Local Thanksgiving Wine Tastings

Thanksgiving weekends, both before and after, are a great time to taste the wines made right here in Oregon. Often the tasting rooms have a little more going on, some extra munchies, a few futures tastings, and music so it's a good time to check 'em out. Hubby and I went 'round to some faves and I thought you might like to hear about them.
The weekend before Thanksgiving we drove down south on 99w (Pacific Hwy) to check out Benton Lane  we're fond of their Rose and have bought a ton of Pinot from them. The 2011 Pinot Gris has been on the summer table and was a big hit.
We stopped off at Hard Times Distillery  Hubbie has written about them on his Blog Corvallis Epicurean. He's fond of their Vodka Sugar Momma and I like their Sweet Baby Moonshine. Chill it down and sip it out in the yard, man! that's nice!

We walked out of there with a bottle of their Wasabi flavored vodka for a gift. I know someone who likes Shushi, figured they could try it.
Much to our surprise, just down the street, was Broadley a winery that doesn't open half as often as we would like. So we walked over and had some really good tasting! We liked the 2011 Pinot Noir. they had a few 'futures' wines - just bottled not quite ready for selling but you can reserve some if you think it will become a good wine. It was nice trying them out.

We went off to Hood River for a Thanksgiving visit with my daughter. Stayed at our favorite  Lodge for a few days and had a wonderful buffet at  Skamania Lodge  and then home again to the kitties.

This Saturday we drove over to a special event tasting at Harris Bridge Vineyard. A favorite of ours Nuthatch Cellars was pouring with them. We have had some very good wines from Nuthatch we've bought their '08 and '09 Pinot and this day we bought another '09 Malbec. All good stuff. We had not tasted from Harris Bridge so this was a great introduction. They make dessert wines and use a process that (in my humble opinion) allows for more flavor and less sugar forward. We bought some of the "Magnolia" and decided to join their wine club.

Tastings are a great place to meet kindred spirits and learn from others about the local wine scene. We met some wonderful people there and are hoping to have them over for a tasting soon. Its not for naught they are called Harris Bridge. Right outside the door is a lovely Covered bridge. With all the rain the water was flowing high and noisily along.
Back at home we tried to find a place to put all we've bought. Speaking of buying, we have a favorite wine shop in Corvallis: Wineopolis, 151 NW Monroe Ave Corvallis, OR 97330 (541) 738-1600. Our good friend Jerry Larson carries Nuthatch, Broadley and Harris Bridge, not sure about Benton Lane.Here  is an article about the store.
I hope everyone had as good a Thanksgiving Holiday as we did.