Columbia Gorge Wine Travel Guide

Ep 165

What if your next great wine trip is hiding in the Columbia Gorge? 

After a recent trip to the Columbia Gorge, I knew I had to share more about this unique wine region. Sitting right on the border of Washington and Oregon, the Columbia Gorge is full of beautiful views, laid-back tasting rooms, and wineries producing everything from red, white, sparkling, orange, and dessert wines to unique grape varieties you may not see in other Washington wine regions. 

In this episode, I’m sharing a little bit of the history, geography, and climate that make the Columbia Gorge such an exciting place for wine. I’ll also walk you through some of the wineries I visited, a few spots that are still on my list, and practical tips for planning your own trip, including where to stay, where to eat, and how to map out your tasting itinerary.

Whether you're planning a Pacific Northwest vacation or simply looking for your next wine adventure, the Columbia Gorge is a wine region worth adding to your list!

Resources:

My Trip to France: Jura Wine 101 - https://www.corkandfizz.com/blog/guide-to-wine-podcast-episode-79

Inside the most underrated Wine Region in Washington w/ AniChe Cellars (Part 1) - https://www.corkandfizz.com/blog/guide-to-wine-podcast-episode-114

A Washington Winery Built on Inclusion w/ AniChe Cellars (Part 2) - https://www.corkandfizz.com/blog/guide-to-wine-podcast-episode-115

Episode Highlights:

• What makes the Columbia Gorge AVA unique
• Why the Columbia Gorge is a must-visit wine destination
• The best wineries to add to your itinerary
• Grape varieties you'll discover throughout the region
• Where to stay during your visit
• Restaurants, bakeries, and wine bars worth stopping at
• Tips for planning your winery route
• Transportation options for a worry-free tasting day
• Hidden gems throughout the Columbia Gorge 
• How to make the most of a Columbia Gorge wine getaway

