Fall Colors in Oregon Wine Country

Fall Colors in Oregon Wine Country - Red Ridge Farms

We have been trying to find a day to visit the Red Ridge Farms since last summer. An article in the Oregonian spoke in glowing terms about the location, scenery and olive oil. Olive oil in Oregon is indeed an oddity and worth looking into. We knew we needed to find this place and see for ourselves.

We are located in Hillsboro so the trip to the farms and surrounding wineries can be reached in a number of ways. We decided to take the Bald Peak Road via S. Hillsboro Highway into Newberg and then head west on 99W toward Dayton and McMinnville. We had the Garman working full time as we turned right onto NE McDougal and right again onto NE Breyman Orchard Rd. We were following the signs and GPS carefully. It was not easy to find at all.

Note: You can scan a mobile app for you smart phone called Mobile Wine Tour that will give you turn by turn directions to the wineries. If you are in a rental car this would be great.

In the back of my mind I was thinking, how many people actually do this? Surely we will be the only people here. When we drove in at around noon, the parking lot was full. Who knew? Standing in the parking lot we were awestruck by the vista spread out before us. How could you find anywhere more colorful/verdant/spectacular? It was the perfect fall day.

The location includes a green house with olive trees, lavender and old fashions annuals like scabiosa. This is the end of the season so the stock was very low but we will be going back in the spring when Lavender Festival is in full swing.

Then we went into the tasting room/gift shop. My daughter and I stopped dead in our tracks. Really you just wanted one of everything. A beautiful selection of different salts, pottery and the olive oil created on the farm were all displayed beautifully. An outdoor patio with heaters was the perfect place for a bottle of the Durant Vineyards wine created from the grapes grown on the estate and a luncheon platter. The people at the table next to us were being given a wine flight tasting. I think this is available by appointment. Let me tell you...it does not get much better than this.

We left very quickly that morning and I did not realize I didn't have my camera or my iphone! I will add pictures taken by my family later this week. Please check back. Or better yet, go next weekend. Harvest has begun in earnest. It is around 6 weeks late this year. The vineyard workers are yelling at the rain to stay away and automatic cannons are blasting to keep the birds from eating the precious harvest. When it is not your vineyard it is a lot of fun to see!

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Note: We also visited Lange Estates Winery and Torii Nor Winery.

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