Well, as with most trips, not everyting goes according to plan. Arriving in Portland on schedule, we hit the Pearl District which is a new up-and-coming area where they’ve turned old warehouses into flats and apartments. Very cool, indeed, and we stopped off at the Bridgeport Brewery/Pub for some lunch and to catch up on the mid-day east coast college football games.
As such, we were going to cut it too close to our scheduled tour with Beaux Freres, so we had to skip Oak Knoll. Oh well, not off to a good start according to plan, but a good vacation is always one where you can be the most flexible. No need to stress over it. Turned out to be a good move as we stumbled across Penner-Ash as a replacement to our schedule and has turned out to be our #2 favorite winery overall this trip.
The 2006 Goldschmidt Pinot Noir was my favorite with some smoke and chocolate on the nose kind of reminding us of Bailey’s and some blackberrry, spice and white pepper before the long finish. One thing we learned here is that most Pinot is aged in French Oak because American Oak tends to be too aggressive.
This place was just magnificent with a very helpful and attentive staff, beautiful view and decorative/spacious tasting room.
Here’s more: http://www.winetonite.com/?page_id=100