Transcript

0:09

Interested in learning about wine but not sure where to start? You're in the right place. Welcome to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. I'm your host, Hayley Bowlman and I'm so glad you're here. I'm a wine enthusiast turned wine educator and founder of the Seattle based wine tasting business, Corporate Cork and Fizz. It is my goal to build your confidence in wine by making it approachable and lots of fun. You can expect to learn everything from how to describe your favorite wine to what to pair with dinner tonight and so much more. Whether you're a casual wine sipper or a total cork dork like myself, this podcast is for you. So grab yourself a glass and let's dive in foreign. Welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. Today's episode is inspired by a trip I took recently. We actually did this trip back in April. It was, I think my little guy's first trip. So we did this during my maternity leave and it was just a road trip away from Seattle. So we went down to the Columbia River Gorge, which is just on the border of Washington and Oregon. And yeah, it was such a fun trip and I feel like this region is still making a name for itself wine wise. So I thought this would be a perfect time to introduce you to it in case you're ever out here in the Pacific Northwest or you already are and you're looking for a fun place to visit. So I'll talk to you a little bit about, you know, the history, the geography, the climate, talk about some of my favorite spots. Do keep in mind, I visited this spot as a new mom with a baby. So my experience is probably going to be a little different than what it would have been. You know, childless and having a little bit more time to go out and do things. But I will share both from my own experience and also what I found online from some other folks that visited the area and had something to say. So. So let's dive in. Okay. So starting things off with a little bit of history. You know, I love my history. This region actually became famous due to Lewis and Clark who passed through here on their way to the Pacific Ocean in 1805. Now, that has nothing to do with wine, but it is how the Columbia Gorge. Some people think about it as it is one of the spots that Lewis and Clark passed by in terms of growing grapes. They have been growing grapes here since the 1840s. I didn't find anything specific about this time, but apparently they have been growing grapes there More Specifically, in the 1880s, you had the Jewett family. They are founders of the town of White Salmon, which is actually where my family and I stayed when we visited. But they built terraces on these wide south facing slopes on the bluff above Bingen, Washington, and they planted American vines. So these are not the Vitus vinifera, the European vines that we're more familiar with. These are more like Concord grapes and that style of vines. And they had actually brought them over from Illinois. Now, in the early 1900s, this is when we first saw the Vitus vinifera or those European vines. This came from a couple, Leonis and Eliza Mares. They brought grape cuttings to the area from their native Adel Nord, which is a village in one of France's coldest regions. But it worked out there because the area where they are here in the Columbia Gorge is a cooler area. So some of the Venus vinifera that they planted are actually still alive and have withstood temperatures well below zero, which is not common for the European species. Vitus vinifera usually can't grow in places where it gets really cold. Now, the modern day wine industry here in the Columbia Gorge didn't start to take off until the 1970s and 80s, so there's a pretty big jump here. We just talked early 1900s and now we're jumping to the 70s and 80s. There were experimental plots that were planted on the south facing slopes of Underwood Mountain. And Underwood Vineyard is actually, if you ever hear that, that is a very popular vineyard and area in the Columbia Gorge. So makes sense. It kind of stuck around and worked out later. There were commercial plots that were actually planted under the direction of Washington State University here. And around 2000, you saw a lot more winemakers coming out, doing a lot of, you know, experimental things, getting to have a little more creativity with their wine. And this is where they ended up to do that, the ava. So the Columbia Gorge Ava, I don't know if it has river in the name of it or not in the ava. This is terrible. I need to do my research better. But the Columbia Gorge Ava, that's what we're going to call it for now, was officially established in May of 2004. And as of 2023, the Columbia Gorge Wine Growers association has 90 or more vineyards and 50 wineries. There are currently 1300 acres under vine in this viticultural area and of course, more being planted every single year. Just a quick reminder, you are not on my mailing list yet. What are you waiting for? I would love for you to join. When you do, you'll get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. Head to corkandfizz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I send out a weekly newsletter filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers, and so much more. Now, let's get back to the show. Okay, let's talk geography and climate. And this is one of the reasons that I think this area is so cool. Not cool as in, like cold, but some of the area is a little cool. But, like cool as in rad. Right? Anybody ever says that anymore. It's just a unique area and it has a large amount of diversity due to where they are located. So this is the westernmost Appalachian in eastern Washington. Hopefully that makes sense. Essentially that it's like, if you think about, like where the Cascades are, this is basically like, it goes like through the Cascades. It is known as a cross border ava because it crosses into Oregon. And fun fact, even though I think of this often as a Washington ava, which it is, it's also an Oregon ava, though, and there's actually more vineyards on the Oregon side. But I don't know. In my head I'm like, oh, the Columbia Gorge, that's a Washington