Off The Beaten Path Oregon’S Willamette Valley Is Home To Cozy Bed And Breakfasts, Wineries And Dazzling Rose Gardens
The covey of hot-air balloons lifted off at daybreak and began drifting over Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
An envious commuter steered his car to the side of the highway and called to the passengers: “I’ll trade places with you!”
Cathy Driver smiled as she watched her company’s bright-colored balloons glide through the morning mist.
Her pilot husband, Roger Anderson, waved to ground-bound spectators - then, with fiery blasts, triggered his balloon’s propane burners to gain altitude.
“Up, up and away!” a passenger whooped.
“There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being up there,” Cathy Driver said.
The balloon flight was the finale of a Willamette Valley getaway that included cozy bed-and-breakfast inns, wine tastings, memorable meals, antique hunting and a stroll through gardens perfumed by thousands of antique roses.
All this, only an hour or so southwest of Portland, where the roar of freeway traffic fades and signs point to winery tasting rooms and to farm-equipment show rooms stuffed with John Deere tractors.
Newberg (pop. 16,765), about 22 miles from Portland, and McMinnville (pop. 23,500), nine miles down Highway 99W from Newberg, were the anchor points for our Willamette Valley itinerary.
Along the way, we also explored a trio of small towns - Dundee, for first-rate dining and welcoming wineries; Lafayette, for antiques and collectibles; and St. Paul for dazzling floral displays at Heirloom Old Garden Roses.
This is Yamhill County, a magnet for wine lovers who know their prize-winning pinot noir and pinot gris vintages.
At last count, there were 55 wineries in the Willamette Valley - 37 of those in Yamhill County.
Why do pinots excel here?
“It’s the climate, the soil, the drainage, the way the sun hits the plants,” says Sherri Roman of Erath Vineyards. “This part of Oregon is on the same latitude as Burgundy in France.”
Any time is a good time to roam this emerald valley.
Roman suggests mid-September to mid-October, when Erath and several other wineries are crushing grapes.
“We do three tours a day (by appointment) during the `crush,”’ she says.
Cathy Driver’s Vista Balloon Adventures schedules daily flights from April through October.
It used to be that visitors roamed the valley mostly on weekends.
“That’s not the case any longer,” Driver says. “We’re getting more weekday travelers who want to avoid crowds. Many people now have home-based businesses and can get away on flexible schedules.”
Joan Davenport makes memories - and wines - at Wine Country Farm. Her B&B/tasting room is in the pretty Red Hills above Dundee.
The view from the inn’s gazebo sweeps across the valley to Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson in the Cascades.
“This is just a lovely place to live,” Davenport says.
“I’ve been a bank executive, and once I was in charge of an airline that flew celebrities such as Bob Hope and Sammy Davis Jr.
“But then I realized I like side roads, back roads and big, old places like this farm.”
Davenport’s 13-acre estate includes a main house built in 1910. Croquet, horse shoes and horse-and-buggy rides are available, along with pinot noir, riesling and other offerings.
“Stay awhile,” the innkeeper urges. “There’s a double hammock out there, beyond the gazebo.”
Tempting, but we have an appointment with Nick down in McMinnville.
Nick - that’s Nick Peirano, proprietor of Nick’s Italian Cafe, one of Oregon’s top-rated restaurants.
Peirano helped put McMinnville on visitor maps back in 1977, when competition from strip malls and big-box retailers threatened to empty McMinnville’s historic downtown district.
Curious travelers began wandering into town to sample dishes at Nick’s that were winning praise from restaurant reviewers. Nick poured little-known local wines for his customers, and it wasn’t long before Yamhill County’s wine industry was in high gear.
“We were lucky,” Peirano says. “The timing was right.”
That timing included a gutsy effort by local merchants to save Northeast Third Street, McMinnville’s leafy main stem.
One observer said in 1986 that the vacancy rate along Northeast Third was so high that “decrepitude had settled like a shabby sweater around downtown’s shoulders.”
That same year property owners formed the McMinnville Downtown Association - and taxed themselves on a squarefootage formula to begin revitalization projects.
Now visitors find restaurants, wine shops, bookstores, art galleries and other successful establishments strung along seven blocks in the heart of town.
“Are we proud?” asks Patti Webb, the association’s manager. “You bet we are.”
Downtown’s crown jewel is the new-old Hotel Oregon.
The four-story landmark dates to 1905. To survive in lean years, various owners had to rent space in the hotel for businesses ranging from a beauty parlor to a realestate office.
No longer. Oregon’s venturesome McMenamin brothers invested more than $3 million this year to reopen the Hotel Oregon with 42 guest rooms, a popular pub, a rooftop lounge and other attractions.
The pub grub must be good. We saw Nick Peirano dining there the other day.
“Cheers!”
This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO Willamette Valley
Getting there: Driving south from Portland, take the Tualitin-Sherwood exit from Interstate 5, then follow signs to Newberg and McMinnville on Highway 99W.
Wine touring maps: Yamhill County Wineries Association. Phone: (503) 646-2985. Internet: www.yamhillwine.com Balloon flights: Vista Balloon Adventures. Prices for one-hour flights and a post-flight picnic are $179 a person for one to three people; $160 a person for groups of four or more.
Phone: (800) 622-2309 or (503) 625-7385. Internet: www.vistaballoon.com Rose gardens: Heirloom Old Garden Roses, featuring 1,500 varieties of antique roses that bloom from mid-May through October. Phone: (503) 538-1576.
Information: Greater McMinnville Chamber of Commerce, (503) 472-6196.
McMinnville Downtown Association, (503) 472-3605; www.onlinemac.com/business/ mda. Newberg Chamber of Commerce, (503) 538-2014.
Dundee Visitor Information, (503) 538-3922.