OREGON'S WILLAMETTE VALLEY A GREAT ESCAPE
By Lauren Kramer
(for Travel Writers' Tales )

If you need a few days break from ‘real life' consider heading south into Oregon's Willamette Valley. Sandwiched between the coastal mountains on one side and the Cascades on the other, the valley is the state's burgeoning wine country, where lush, meandering hills and dales are heavily populated with wineries, the majority of them small family-owned enterprises.

I spent the night at one of them, the Black Walnut Inn and Vineyard, a palatial, Tuscan-style inn that sits high up on a hill overlooking rows of neatly planted vineyards. The 15-acre property has expansive rooms, cozy, fireplace-lit nooks and embracingly warm decor, making it a fabulous place to breathe in the beauty of the region. My first night I sat before an outdoor fireplace on the terrace, soaking in the quiet beauty of the wine country. At breakfast the next day my frittata came adorned with edible flowers and herbs snipped that day from local farms. Fueled and fortified, I set out to explore.

The valley is home to 700 wineries and tasting rooms, and within a 20-mile radius of the inn there's no less than 250 of them. Throw a stone in any direction and chances are, you'll hit a winery! The fabulous wines being produced in the valley are garnering industry awards, international attention and respect for their sophisticated notes. If you appreciate good wine, you can't go far wrong in this neck of the woods.

To get a sense of the valley's sheer expanse I boarded a helicopter and took to the skies for a ‘Tour DeVine.' Soaring 800 feet in the air the land spread before us, its foliage a lush electric green from spring growth. Vineyards ran in comb-like patterns across the land, interspersed with picturesque farm homes where you can just picture a fresh apple pie on the kitchen table.

Our first stop was Zenith Vineyard for a tasting of pinot gris and a chat with Jenn Stein, Zenith's hostess. “Our winemakers received a huge confidence boost in 2016, when Wine Spectator named the Willamette Valley wine region of the year,” she reflected. “It gave us the assurance that our wine profiles had validity and could hold their own.” Over glasses of Zenith's auxerrois, pinot noir and tempranillo – all bold, tasty wines with rich flavors - we learned about the 90-acre sustainable wine farm where no pesticides or herbicides are applied.

Sustainability is a key word at several of the Willamette Valley's vineyards. At a picnic lunch at Maysara Vineyard, Mo Momtazi discussed his biodynamic farming, a series of holistic practices focused on pesticide-free, clean, conscious plantings. “We believe this allows for a superior expression of our terroir in our wines,” he said. It's certainly reaping results for Momtazi, who planted the vineyard in 1997 and treats his vines with a steeped tea made from stinging nettles. “Consumers are becoming more conscious of what they put into their bodies and starting to realize that not all wine is equal.”

Later I spent an indulgent afternoon sauntering around McMinville. Once a hub for walnut farming, the walnut groves have been replaced with vineyards in recent years. As a result, the sleepy city of 33,000 is enjoying a renaissance as brewers and vintners attract tourists to their tasting rooms and become increasingly successful. The historic downtown is home to Atticus, a sleek, new hotel and the sweetly old world main street is lined with mom-and-pop cafes, wine tasting rooms, gift shops and boutiques. There's a ‘wine walk' where you can sip your way through 15 downtown tasting rooms and a grainery district where outdoor concerts have become a summertime staple and old grain warehouses have been gracefully reincarnated into coffee shops, breweries and cellars. This is the place to hang out, enjoy the vibe and people-watch on a gorgeous sunny day. With a cold drink in your hand and a farm-to-fork meal on the horizon, this is a place that makes ‘real life' feel far, far away.

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Travel Writers' Tales is an independent newspaper syndicate that offers professionally written travel articles to newspaper editors and publishers. To check out more, visit www.travelwriterstales.com

IF YOU GO:

•  The Willamette Valley's Black Walnut Inn (blackwalnutvineyard.com) offers palatial, Tuscan-style lodging.

•  Helicopter wine tasting is offered by Precision LLC (tourdevinebyheli.com)

•  TravelOregon.com is a great resource for all things travel related in Oregon

PHOTOS: as credited below.

1. WV Winery Scenics: Acres of vineyards run comb-like through the valley, a vista that is deeply calming. ( credit: Taylor Higgins )

2. Black Walnut Approach ( photo credit: Grace Young)

3. BWIV South View : Sitting on a hilltop overlooking the vineyard, the Black Walnut Inn is a boutique, high-end property and a decadent base from which to savour the Willamette's bounty. ( photo credit: Grace Young )