ava. I think it's. I'm biased. I live in Washington. The area itself, the ava is named after a 40 mile area where the Columbia river creates a gorge separating Washington and Oregon. This is a deep river canyon of the dramatic basalt cliffs that are in the area. You end up with lots of waterfalls and some of the prettiest trails in the Pacific Northwest. Now, because the ava lies east of the summits of nearby Mount Hood and Mount Adams, it is in a rain shadow of the Cascade volcanoes. This means that they don't get as much rain as their neighbor just to the west, Portland. And so it is not as rainy as the lovely city of Portland. And what's really interesting is the amount of rainfall changes dramatically from the westernmost section of the Columbia Gorge AVA to the easternmost section. So if you drive, start on the west side, drive from west to east, the annual rainfall basically decreases 1 inch per mile, which is pretty significant. So the west rainbow section will get about 36 inches of rain annually. This makes it more of a maritime climate, right? So kind of like the same climate. I always associate that with, like, what the climate is in Seattle. And this is also the area where they're going to grow cooler climate grapes now, the easternmost section, if you make it all the way down to the eastern section of The Columbia Gorge AVA, that only receives 10 inches of rain annually. So here they have more of a continental climate. And this is where you can have more success growing warmer climate grapes. The other thing that varies, not just the rainfall, but the elevation varies dramatically in this region. So you can see everything from areas that are at sea level to all the way up to 2,000ft above sea level in some spots. The other important thing to note here when it comes to climate and geography is the wind. So this area is the only sea level passage through the Cascade Mountain range. Any other time, you're, you're going up in elevation quite a bit. So what happens is this. It creates this funnel of persistent winds and you get an average speed of up to 10 to 20 miles per hour. And this near constant wind. This is due to the pressure differentials caused by the cool air from the Pacific Ocean, meaning the warm air from eastern Washington desert. And again, there's no elevation difference. There's no mountains blocking it. It can go straight through. And it creates this cooling, drying forest to the vineyards. We love that. I mean, cool can be not necessarily a good thing. So you have to be smart about what you're planting and what you're growing. But that drying force is great. And then you don't have to spray as much. You don't have to worry about things like mildew pests. That is a huge benefit to vineyards. Now, let's talk grapes. Because of the diversity in climate and geography, you will see a multitude of different grapes grown in this region. I could not find a definitive number. I saw one site that said there were over 30 different grape varieties that were just grown on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge ava. So that doesn't even include what they might be planting on the Oregon that hasn't made it to Washington yet. I found a list on Wikipedia at least of a few grape varieties. But even this is not even close to comprehensive. So just to give you an idea, here are some of the different grapes that you could find in the Columbia Gorge. You have Barbera, which is a popular Italian grape variety. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Goerchdraminer, Lemberger, Merlot, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, all the Pinot, you can do it here. Sangiovese, another popular Italian grape. This is what is used to make Chianti Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah Tempranillo. This is our famous Spanish red grape. This makes Rioja, Viogne and Zinfandel. And again, this is only a small list of what you can find here. You can find even lesser known global varieties that are starting to be planted, like Assyrtico. This is a Greek variety, a white Greek variety, super high acidity. Chioppettino. This, I believe comes from, like, the Altoadill Northern Italy region. Also Ferment, which is coming out of. This is the grape of Hungary and Austria. And then also Trousseau, which is special to me. This is a red grape out of Jura, France, which, if you've listened to some of my other podcasts, that is one of the regions that my husband and I visited when we were in France. And so Trousseau is this really light, lovely red wine similar to Pinot Noir. And I actually know which winery is making this wine, so that's using those plantings. It's called deviim D E V I U M. I got to taste their trousseau at Taste Washington recently. Really good. Highly recommend if you get a chance to try it, to give that a try. Also planted here in the Columbia Gorge, the first ever Mensilla planted in the US this is a Spanish grape variety grown in, like, let's see here. I'm, like, trying to picture Spain right now and, like, northwest Spain. Really delicious. I kind of think of it as, like, similar Grenache, but maybe a little spicier and not quite so high in alcohol. But this was planted by a couple behind the label Analemma. I think that's how they say it. I have not gotten to try their wines yet, but now that I know that they planted Mensienne, they're going to do something with it. I definitely need to check them out. Also in this area is the renowned Cello Vineyard. They are particularly admired for their Chardonnay and their Pinot Noir. Really, you're going to find just about everything out here. I know Aniche, which is one of the wineries that we visited, they have an estate Dulcetto. So again, another Italian grape variety that's jumping out. Core sellers. Another one we visited, they have Tocai Friulano in their estate vineyard. And this is, again, wow. I'm realizing there's a lot of Italian varieties out here because that's one also from Alto Adige, which is in Northern Italy. So again, I know I haven't seen names. Oh, Marsan, that was another one that was at Aniche Sellers. Right. Like, I Feel like I could just