Please post winery experiences

For you lucky ducks ( or beavers, or vikings ,et al) who get to explore our wine region this weekend, please share your experiences with those of us who won%26#39;t be getting out there this time.

Please post winery experiences

I am looking forward to Mtngrls and mistletoes? stories about working at the wineries this weekend :)

I imagine 10 minutes of work and answering questions, 15 minutes of tasting and so on and so on ........ lol

Please post winery experiences

Me too, Scarlett.

%26lt;%26lt;I imagine 10 minutes of work and answering questions, 15 minutes of tasting and so on and so on ........ lol%26gt;%26gt;

LOL Well, if they are helping to pour wine, they will not be able to taste, nor drink (legally) until they have closed and all guests are out of the winery.

I worked for a local winery for 12 years...10 years as Autumn Wind Vineyards and two years as Patricia Green Cellars. Then another three for Dick Shea.

It is a fun weekend, for staff, yet tiring. By the third day, you are tired. I managed the tasting room on those weekends. It was grueling, yet energizing all at the same time.

It will be fun to hear from those who actually went out tasting. Would love to hear their input on their favorite wines. I do not head out on these weekends.....too many people, so I make appointments with my favorites on non-crazed weekends. ;-)

footloose, I heard from someone who worked at a winery today, it sounds like great fun with lots of nice perks :D

I am sure we will hear soon ... foot tapping.. waiting .. waiting :)

I hope that you are right Scarlett- C%26#39;mon folks! For those of us who were unable to get out for the tastings this weekend- and such a glorious one, to boot- PLEASE tell us all about it so we can live vicariously through your experience! Pretty Please??

--OK, the Pretty please may be a bit much....

Scarlett and Footloose, you two are funny:)

We had a ball yesterday:) We helped a friend out at his winery, and will definitely do it again. Beautiful day, nice outdoor space, fantastic wines and best of all really down to earth people there at the winery as well as his usual customers. DH and I both learned a lot!

DH and I were not pouring, so we could taste. DH was our driver, so did not taste anything except one sip of two different wines. I tasted them all, lol! I am such a lightweight though that literally one or two sips was all I could manage, and that was at the end of the day.

We did leave for about an hour or so to check out a couple new to us places that were nearby. At Red Ridge Farms is Durant Vineyards. Beautiful area! Then Stoller Vineyards, where we had been to a special event before, but went again since it was nearby. And then Seufert Winery in Dayton.

Seufert was by far the winner! Small place right in downtown,so not on the ';blue tourist sign path'; as I call it. Very good wines, great sense of humor on some of the bottles and really nice people. Those wines, if they were from a big name winery, would easily be at least $80/bottle. Seems to stick with our general pattern, that we love the small places the best and think their wines are better than the larger places.

So where did anyone else head off to?

Thanks, Mtngrl! HEY SCARLETT- WE GOT ONE!!! ;)

Just wondering, are any of the places you tried spots that have regular tasting hours, or are they by appt. only?

- And what were you drinking? -pinots, cabs, chards...?

Mtngrl,

Sounds like you had a fun time. Are you working all three days or just the one?

No matter which, it is always great to see the Memorial Day Weekend fun from both sides of the table. Truly, those who have been on both sides appreciate the work that goes into holiday weekends so much more.

In my past, we were not able to let our ';staff'; leave early, so you were lucky to be able to visit others. We were lucky in that we had eight volunteers who were at our Memorial Day and Thanksgiving weekend events as well as Spring Re-opening and the week before Thanksgiving mailing list only event. We staffed ourselves with nine ';employees'; on those weekends. It was crazy. And that was at Autumn Wind/Patricia Green Cellars.

Patty and Jim thought I was nuts the first pre-thanksgiving weekend, when I scheduled nine people each day. Jim told me that he would let me do that, but send most home half way through day one. Well, half way through day one he leaned over and said, ';Did you hire everyone for all five days?'; Answer ';Yes';. Reply, ';GREAT!';

I digress, Mtngrl, glad that you had a great time. Now tell us more about the new winery you found.

%26lt;%26lt;Seufert was by far the winner! Small place right in downtown,so not on the ';blue tourist sign path'; as I call it. Very good wines, great sense of humor on some of the bottles and really nice people.%26gt;%26gt;

Ah ha! That%26#39;s the winery.....would love to hear more about it.

%26lt;%26lt; Those wines, if they were from a big name winery, would easily be at least $80/bottle.%26gt;%26gt;

*sigh* anyone, in Oregon, charging $80 a bottle for anything is nuts. The market is not supporting that, at this point.

As you know, I am in the wine biz. My customers are telling me that their retail customers are stopping at $20 a bottle. Even those customers who used to spend $50 or more. This economy has changed everything. My personal curses to those who do not pay the credit card bill in full every month. *sigh*.

I remember one Memorial Day weekend when a regular customer came in and purchased wine. I took his card, swiped it, and it came up with a code I had never seen before. So I called the number. The lady asked if I had asked for the customers ID...I had not as I knew the man, so I knew it was the right guy, so I told her ';yes';. She asked to speak with him. I could only hear his side of the conversation, but he had spent $8,500 on Saturday, was spending $7,000 with us on Sunday and planned to spend another $8,000 or so on Monday. Holy schmolly! Bottom line, I knew the guy was good for it. I still see him (and his friends) frequently. I am sure they were out there spending dough this weekend at local wineries. Yea!

footloose--I mostly tasted pinots, but a couple syrahs and dessert wines. Durant I think is by appt only, but I could be wrong. It is part of a nursery area that is open a lot so I don%26#39;t know for sure. Stoller is open daily and Seufert is by appointment.

PDXWineauxs--Yes, there was lots of help so we were able to get out for a bit. We just helped the one day as we had plans the rest of the time, but we will be helping at other times. When we were at one winery, we saw a group that was really enamoured with a wine that cost $45/bottle and the guy bought 4 cases to ship home to another state. So yes, there are still people buying a lot, but not as many.