. (Thanks again Mark and Elizabeth!) 

Now…about those vineyards. Let me share three of my favorites. And I’ll share links to their websites so you can take a virtual tour. (Be sure to follow their Facebook pages and Instagram where they are already posting harvest updates and photos.)

Bells Up Winery

My very first Oregon wine tasting appointment in 2016 led us to Bells Up Winery where I tasted some amazing wines. And that tasting added two new friends to the list of my very favorite people. Bells Up Winery is one of a kind. David Specter is an award winning winemaker, and his talented, media savvy wife Sara is known as the behind the scenes “Money Honey” in the success they share. That talented duo built their vineyard and winery literally from the ground up…from an abandoned Christmas tree farm! And the view from their tasting room and wine porch? Priceless!

Here is my original Bells Up post written in 2016 and here is our return visit post from 2018. Great wines made by good friends. What’s not to love? I truly wish I could be there to help with their harvest this year!

R. Stuart & Company Winery

And speaking of friends…it took two trips to Oregon wine country to finally lay eyes on my friend Maria Stuart! We first “met” online when I stumbled across her amazing blog.  And imagine my shock and surprise to find that she lives in McMinnville…the very town where we used to live! It’s right in the heart of the Willamette Valley wine country. Click HERE to read about my FIRST attempt to meet Maria way back in 2016. I met her talented and successful winemaker husband Rob on that trip. But alas…no Maria. But here is a photo to prove that we finally connected on our SECOND McMinnville visit in 2018. And that face to face meeting was worth the wait!

Now get this! Maria actually cooks an amazing meal to feed their entire vineyard crew EVERY SINGLE NIGHT during the harvest. (Oh how I would LOVE to earn a seat at Rob and Maria’s table!) Check out her blog where she’ll share some of her incredible harvest meals. Can you imagine cooking for 10 or 20 folks…every night for a month?? Yup. I know a “Pinot Mom” who does it!! Read all about it on her amazing blog called The Life And Times Of A Pinot Mom!

Remy Wines

Some moments in our lives are simply magical. And this was certainly one of those moments for me.

This “Dinner In A Vineyard” was a highlight of our 2018 return to Willamette Valley wine country. You can read all about it right HERE.

The tasting room at Remy Wines was the setting for that dinner to remember. And the Remy  Old World Style wines flowed freely that evening. Winemaker and host Remy Drabkin made sure our plates were perfect and our glasses were rarely empty. 

I hope this glimpse of some of our favorite people and places will explain why harvest season is firmly planted on my Bucket List.

So while I sip a glass of Pinot Noir here in The Heartland, I’ll raise my glass in a toast to our winemaking friends in Oregon wine country…

Here’s to another Healthy, Happy Harvest!