Seattle, Vancouver Island, Willamette Valley, Portland the long way round

[TheRealTMA]

At smaller wineries one gets personal tastings in the cellar by appointment as this one at J.Christopher. http://www.jchristopherwines.com/en/




Every winery we visited greeted us warmly and many were fascinated that Australians would make a special trip to visit their ares. Owners and staff were very friendly and keen to discuss their wines and generally were very knowledgeable about the wines, soils, grape clones and the changes of vintages over recent years.


http://www.cristomvineyards.com/

 

[TheRealTMA]

On the drive north from Newberg to Portland we took in three more wineries. The WillaKenzie vineyards- one if the original wineries of the area,


again with nice gardens and flower boxes,

loverly, even luscious Pinots and the best, most extraordinary Chardonnay of the trip.




https://www.willakenzie.com/

 

[TheRealTMA]

One of the pioneers of the Willamette was Ponzi wines. "Dick and Nancy Ponzi moved their young family to the Willamette Valley in the late 1960s with a spirit of adventure and a passion for making world class Pinot Noir. After many research trips to Burgundy and an extensive search for the ideal location, they purchased 20 acres on a small farm just southwest of Portland, Oregon. It was a daring risk — at the time, the Pacific Northwest was not thought to be a place to grow Pinot Noir, but Dick and Nancy realized the Northern Willamette Valley's climate was ideal for cool climate varieties. Pinot Noir cuttings were planted, and in 1970 Ponzi Vineyards was founded. The methods, philosophies and winemaking passion established more than 40 years ago are still practiced today under the family's second generation." Ponzi Wines


Very fine tasting rooms and hilltop views.


[SUB]Three whites and three Pinots on tasting.
[/SUB]

Even had had a 20 yo Pinot taste for $10. "Have you ever tasted a 20 yo Pinot, Sir?", I was asked. Obviously my exquisite dress sense and corposity didn't reveal to the server the true WW in front of him. My comment on smelling the dark brown liquid, "Wine is the intermediate stage between grape juice and vinegar and this wine has long past that point." was greeted with "Oh, I tasted this bottle yesterday and it was drinking well". Sigh. I should have insisted he open a fresh bottle to prove the point but if he's serving wine and can't tell a brown oxidised vinegar from 20 yo Pinot, what's the point. Besides there were more wineries to visit.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Final winery of the trip was Cooper Mountain Vineyard. Established some years ago on the mountain but now slowly being swallowed up by the extension of McMansion estates 10 miles south of Portland. Cooper Mountain Vineyard


A couple of years ago, we did a wine trip to the Collio area of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of North East Italy and one of the discoveries was the wonderful Tokai Friulano (Sauvignon Vert) wines from this region. The main reason for choosing this winery was for their Tokai Friulano.

We were fortunate to have a long chat with Barbara Gross on this and she was impressed that we, Australians, would search them out for this specific wine. They are practically the only winery in the valley that grows it now. While some others have tried, it has not been successful. Copper Mountain vineyards have a private obsession with the grape and have been growing it for some 20 or so years after the owner (Dr. Robert J. Gross, Barbara's father) fell for it on a trip to Italy. She said they are now just realising the potential of the variety. The bottle we tasted was extremely good with great fruit on the middle palate combined with freshness and minerality.



The other whites were also very nice as were the Pinots.

 

[TheRealTMA]

In Portland, MrsTMA was let loose on Macy's, Nordstroms and other shoos while I went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for a tour of USS 581 - the Blueback. This was the sub used for the movie "The Hunt for Red October". USS Blueback (SS-581) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apparently the most modern submarine one can visit without joining the navy. Excellent 45 minute guided tour.

 

[TheRealTMA]

The BlueBack continued...





Torpedo room.

 

[TheRealTMA]

When we teamed up again, after small recovery, we had planned to go to the Rose Gardens but the weather looked like rain so we headed to the Portland Art Musem. Quite an impressive museum over a few buildings. We didn't bother with the European art but concentrated on the art of the NE, native culture and Central America.


Most impressive exhibit of Chinese zodiac heads - not open yet so we only saw a preview of Ai Weiwei - Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads from May 23rd. http://portlandartmuseum.org/exhibitions/aiweiwei/

 

[TheRealTMA]

Portland Art Museum cont...

