Days: 6 - 5 days of riding
Level: Easy
Mileage: 35 ave - 176 total
Start/Finish: Portland, OR
Price: $975

 

Meals: All included except dinners in McMinnville
Restaurants: Your choice in McMinnville
Motels: Hotel Oregon, Oregon Gardens
Events & Activities: Wine Tasting


The best of the Willamette Valley wine growing region is southwest of the Portland metro area starting outside the metro border towns of Forest Grove, Hillsboro, Scholls, and Sherwood. Seven AVA’s comprised of several hundred vineyards are included in the areas south of Portland and extending past Salem and McMinnville.

For a bicyclist, the wine region is an intoxicating blend of beautiful rolling hills to ride through and inviting tasting rooms to stop at. The trick is minimizing the tasting room stops before getting to your riding destination. We help you enjoy the best of both worlds when you ride through the wine country.

Our rides are rides through the wine country, not a wine tasting ride. When we stop at a vineyard along our way we do not taste - we listen. We listen to our hosts descriptions of the wines and then the group selects "two for tasting" - the wine that we will take to camp for our afternoon tasting party. Stop at a few vineyards during the day and you put together a pretty nice tasting.

Our mode of “self contained” camping allows us to work with vineyards to be allowed to camp on their property. On nights that we do stay on vineyard property we usually have a wine tasting in the late afternoon in the host vineyards tasting room. We then have a nice dinner there at the vineyard. After dinner we might even watch an outdoor movie - wine related of course.

Our tour starts early one morning as we meet in Portland and shuttle out to Forest Grove. Heading south along the Tualatin River we ride along the edges of the Chehalem and Yamhill-Carlton AVA's. We make a short climb up onto Ribbon Ridge so that we can have lunch at a vineyard and hear about why this little pocket on the ridge is a unique AVA in and of itself. In the afternoon we ride along on the outskirts of Newburg and down to the Willamette River. Here we will camp at an old family farmstead. The farm is also a vineyard so we have a nice "farm dinner" that night with wine from our hosts vineyard.

 

Our second day of riding takes us out into the heart of Willamette Valley Pinot country - the small towns of Yamhill and Carlton. It's an easy ride as we ride past one vineyard after another. We finish up the days ride as we come into McMinnville that afternoon. We'll stay that the old Hotel Oregon in downtown McMinnville for two nights so that we can explore around here some more. This also allows us to setup some wine tasting's in town and perhaps even a dinner at Nick's Cafe.

On our layover day in McMinnville you have the choice of "taking the day off" to explore the shops in town, or to ride the Dundee Hills. Our option ride is a 40 mile loop to, and up and over, the Dundee Hills, home to some of the most respected vineyards in the business. The climb through the hills includes two good 750' climbs.

Leaving McMinnville we roll along the base of the Coast Range as we again pass vineyard after vineyard in the McMinnville AVA. Mid-day we will be riding across the opening to the Van Duzer Corridor and you will likely hear all about why it is so important to the wine industry. We ride south into the Eola-Amity Hills AVA where we again find a friendly vineyard to host our entourage.

The next day we skirt around the south side of Salem as we continue to scout out new vineyards. We head over to the east side of the Willamette Valley and ride into Silverton where we stay for the night at the Oregon Gardens Resort. Our afternoon wine tasting will also include a relaxing walk through the gardens. After a relaxing night at the Oregon Gardens we return to Portland.

There are a number of options available with this tour. More, or less, motel stays can be accommodated. When at the Oregon Gardens there are options for an additional day of riding up to Silver Falls State Park, and a day of rafting on the North Santiam River. And if you time your tour just right, the annual Oktoberfest in mid-September is a fun way to finish off your weeks tour.

Tour details may change without notice. Although you'll have an up-to-date itinerary prior to departure,
changes due to unforeseen circumstances may occur at any time.