Back, and Forth: Wineries pour their best at Thanksgiving
With a bowl of soup as my centerpiece interest, I spent the day after Thanksgiving touring a few Carlton-area wine locations, which served as a microcosm of what is a rising local wine vibe each November.
Tastings and events happened throughout Yamhill County, and while they will continue through Christmas, it is true that all over the state Thanksgiving Weekend has confirmed its place as a pivotal pairing of wine, food, and people.
“Busy. Crazy busy,” said winemaker Sean Davis of Marshall Davis, 125 W. Main St., although he referred to the previous weekend, when Marshall Davis and many other wines put on pre-Thanksgiving tastings.
The weekend perked up after what was a gentle start on Friday, Nov. 24, when people were focused on the two other cultural draws of the day after Thanksgiving: shopping, and the rivalry game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University football teams. It felt suddenly quiet at around 3 p.m. in fact, as people headed for home for the kickoff.
So while the four wineries I visited (and a fifth wine-buying opportunity) that day were far from empty, it gave plenty of elbow room to folks sampling and hanging out.
One exception was Abbey Road Farm, which had a packed tasting room as that Friday marked the opening of its annual holiday market, featuring dozens of local and regional vendors, followed by the 4 p.m. start of the holiday wine lights attraction: vivid lighting displays all over the property.
You can read more in Along the Street in this edition about this all-ages holiday attraction, well worth the drive out the hilly north valley countryside to take in a veritable circuit of Christmas splendor, with displays including a purple-and-pink peacock and the symbols of the 12 days of Christmas. The lights shine for free viewing each weekend through Christmas. (I enjoyed the added entertainment of manic barn cats scurrying among the displays.)
This was the second Thanksgiving for the expanded tasting room at Abbey Road, already one of the area’s largest wine facilities, and for La Biblioteca, one of the smallest, with its intimate tasting room at 118 W. Main St. in Carlton. “Technically it’s the second, but we were pretty new for the first,” said Monica Swanson, La Biblioteca hospitality manager, describing response as “Pretty good, a decent amount of foot traffic.” With its motto “Wine is bottled poetry,” the book-lined tasting room consists of five tables in the well-lit main parlor, and a cozy second room perfect for 2-4 people.
Across the street at Marshall Davis, the family-owned winery was featuring Bloodline, released at Halloween, an unusual 75 percent Syrah, 25 percent Cabernet Sauvignon.
“It’s a very large wine. Big reds always do well in Pinot country,” Matt Davis said. Of its boldness, Davis said a friend had commented upon tasting it, “that’s an Australian blend.” Davis said he replied, “No, it’s an American blend.”
Down the street at Stone Griffon, the winery provided a cozy offering for the second year: harvest squash soup created by owner Carol Fredrick, whose husband, Terry McIntyre, is winemaker at the 16-year-old winery. Fredrick roasts several varieties of squash and combines it with freshly-made chicken stock.
“It adds a little more interest. It’s soup weather,” Fredrick said.
Weekend response has been “very positive,” she said. “A quiet day after Thanksgiving.” In the tasting room’s back area, folks filled most of the tables sampling wines under McIntyre’s guidance.
Carol said some people counseled Terry not to plant Tempranillo but her persevered.
“Terry really loves big reds, but the other piece is more fortuitous,” she said. “Felix Madrid had planted a bunch of Tempranillo and had not used all the starts, and said, ‘take them if you want,’ because he knew we loved Tempranillo.
“Many had said we can’t do Tempranillo in the valley, which is not true, because Felix had very nice ones,” she said.
On my way out of Carlton proper, I followed the Tempranillo connection to Carlo and Julian Winery, where a time-honored sign greets visitors: “Wine Paradise.”
Jim Bandy was minding the tasting room in relief of Madrid, the owner-winemaker. “He’s a one-man operation,” Bandy said, pouring Grenache, Pinot and Tempranillo in the tiny tasting room immediately adjacent to the wine production area (1000 E. Main St.) With its family photos and locally-produced (some distinctly erotic) paintings, it’s a pleasant, cloister-like setting, with its back-bar back-lit stained glass panel, repurposed from a church, reading “Come Work In My Vineyard.”
Heading east, down the road from Lafayette Trappist Abbey, the setting sun cast golden light on Worden Hill between Lafayette and Dundee, and activities were both winding down and starting up at Abbey Road Farm, the sprawling winery-hotel-event venue (10501 N.E. Abbey Road).
“Busy, definitely,” said Kristen Baxter, events manager, between the market and the wine walk, and expansion a year ago accommodated the rush.
“We found with our original space if the weather was not so great we ran out of space real quickly, which is a good problem to have…” Baxter said.
“It makes it much more comfortable to hang out,” Baxter said. Yet people were gathered outside under tables and next to space heaters, sampling wine and watching the wine lights — and the natural light of the waxing moon.
On the green in front of the tasting room, a family tossed a football around in the crisp dusk air.
I thought of how far wineries have come since I started drinking local wines in 1979 and covering the young Willamette Valley industry in 1981 while working at the newspaper in Dallas. In those days, you needed an invitation from a winemaker to visit, and the tasting room was a picnic table or card table set up, usually just on weekends, on the concrete in the winery or perhaps in a little outdoor garden. Tastings were free, though within a couple of years wineries figured out they could charge $1 per taste or a flat $5 visiting fee. Again, this was 1983, not 2023.
At Stone Griffon, I ate harvest soup along with Portland retiree Tim O’Connor, who had worked in wine marketing. We both sampled the award-winning Tempranillo. Referring to the light crowds, O’Conner noted, “Years ago, tasting room fees were a lot smaller. People have to be a lot more selective.”
As is often the case, wine events are about more than what’s inside the corked vessels. Food, makers’ fairs, and music are also part of the fun. Abbey Road also hosted a Wine Country Pride table where volunteers answered questions and sold wine glasses and other gear to support LGBTQ programs throughout the year.
Another local program got a boost over the weekend: at McMinnville Holiday Market, sales of Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir supported the Youth Enrichment Services (YES) program, via its participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Station literacy project. Sales of $25 bottles of wine help pay for weekly books provided free to children up to five years old. The YES program will be back at the holiday market on Dec. 15-16 at The Bindery.
Kirby Neumann-Rea, the N-R’s managing editor, enjoys books, craft beer, Celtic music and basketball. He can be reached at kirby@newsregister.com.
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