Both Goodfellow and Martin Woods taste right in town. At least add Brick House if you want to taste out at a winery. And Walter Scott for Chardonnay – you won’t regret it. You could hit all 4 in one day as they are basically all in the same area. You need to drive for Brick House and Walter Scott. Stay in McMinnville downtown and end with Goodfellow and Martin Woods so you can go on foot for those two, and then dinner and whatever you do in the evening can also be done by walking.
I also have the phone number of a taxi/van driver if you want it. He is a bit of a character but was very reliable for us. Next time I’m paying him for the entire day so I can get out of the cities more. But he dropped us at Brick House and then came back for us. And picked us up somewhere another day at like 1 AM to cart our drunken asses back to the hotel.
Nah the Chardonnay was good for sure, the best of their wines. I didn’t like it quite enough to buy it (given my limited capacity to cart wine around or to want to smash it by myself) but it was good.
We made a 1 day stop in Willamette during our road trip last spring and went to Domaine Serene and Argyle. I like wine but I’m not a wine person so I don’t know what the reputation of those places is. I enjoyed both of the spots. Serene was in a beautiful location on a hill overlooking the vineyards, I think we ended up buying a bottle of pinot or some kind of red blend from them. Argyle was in a smaller town just down the road from McMinnville, they had Riesling and sparkling wines which I’m a fan of.
One of the best beers I’ve ever come across. 10% that drinks like a 6%. Not overly hoppy, (which I generally don’t mind) and no strong aftertaste. It’s kind of funny because Goose Island’s normal IPA is actually my least favorite IPA I’ve ever had but this one bangs
Found my records - these are the bottles I ordered from Martin Woods after our tasting visit:
I don’t think we tasted a Gamay there, but we did taste the Jessie James PN. I recall liking the one I ordered better, but can’t recall why. I’m also generally trying to weight my purchases a bit more toward whites right now as my cellar is a little out of my preferred balance. (I drink a lot more white now than I used to.)
3 Floyds Dismembers Only
Imperial Milk Stout aged for over a year in bourbon barrels with cocoa nibs, dried bananas, and cherries added.
I was fairly hesitant about this given the description, but I thought this was fantastic. Contrary to some of the reviews I read, I didn’t think any of the described flavors dominated or even stood out that much. Very sweet, probably sickeningly sweet for some, but I had no problem finishing the whole 12 oz bottle. Couldn’t tell the ABV was 13.5%. I wish I had bought a 4-pack instead of the single bottle.
Founders Blushing Monk
An old school banger that I have in bombers, but that they’ve also started selling in 12 oz 4-packs. I could tell this wasn’t fresh, but it still held up pretty well for being 7 years old, and I had no problem getting through the whole thing in one sitting. If you like raspberries at all, I’d highly recommend picking up a 4-pack if you see it.
The one character trait this beer reveals is that I’m very inconsistent in terms of picking out a beer to drink based on ABV. “Oh, that 12 oz stout is 12%, I couldn’t possibly drink that tonight. But this 750ml bottle of 9.2% fruit beer seems perfect.” It’s like deciding that I don’t have time to watch a movie at night, then immediately wasting 3 hours fucking around on my phone.
Right now I’m drinking a bottle of Maison Leroy. Her gamey though, which might be the only bottle from her I could afford, but hey it’s pretty excellent. (I guess technically I could afford the bourgogne rouge, if I wanted to spend $150+ on a bourgogne.)
