Chehalem Mountains Wineries

Located in the hills north of Newberg, Adelsheim boasts a beautiful tasting room with a seated terrace overlooking estate vineyards. The tasting utilized high tech features (HD TV’s with zoom capability) to educate us on the vineyards, geography and terroir. This was an impressive discussion with equally impressive wines. Well done!

Bergstrom, started by a Swedish surgeon and his wife, now encompasses 84 acres of vineyards over 4 Willamette Valley AVA’s. They produce about 10,000 cases of ultra-premium wines including 9 different pinot noirs. We splurged on the Ekollon experience, which included exquisite food pairings with 7 different wines, and a setting in the barrel room. The wines were superb which made the whole experience very memorable.

Unpretentious, informative, engaging - all of these words describe the appointment for a visit and tasting at Chehalem winery. Wonderful wines and an artfully crafted food pairing are complimented by informative discussions with an extremely knowledgeable Hospitality Director. A walking visit to Corral Creek Vineyards really helps to cement the sense of terroir in the Chehalem mountains. For those wanting to only taste the wines, there is a tasting bar in Newberg that does not require an appointment.

Ponzi is one of the big producers in Willamette Valley and their winery is the kind of place adults could enjoy the better part of a day. The building is modern looking, wrapped in glass, possessing an interior that is elegantly modern and bright. The floor-to -ceiling glass looks out onto a beautiful terrace and some of the vineyards that produce truly wonderful wines. Bocce courts and plenty of terrace seating will round out your experience. Don’t miss the opportunity to upgrade your tasting with one of their special food and wine pairings.

Nestled atop a ridge that provides a commanding view of Chehalem mountains, this little winery is named after the many raptors that swoop over the estate vineyard that might only be pronounced correctly by locals…Tuscowallame. The winery is an intimate venue and we found ourselves 1on1 with our hostess during a week day visit. This is perfect winery for novice or experienced taster as the staff were very knowledgeable and approachable. The pinot noirs standout and are sourced from highly regarded vineyards such as Gran Moraine and Goodrich as well as their own Tuscowallame.

Rex Hill is now the flagship high end brand for the very large Oregon budget winery “A to Z.” While “A to Z” produces somewhere near 500,000 case a year, Rex Hill churns out only about 10,000. And as you might expect, there is a huge difference in quality. Rex Hill fruit is grown either at their estate or the Jacob-Hart vineyards; the latter has some places that are so rocky they were planted using a pick axe and cannot be farmed with a tractor. These are wines of high quality and we hope they are not lost in the vast empire that has become “A to Z.”