like keep going. They are planting pretty much any grape you could think of. And it's not a huge region, but there's just so many different microclimates that they can try all these different things and it's super experimental still. The land itself isn't super expensive and so they can have a little bit more fun with it. So out here you're gonna find everything. Red, white, rose, sparkling orange wine, dessert wine. You'll find it all in the Columbia Gorge. And honestly, this is one of the main reasons I love the Columbia Gorge. I love the variety. I think the one downside of Washington wine, there is a good amount of variety in Washington wine, but there is a big focus on like big bold red wines, which nothing wrong with that, but that's not my go to wine. And I also just love having lots of different options. And so the Columbia Gorge is a place where you're going to find just about anything. Also a cool thing about this area, 95% of the wineries in the Columbia Gorge are, are boutique wineries. This means that they produce 5,000 or fewer cases of wine per year, which then also kind of relates to. It's a more relaxed region. It's just, it's a great place to just go chill, have good wine, right? Like, if you just need like a breath of fresh air. The Columbia Gorge is a place to visit. So speaking about visiting, let's go over the travel basics in terms of how to get there. This is probably one of the downsides of Columbia Gorge. Driving is really your only option. You're about one hour, 60 miles, maybe like one and a half hours, then east of the Portland airport. So that's going to be your closest airport. But in terms of a bigger airport, you're about three and a half hours south of Seattle. And the best part, if you road trip from Seattle, you can stop at the In N Out in Ridgefield if you like. My husband and his family, they are California natives. They are in love with In N Out. We visit every time we're in California and when they had a Washington one, we knew we had to visit and we were able to tack it onto this trip. Because if you're traveling from Seattle down to the Columbia Gorge, you can do like a 15 minute detour and hit up Ridgefield and go to the In N Out. In terms of how to get around again, you're definitely going to need a car if you don't want to be driving, right. If your entire group is going to be drinking, I Highly recommend not driving. And so you do have the option. There is a great luxury van tour spot called Riverview Rides, so I did not use that. I was with my in laws who did not drink as much, so they handled the driving for us. But this Riverview Rides would be a good option if your entire group wants to be drinking. Also, there's a spot called Soul Rides, which offers electric bike tours if you're wanting to get a little workout while you're drinking your wine. And they also have rental E bikes, though I will say, like, these wineries are like a decent distance apart, so a car is going to be your best option. Now, in terms of where to stay, I would say you should choose between two of the. I'll call them cities, but they're probably more towns. Within the Columbia Gorge, there's White Salmon and Hood River. Now, there are technically a few other towns or cities, as you want to say, within the region, but I think these two are kind of like the center of it all. And they're actually just separated. They're just on either side of the river, and there's a small bridge that separates them. It's a super tiny. I've never seen such a tiny bridge in my life. And there's actually a toll to cross it, so you want to try to avoid crossing that as much as possible because you do have to pay, and it's a little. It's a little freaky and you have to go really slow. So anyway, you're probably going to want to choose between White Salmon is in Washington, and Hood river is in Oregon. Now, Hood river is more of a bustling hub. Tourism, wind sports, dining, all that good stuff, versus White Salmon. On the Washington side is quieter, more residential, stunning views of Mount Hood. Now, most of the wineries I was interested in were on the white salmon side. I don't want to say most of the wineries in general are on the white salmon side, because that might not be true. I just know the ones that I wanted to visit were on the white salmon side. So that's where we ended up deciding to stay. We really enjoyed Airbnb in this situation. I am not always a proponent of Airbnb, trust me. I know there are a lot of downsides and there's a lot of frustrations with this company, but in this case, there were some really great spots. And again, traveling with. Yeah, how old was Baby D when we went? He would have been a little over three months when we. When we visited. So Airbnb made the most sense for Us and there were some really great ones. We stayed in this really beautiful spot. If you'd like a specific recommendation, which spot we stayed in, just message me and I'll send it to you. And there were beautiful views of the mountain and then not far from like downtown, White Salmon, where there was plenty of good food options. In terms of a. Like if you wanted to stay on the White Salmon side, but you wanted more of a hotel, there is a tiny little BNB called Ruby June Inn that I read about and this spot has just five rooms. And actually on Sunday afternoons the garden transforms into this really lively outdoor wine bar and both guests and non guests are welcome. So if you don't get a chance to stay there, maybe you'll want to go check out the wine bar on Sunday afternoon. They also do tasting menu dinners during the summer from local chefs. So that's Ruby June Inn on White Salmon side. If you want to stay in Hood river, there's plenty of options. The top two recommendations as far as I could find. We're in at the Gorge. This is another bed and breakfast. Walking distance to downtown. Hood river doesn't have quite the views though. Or there's a Hood River Hotel. Again, I'm not as familiar with this stuff since we ended up going the Airbnb route and that is what I would recommend for this area. There were lots of options, really well priced and this way you