Saturday, August 14, 2010
All our wineries today are in and around Salem proper so we won't have so far to drive.
We met in the lobby at 10:15a..
.. and headed out to Witness Tree Vineyard.
Lordy, we arrived early! An HOB 2010 world's record! We were met by Annie (from the
Netherlands, originally)..
.. and soon were joined by the winemaker Steven Westby.
He's been in one aspect or another of the wine business "forever" as he put it, and is now winemaker at
Witness Tree. The consensus of the group was great wine, testified to by multiple
purchases.
Speaking of the "group", we were joined today by Steve and Allie (from dinner last night)..
..and Cal and Jan Smith, friends of Bob and Mary..
.. making us thirteen at Witness Tree.
Wondering why the winery is named "Witness Tree"? Here's the story:
..and here's the tree:
From there we visited Bethel Heights.
They have a lovely tasting room and a spectacular view:
Jennifer..
.. was kind enough to allow us to picnic in their tasting room (a
good thing because it was HOT again today in the Willamette Valley.
Eschewing a nap once again today, we motored to St. Innocent Winery. They have a lovely piece of property:
Here is their logo rendered in corks:
While their tasting room was lovely..
..seeing the size of our group (now back to eleven as Steve and
Allie headed back to WA), we had our tasting in the winery surrounded by barrels and
fermentation tanks. Wineries smell GREAT! Rich led us through their wines and did a
great job.
OK, we're getting a little goofy, now..
Then it was off to the last winery of the day and, indeed, the last winery for HOB 2010, Evesham Wood Vineyards. They have a great view of Mt. Hood: 
We were met by the outgoing owner Russ Raney..
.. and the new owner Erin Nuccio.
Erin and his wife Jordan had just purchased the winery from Russ and Mary and we stumbled into the
middle of the transition. Erin is also the winemaker for his own label Haden Fig.
Erin took us into the caves and we were treated to our second barrel tasting of
HOB 2010.
While we were there, the winery workers were going through the racking process:
Gael fell in love with the 2009 Pinot which won't hit the bottle until 2011.
We're on the mailing list!
Today was planned with wineries near Salem; when we finished up at Evesham Wood,
we zipped back to the hotel to rest up for an hour and half before leaving for dinner at
the Silver Grille Cafe & Wines in Silverton. Steven at Witness Tree confirmed that their food would be excellent there so we were hopeful.
The GPS took us to Silverton nicely and we were only about our usual 15 minutes late.
We were greeted by Doris who would be taking care of us tonight. The restaurant was
closed except for our party and some friends of the owner. We knew that they were
catering a big wedding but promised they could handle us with the available crew. They
had no one bussing tables so all the work fell to poor Doris. Naomi (we think), the wife of the
owner was there but had nothing to do with us except to deliver some bread after we'd
asked for it four times. Service was slow but worth waiting for. Everyone pronounced
their dishes excellent. Newsom bought a bottle of St. Innocents 2008 Pinot Noir and
we enjoyed it even more than at the winery this afternoon.
Another GPS glitch caused us to change the caravan order with the girls' van in the
lead. We got back to the hotel in good order and gathered in the lobby for a closing
glass of Port which, you recall, we received from Becky at Kristin Hill.
Tired, sated, and wined-out we all headed to our rooms for our 8a departure for Portland
in the morning.
The 2010 HOB Wine Tour is now in the record books and the participants said they had
a great time. Glad to do it!
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