Almost Done...

This whole adventure has been more about process than about product. It has given me a chance to learn about the Oregon Wine industry and about the people who live and work around it. I have met people who just travel around pruning, planting, weeding, and generally helping out for little pay, people who have invested their entire savings on a few acres and only grow grapes for others to use, and others who have created small kingdoms that employ hundreds of people in the various tasks related to wine.
I have tasted acidic, harsh, and unpleasant wines that were made from the very same grape that produced a wine so lush and full that drinking it seemed a sin.
But the quest continues.
South and east to Cave Junction and up the road towards Oregon caves leads us to Bridgeview Winery and a chance meeting with a rancher from Idaho, Holly Flowers, who owns and operated the Alpha Omega Ranch where she raises grass fed animals. Her dream is to raise yaks but the other ranchers nixed that idea, so horses, goats, cows and pigs it is. She was hauling a cow she came all the way to Cane Junction to buy, and on the way back she loaded up with wines.
The winery is famous for its second line wines sold in stores all over the world as Blue Moon. Yes, the ones in the blue bottle you see EVERYWHERE. They make a lot of wine and their reserve wines really are good. Tim Woodhead gave me a bottle of their Viognier 2007. I tasted through the whites and reds and ended up buying a couple of bottles.
I headed out the gate, past the swans, and turned down the road to the most remote winery in western Oregon: Foris. Holly was close behind hauling her trailer, with a cow that was getting lots of scenic views. We tasted the reds and whites and Jennifer (on the right) presented me with a bottle of Maple Ranch Pinot Noir. This is a delicious wine with great character and depth. Described by them as "Wonderful purity of fruit in the nose, red and black fruits layered with spice, cocoa and cedar aromas. Beguiling aromas, complex and ever changing in the glass. A hint of forest floor, a little touch of fine herbs, clove and allspice all add depth and complexity. While rich and full in texture, the fine tannins add structure and the wine finishes with a silky flourish of flavor". This wine shows the true meaning of terroir. As you stand and look around and see all the things that effect the wine and taste the forest and fresh clean air you begin to understand how much the "where" matters with wine.
Long drive back to the Applegate Valley and Troon, where I picked up a bottle of their Old Vine Meratage, Wooldridge, where Kara gave me a bottle of 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon,and Schmidt where the Judy presented a bottle of their wonderful Perennial White 2007.
The last stop was for a bottle of Velocity 2005 Red Wine, from grapes in the Rogue Valley, at RoxeyAnn, where I ate very good cheese, bread, and drank a glass of their wonderful Claret.
Next week is the very last road trip for wine.