can. Yeah, I don't know. For me it's way more fun when you bring like a large crowd if it's just you and a partner. Right. You're doing it as a little getaway that might be more going to find an inn or a hotel in terms of when to visit. We went in April. That was fun. Maybe a little chilly, but we went on a great weekend. Lots of sun, not too hot, definitely worked out. I imagine harvest time is really fun here too. So that's probably around end of August into September. It's definitely going to be chillier and you're going to have some winter weather, potentially some winter weather trouble. Starting in late November through February, March, and just a heads up to watch out for wildfires in the summer if you're looking to visit. Okay, now for my favorite part of the episode. Sharing my favorite spots. Most of these I visited. I'll let you know which ones I didn't visit but were like on my list if we had time. But yeah, these are all the wineries that I would recommend checking out. And even if you're not visiting them, you can also order their wine online and I would also recommend doing that. Wait, I know you think this is an ad, but it's not, so don't hit Skip. I have a small favor to ask. Here's the truth. I will never charge you to listen to this show, but every episode takes time and money to create. So if this podcast has helped you pick a better bottle, learned something new, or just kept you company, would you consider becoming a paid subscriber? You can show your Support for just 3, 5, 8 or$10 a month to say thanks. Every single supporter gets a shout out on the next episode I record. And if you choose the $10 tier, you actually get to pick a future episode topic. Setting up a subscription is a great way to show your love for the show. Just click the link in the description right now. Thank you for listening, supporting and being part of my wine loving community. Now let's get back to the show. So first up, Aniche Cellars. This is a N I C H E Sellers. This is actually the winery that inspired the trip to the Columbia Gorge. I tasted their wine at Taste Washington two years ago now. Really loved it and was like hold up, what is going on in this wine region that I've never visited? Like I need to go there. So Aniche Sellers was founded by Rachel Horne who I met the first time at Taste Washington when I got to try our wine. She built the winery from the ground up with the help of her family. If you actually want to learn more about this winery, I interviewed Rachel and her daughter who now the winery is a second generation LED winery because her daughter Anais Mera has taken over the winemaking. It's an all female winemaking team. They craft small batch European inspired blends. I have a podcast episode with Rachel and Nais I highly recommend checking out. They were so wonderful and really great to talk with and they spoke a lot about the Columbia Gorge and you can learn more from them as well. In terms of the wine we tasted, the ones that stood out to me there was Persifon Persifine. I'm saying it wrong. It's okay. This is their Estate Dulcetto which is again that Italian wine. Super, super good. I also really like their Baba Yaga. One, because it's a fun name. Two, it's a Rhone style white blend with Grenache Blanc and Peak Pool. So Peak Pool is known for being like super high acidity, very bright, very crisp and Grenache Blanc is a little more like, it has more of a mouthfeel, a little richer and so this Kind of combo of kind of yin and yang worked really well together. And their so good. It's called Little Birds. It was a mix of like four different grapes, both red and white grapes, and just really easy drinking. It's actually one that I recommend, and I'm doing a corporate tasting coming up here at the end of this month. And when they wanted Washington wines, they wanted one. And I recommended this. Little Birds rose from Aniche in terms of their winery. So family friendly. This was like a major plus for me in bringing little, little Baby D. And it was even fun. We were sitting there and these, you know, two girls, much older, but they were playing with sidewalk chalk. I fed Baby D while I was sitting there, breastfed him, and, you know, didn't get a single look from anyone, which is always a good sign. Lots of seating facing the water and the mountain, so you get these really beautiful views. They've got fireplaces set up for when it's cool out. And yeah, it was just like this. It very much gave, like, chill vibes. Like I said, this whole area of the Columbia Gorge is really just like, just hang out and have some good wine with us. Like, that's all we want now, sticking with kind of the, you know, chill vibes with great wine. Another favorite spot was Cor Cellars. C O R Now, Cor Cellars is actually the first winery that my family visited. When we, when we went down to the Columbia Gorge, we drove out on old Highway 8 and oh, my God, all I could think was, wow, it is gorgeous. Like, the views out to the winery were insane. And I don't know, maybe I'm, like, easily impressed. I grew up in Wisconsin. There are not a lot of hills. It's a beautiful state. Wisconsin's beautiful. But, like, hills, mountains, water, not a whole lot of that. And so I just. I was just blown away by the views here as we went out to Cor Cellars. And then when we get there, the views from the tasting were great. And the tasting room itself was designed beautifully. They had a great outdoor space. Both a sunny patio that faced Mount Hood so you could see the mountain, but then also a little shaded courtyard as well. And I shouldn't say little. It was a large courtyard. There were lots of tables and lots of spots to sit. And then it didn't hurt that we, when we approached the winery, we were immediately greeted by a chocolate lab that demanded belly rubs as our entry fee. And, of course, happily obliged. There is. I'm always happy to do belly rubs for any pup that comes by Cor Cellars is a passion project of Luke Bradford. He fell in love with wine after a climbing trip through northern Italy, which now makes sense why they make that Tocca Frulano, which is the northern Italian wine