After a couple of days in Dundee and Yamhill I decided I need to subscribe to a Portland wine club. The wine there is truly amazing. The first club I found was the Pacific Northwest Wine Club. It’s heavy on Portland wines, but also includes other Northwest greats from Washington to Idaho. They even include some wine from Northwest California. And oh do they have great wines. How is this so? Because of their extensive vetting process. Each year they develop a wine plan of certain varietals for each month. Then samples are requested from all of these wineries and a panel does a blind taste test of all the options. The top rated red and white wines are the ones purchased and presented to wine club members. So there’s no label bias and they’re not pushing the wines they got the best deal on… they only ship what tates the best. Many of us have sampled California wines… isn’t it time we gave the Northwest a try? After my time in Portland I must say there really are some amazing wines waiting to be discovered. Unlike other clubs having multiple types of clubs, at the Pacific Northwest WIne Club it’s simply the best the Pacific Northwest has to offer - nothing more and nothing less.

For Portland locals or those of you visiting Portland I’d recommend the club Portland Uncorked. It’s also a wine club, but not of the usual variety. It’s a 100% free club that’s all about tasting new Portland wines and meeting new people. Everyone gets a member card and will receive notices of where the club is meeting next. I think this is a fabulous idea. I need to find something like this in San Francisco.

Well it’s time for me to signoff for the night. See you next week!

-Wine Club Insider

Organic Wine, USA Wine, Wine Club, Wine Education, Wine Glasses, Wine Reviews pacific northwest, portland, portland uncorked, Wine Club

So while in Dundee, OR I decide to try some of the local cuisine after a day of wine tasting. I asked several people and they all recommended a brand new restaurant called Farm to Fork. It’s near the end of the strip in Dundee on the right hand side (driving north to south). Since everyone recommended it I figured we should at least give it a try. There are only 9 tables in the restaurant which makes it quite quaint.  I tried to find a website, but I don’t think they’ve even set one up yet. Fortunately Farm to Fork is on Yelp. It looks like everyone had the same experience as me… amazing food! And tons of local Portland wine to fully satisfy your pallet. And the prices weren’t that high. It really seemed like a great value. Oh wait.. I just found the website. It’s part of the hotel Inn at Redhills. Just for the food alone I’d recommend staying at this hotel. The chef at Farm to Fork is Paul Bachand and he uses only the finest local ingredients. I started with the Warm Truffled Goat Cheese Tart and follwed it with the Superior Farms Leg of Lamb, which was braised in red wine. Mmmm.. it makes my mouth water just thinking about it now. So if you’re ever in Dundee after a day of wine tasting be sure to checkout this restaurant. You won’t be disappointed!

Cheers,

Wine Club Insider

Uncategorized dundee, fine cuisine, food, local food, portland, Wine Tasting

I was in Portland recently and I ventured down to wine country. The main cities are Newberg, Dundee, and Lafayette. There’s also Yamhill a little farther out which is supposedly the up and coming area. While in Newberg I checked out a couple of tasting rooms. My first stop was Hip Chicks do Wine. It’s a 100% women owned and run company. For $10 I was able to sample 8 different wines. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised! They were quite amazing. You can checkout all of their wines on their site www.hipchicksdowine.com. They also have a wine club worth checking out. This winery was founded by Laurie and Renee, who both didn’t know much about wine until they dove in and just starting experimenting. They describe themselves both as ‘cooler’ girls who first discovered wine in the old days when coolers were actually made with wine. They took wine making courses in Oregon and started developing wines. Though they have many higher end wines the founders favorite is still ‘pink and fizzy’. So for something tasty and a little less pretentious I’d suggest checking out Hip Chicks do Wine.

USA Wine fizzy, hip chicks do wine, newberg, oregon, pink, portland

Did everyone see the movie Julie and Julia? If not I’d highly recommend it! Since most Wine lovers are also Foodies I’m sure you’ll like the movie. It’s about Life and Food. After seeing the movie I was inspired to cook a little more so I picked up Julia’s cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. If you have the book turn to page 287 and you’ll find her Coq au Vin recipe. She uses half a bottle of red wine in the recipie. You could also do white, but the classic recipe calls for red. I’d recommend any dry red wine. Just make sure the wine you cook with you also serve on the table. Julia’s specifically recommended a Zinfandel, Macon or Chianti. Her Coq au Vin recipie can be found on ABC and a zillion other sites. For those that don’t want to open a new window  I’ve pasted the recipie below:

Red Wine, Zinfandel cooking, cooking with wine, coq au vin, julia child, recipe