The 2010 HOB Wine Tour Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Because of the time change, most of us were up early.   Complimentary breakfast at the hotel is included and everyone took advantage of it. Our first appointment was at 11a so we all piled into the vans at 10:15a and headed north to Carlton to taste Eric Hamacher's wines.   The Carlton Winemakers Studio .. .. is home to ten winemakers who share this modern "green" winery.  Eric Hamacher is the winemaker for three of the ten wineries.   He met us at the tasting room.. .. and we had a detailed tour of the facility.  This is a truly unique winery; have you ever been to one with a climbing wall?. Ater the tour, we tasted five of his wines which were delicious.   The tour and talk reminded us of Wes Hagen and Clos Pepe in Santa Barbara; both he and Eric are steeped (deeply!) in the science and art of winemaking.   Fascinating. And then Eric introduced us to Lindsay Woodard, owner of Retour Wine Company and her 2008 Retour Pinot Noir.   She's just getting started as a winemaker, but she's got years of experience in other aspects of the wine business.   Very tasty with a pretty ambitious price-point. Gael had brought along sandwiches and, since this year the schedule had little time for lunch, we ate on the patio outside the winery (Fran, too!). We spent so much time with Eric and Lindsay that we were forced to cancel our appointment at Cana's Feast Winery (nearby) and saddled up for our visit with Robin at Panther Creek Cellars. This winery is housed in a decades old building in downtown McMinnville, actually the town's old power plant.   The facility reminded us of our visit to Jaffurs in Santa Barbara.   The tasting room.. .. was tucked into the front of the winery with two dogs (a pug and a lab mix) and a cat whose only interest was to attempt escape when anyone came through the door.   The wines were fine and Robin.. .. gave us a brief tour before we headed out for Domaine Serene. It was a pretty good drive to Domaine Serene but worth it for the beautiful setting atop a hill with the road winding up through the vineyards.   It's an elegant, upscale facility.. .. but we didn't think the wines were up to the presentation.   We spent only a short (but loving) time there.. ..before heading off to our last winery of the day, Kristin Hill. This is a rustic little place seemingly operated as a kind of hobby by the owners, two retired Army Colonels who were vacationing in Alaska while we were there. We were hosted by the ever-so-friendly and earthy Becky.. .. who seemed happy to have visitors.   She seemed lonely and that's not surprising as the winery was tough to find.  The fact that they have no web site might have been a clue... The property was covered with old trees.  This one was a treasure: We tasted the Kristin Hill wines out on a patio in the shady comfort of old, old trees and beautiful Oregon weather. We had such a good time with Becky that it made up completely for the undistinguished wines.   Our favorites were "Fizzy Lizzie" (a sparkling pinot) and their port.   It was such a relaxing hour enjoying the lovely, rustic setting. Dinner arrangements tonight were to be a surprise at Prudence Uncorked in Salem. Once again I made a turn and lost the girls' minivan in Salem.   We were reunited only about fifteen minutes late for our 6:30p reservation. Being on time was important because we had booked a special Winemakers Dinner.   This was a fixed-price event with five courses and five wines to be described by the winemaker and owner of Sass Winery, Jerry Sass: Our tardiness forced the other dinner guests (about a dozen) to wait for us.   But what could have been an unfortunate coolness dissolved in Oregonian hospitality when they learned that Fran was with us (sorta). The portions were quite small but very tasty and two of the five wines were outstanding.  All of us plan to order the 2008 Pinot Noir which has a great price-point. Since we were only a few blocks from the hotel, Bob and Mary elected to walk back and the rest of us drove back in the minivans -- and so, to sleep.