grape. Luke built a winery. He centered it on thoughtful farming and food friendly wines. Today he runs Core alongside his wife Meg. It's true, family operation. He has his philosophy that great wine should just simply bring people together. What was funny is that when we visited, school was also out. I think it must have been spring break. Yeah. Easter was the next day and so his young daughters were also around and they were doing a mix of helping out. Which one of them was washing. I laughed because one of them was washing the windows and she'd asked if she could wash the windows for like 25 cents a window or something. And this is funny because if you look at their tasting room, it is like floor to ceiling windows. So this girl was cleaning the windows as far as she could reach, which was really only like the first 3ft or so, maybe 4ft when she was reaching her hand up. So it just gave me a little giggle where I was like, oh, that's gonna be so nice to just, you'll. You'll see the line where she stopped being able to clean the windows. And they were also out weeding at some point. I loved the whole like, what will you give me, Like a quarter for each of these or a dime for each of these. It reminded me of me when I was younger. I'd totally do that all the time. But yeah, they would help out or they were just playing. But it was just fun to have like, you know, kids running around. Not like in an annoying way, but in just a. Again, family chill, come on out, have some wine and just, yeah, just, let's, let's just just enjoy ourselves kind of vibes. We really love their wine. We loved it so much we ended up joining the club. So now we get their wine delivered because we just. It wasn't enough to just have some there. In terms of what stood out, we had a welcome pour of their Sparkling a Go, which is a sparkling Chardonnay made in the champagne method. Really good. And then I also really liked their white blend, which had Tokai Friulano and oh, what is the other? I'm not, I'm blanking on what the other maybe Grenache Blanc. But that was really. It had like some really good mouth feel and texture to it. Not just kind of your typical like, oh, this is a nice refreshing white. It was like oh, interesting. And then they also had a really nice Cabernet franc that they had both as a red and a. So it was fun to try those two side by side. Okay, the next spot I want to highlight is Loop de Loop Cellars. I knew I wanted to go here because I'd had their wine before and really enjoyed it. So this winery is run by another husband and wife team, Scott and Julia. They farm their own organically grown vineyard in the Columbia Gorge. Scott focuses on the regenerative farming, and Julia takes a gentle, low intervention approach in the cellar. Now, at the time that we visited, their dog had just had pups. So not only was there a great wine, but there were also these adorable little border collie puppies every so. Pretty much just like. And then add in my adorable little baby, and I was in heaven. It was great. I didn't want to leave. Their tasting room also had, I think it was probably like, the best views, like, because it was a very small indoor tasting room. And then they had a nice outdoor patio, and then they had the vineyards, and then it overlooked the water and the mountain. Like, you just had everything you needed right there. Unfortunately, Baby D did not want to stay very long, so we only got a chance to taste through their white and orange wines. We did not get to the reds, but all of those were impressive. I really like they had an orange wine. A lot of times those can be a little funky. Remember, that's a white wine, but made with the wines in contact with the skins of the grapes. So sometimes it can be a little funky. This one was just well balanced. And their Chardonnay, this is one that, like, anybody who says they don't like Chardonnay, I'd have them try this wine and be like, listen, I think you're gonna like this wine. Now, the last winery that we visited, so we were able to visit four while we were there, was actually one that was in town in White Salmon. Now, all of these wineries are on the north side of the river, so these were all on the Washington side, but Les Double Trouble, I think that's how they say it. It looks like Double Trouble, but like French, except not. Maybe it is. Actually, I don't know. I don't speak French, so I don't know. But this was in the city limits of White Salmon, and so not far from the Airbnb. This winery was founded by two friends. They bonded over three passions. Wine, skiing, and, as they like to say, a little trouble. Their playful personality totally comes out in the wine that they make. But then again, they have a commitment to sourcing fruit from the Columbia Gorge and Willamette Valley to make these really expressive small production wines. The one that stood out to me here was their Pinot Noir. They had a few different versions, but they're like main Pinot Noir. That was kind of a blend of a lot of the different areas that they took Pinot Noir grapes from. And also their most affordable Pinot Noir, I believe it was under $30, was just really good. Like, the best word I can think of is drinkable. Like, it had really beautiful red fruit, but also a little bit of spice. The acidity was medium. The tannin was medium. It just, yeah, super drinkable, especially with a little chill. And like I said, this tasting room was right in white salmon, so that's really nice. Now, one winery that I wanted to highlight that we did not visit but I would still recommend is Savage Grace. This was the vision of winemaker Michael Savage, whose goal has always been to showcase Washington's vineyards. This little interference as possible. He's not always been in the Columbia Gorge, but he moved out here pretty soon after making his wine, and he's absolutely loved it. He's always made wine with fruit from Underwood Mountain, and so getting to move closer to that area and actually be near there was a goal of his, and he has a bit of a cult following. Lots of folks look up to Michael Savage as one of, you know, Washington's great winemakers. So, like