Wine Tasting in Oregon

Wine Tasting in Oregon
This blog is a little different than our usual Wine Tasting at Home blogs. We were on the road from Vancouver to Southern California and our usual first stop is about 9 hours south in Canyonville, OR. There isn’t much of a town or city there, but we stay at the Seven Feathers Resort Casino. Nice rooms at a good price, lots of food choices on site and of course a little gambling can be had. As we were driving we were chatting about how Oregon was emerging as a new player in the wine game and the Washington and Oregon regions have been receiving a lot of good feedback on their wines.

Oregon Wine
So we decided that when we went for dinner that night we would make sure we tried some local Oregon wine with dinner. We went for dinner in one of Seven Feathers restaurants called Camas. Turned out Camas was also a great place to try both Washington and Oregon grape. To start they offered a sample of three 2 ounce pours from their wine by the glass menu for $8.00. If you ordered a bottle the $8.00 tasting fee was waived. So that made that decision easy, a wine flight to start and a bottle with dinner.

Oregon Wine Tasting
For the wine flight we choose two white wines, the Riesling by Ste. Michelle and the Chardonnay by Henry Estate. For the red wine sample we choose the Merlot Cab Blend by Canoe Ridge (Washington). The Riesling was an excellent summer sipper to be enjoyed on a hot summer day. Lots of fruit, very clear colour and no after taste. We both liked this one. The Chardonnay was a little more yellow in colour with melon fruit flavours and a medium-dry finish. Not really a hit with either of us. The Merlot Cab Blend was dark red in colour with smokey flavour and a mild finish. Jeff liked all three (although admittedly the Chardonnay was the weakest in his opinion), while Tara was really only happy with the Riesling. We did love the way that the flight was served in a hand held wine hanger!

Oregon Wine by the Bottle
For our bottle of wine, on recommendation of our server who was quite knowledgeable, we choose the Quady North 2008 Syrah 4-2, A. Quady North is a small lot winery located in Jacksonville, OR. The Quady family acquired the 100 acres of south facing hillside land in 2005. Production of their wines began in 2007 with their favourite varietals, Viognier, Syrah and Cabernet Franc.

Quady North Syrah Tasting
We are not sure why the full name of the wine is Quady North 2008 Syrah 4-2, A. The website was no help in shedding any light on the 4-2, A but we assume it likely has do with a specific area of the vineyard that the grapes for the wine are from. The Quady North Syrah is very dark in colour with a well balanced mixture of fruit and smokey flavours. Aged in French Oak this is great wine to be paired with a variety of food. You can buy the wine in a specialty store for about $25.00 per bottle. We’re glad we gave Oregon wine a try and will make an effort to expand our horizons in the future!

Jeff & Tara Ciecko of CK Golf Solutions write two blogs on their website, one is their 19th Hole Blog where they share personal experiences and the Biz Blog where they share business best practices and golf industry related opinions. They have owned CK Golf Solutions for 5 years and provide marketing, social media and business services to the golf and other industries.