 

[TheRealTMA]

Portland Art Museum cont..

Ceremonial hat.

Mask.

Incredibly fine embroidery.

Classic tribal bead work.

 

[TheRealTMA]

We stayed at The Nines, a Starwood property in the centre of downtown, actually above Macy's. Little strange since hotel started on level 8 with the Departure restaurant and lounge in the roof 15th floor and the Urban Farmer steakhouse on the 8th. Nice hotel, young feel but nice quite club lounge. We were given an upgrade to a corner club room.

Room.

View.

Club lounge with canapés from 4-6 and unusually for the US free wine.

And great desserts from 8-10.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Departure restaurant and lounge on 15th floor serves an Asian inspired cuisine and is very popular with the Portland set. Has a nice outdoor seating area and views over the city and the river.










We had 5-6 courses between us, took our own wine at $20 corkage, and total bill was $72 plus tip.

 

[TheRealTMA]

On the ground floor, the 8th, was Urban Farmer in the hotel atrium.



Good cheese cart.

Menu.

Steak tasting plate.

Nice dessert list, also available in the club lounge as tasting plates.

 

[TheRealTMA]

The weather cleared so on the Friday we headed out to the International Rose Test Garden and accompanying Japanese Gardens. Used Uber both ways with good results.
"One of Portland's nicknames is the City of Roses, and this town has long been an incubator for the scented beauties. Nearly a century ago, a farsighted citizen convinced the local government to set up a rose test garden during World War I to preserve the species of European roses that might be decimated by the bombings. Thus, in 1917, the gardens were born... and now one can wander among some 7000 rose bushes."
Portland: 10 Things to Do — 5. International Rose Test Garden - TIME

 

[TheRealTMA]

More roses.




Then moving on to the Japanese Gardens, apparently one of the best outside of Japan. The gardens are quite extensive with several different areas and take about an hour to complete the circuit.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Japanese Gardens cont...

 

[TheRealTMA]

On our last visit to Portland, we went to the highly awarded Le Pigeon restaurant so this time we tried their sister downtown French bistro- Little Bird. Excellent French food.


Traditional menu with a few twists.

Fried Quail.

Interesting take on Coq au Vin.

Chicken-fried Trout.

Dessert.

 

[TheRealTMA]

We had plenty of time on Saturday to drive the 3 hrs from Portland to the Seattle airport and despite Memorial Day weekend, the up traffic was light. There was one traffic jam due to a "blocking collision" as advised by overhead signage which added 15 minutes but we still had time to stop off in the Washington state capital of Olympia. Fairly deserted on the weekend so we could drive around and look at the Capitol building then we headed to the farmers market. Attractive produce and assorted nick nacks.




After the the market we headed further out to the harbour and boat moorings to an Andersons restaurant for our last meal on US soil.

Nice view of the inlet.

Wood fired roasted first of the season sockeye salmon.

Waygu burger and fries.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Made it to the Avis return in new rental car facility some way from airport with time to spare. Caught the shuttle bus to the airport, checked in and went to the lounge. EK use The Club at SEA lounge near gate 9 and flights leave from gate 16 so very close. Nice simple lounge with partitioned F section with waiter service and small food and snacks menu.


Flight was on 777 SEA-DXB was quiet, comfortable and uneventful. Food in F was not really up to usual EK standards but the wines made up for it.

We stayed overnight at the Airport hotel in DXB then went to the F lounge for dinner and breakfast. The F and J lounges are huge, well appointed with good restaurants and conveniently on the floors below the hotel. The hotel is reasonably priced, comfortable and suitable for a good overnight sleep and showers.


Entrance to the F lounge was empty at 8pm.

Very wide selection of self-serve food.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Dinner in the F lounge restaurant was very good. Restaurant was empty.




Langoustines.

Broth.

 

[TheRealTMA]

New York Striploin.

Excellent wines.


Plenty of side rooms and space in the lounges.

A380 flight to BNE left on time at 10:20 and arrived some half an hour early at 5:45 to a clear cool Brisbane autumn day.

Finaly home! Now have to go back to work to pay for it all, even though we feel like a good rest.

I hope you've enjoyed the TR. Might do it again next to time although editing the hundreds of photos each day can become difficult if one also wants to do other things. Also means one has to be relatively sober when one returns to the room each night.

TTFN.