I said, I did not get a chance to visit, but I have had his wine before. Very good. He makes a really good Gruner veldt, leaner, from the Underwood Mountain grapes. So definitely check it out if you're down there and have a chance. And I'm just gonna do a little, like, shout out to SoCo wine shop. Technically not a winery, and I didn't want to put it under the food section because we didn't actually eat food there. But you can. They're. They're a little wine bar in white salmon. But the owner of this wine bar also makes wine, and my husband and I went down there. The first night that we got there, we hadn't had a chance to go to any wineries. We just ordered some pizza from across the street, and then we wanted to grab a bottle of wine. So we went to this wine bar, and we actually ended up picking out the bottle made by the owner totally by chance. But it was a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir, which this is actually a style of red wine that's Made in Burgundy that's called a Pasturon. It's this fancy name which basically just means a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir. And it's really good. I really wish more places would do this because it just, it brings in that like light fruitiness from the Gamay with like a little more structure and elegance from the Pinot Noir. And it always ends up working out now really quick. Beyond the wineries, there is also really good food here for being a fairly small region. Some of the spots we visited or that I wanted to visit and we didn't get a chance to, we went to White Salmon Baking company all the mornings. I think all three mornings that we were there. Great coffee, great matcha, really good baked goods. Highly recommend. Oh, and they had breakfast sandwiches that were super good too. There was Pichon Taqueria and Cantina, which was in again, white salmon. Really good Mexican food. I believe I did some sort of bowl with carnitas. Delicious. We really wanted to visit on the hood riverside. There was an Italian food truck called Pesco and it was all like handmade Italian food like gnocchi and pasta. And really wanted to get over there. We did not have time, unfortunately with a three month old. But if you get a chance, you should try it and then let me know how it is. The other spot we'd recommend that we did get a chance to try was Pizza Leona, which was the place that we ordered pizza the first night. They also do pizza by the slice, which I always think is cool to call out, but the pizza was delicious. They had some salads as well that were huge. Great for feeding a family. But again, highly recommend if you're on that White salmon side or if you find a travel over and get some along with the wineries and the food bonuses. Here in the Columbia Gorge, great hiking and is well known for their breweries as well. I'm not a beer drinker, so did not bother looking into that. But from what I can tell, lots of great breweries in the region. Okay. And the last thing here is not specific to Columbia Gorge, but is one of my biggest tips when planning a trip. So as I'm thinking about this as kind of like your wine travel guide to Columbia Gorge, I just want to leave you with this tip. Whenever you're planning to go on a little wine trip, I highly recommend you put all the places you want to visit on a map. I use Google Maps for this. I use a little they're saved functionality and I create a separate list for each of the regions I want to visit. And then once you pick out the places you want to go, create your itinerary based on where the places are and how to drive between them. Like for example, between all the wineries that I listed. You should definitely do Loop de Loop and Aniche on the same day because they're like a five minute drive away versus Cor Sellers, which is farther east. Right. And it's a, you know, not a terrible drive, but like a 20, 30 minute drive. Right. And so it'd be terrible to do Anche and then go to Core Sellers and then drive all the way back to Loop to Loop when it's like you could have just done the two that were right, right, right next to each other. So my tip is always put them all on a map, then choose your itinerary. You know, the other thing too is figure out how to drive between them because some things may seem closer together, but you just want to check navigation. Roads are a limiting factor in these smaller regions because you don't just have like a million different options. You have like one road that connects places. Oh, and one more thing to note. When visiting reservations are recommended. We chose not to make them at the places that didn't require them. So Core Sellers was the only one that required a reservation. Though we did visit in early April. So if you're going to visit closer to the summertime, it's going to get a lot busier and it would definitely be a good idea. We just didn't. With, you know, a three month old, it's so hard to make actual like specific timed reservations. So we were okay with waiting around if need be. But I would also recommend making some reservations when you're growing. All right. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. If you loved it as much as I did, you know the deal. Please take a second rate it, leave a review, share it with another wine lover in your life. It would mean the world to me. And if you'd like to show additional support for the show, you can become a paid subscriber and just click click the link in the show notes and become a monthly supporter. For $10 or less a month, you'll get a shout out in the next episode I record. Plus, if you choose $10 a month, you'll get to choose a topic for a future episode. In next week's episode we will be talking to another Washington winemaker, but from a different region further east and they are making sparkling wine. We are talking to Andrew from Tiridas and he has a lot of fun insight, but both on sparkling wine and Washington wine and more things in the wine world, so you're definitely going to want to tune in for that. Thanks again for listening. And if you want to learn more about wine, come follow me at Cork and Fizz on Instagram. Cheers.