Archery Summit Wine

Archery Summit is a winery located in Dayton, Oregon. About 45 minutes from Portland, they offer tours and tastings twice a day. Focused mostly on Pinot Noir, the tasting offers samples of about six wines: five Pinots and one general red.

If you remember, I purchased the Archery Summit Wine Tasting & Tour at the OFOSA (Oregon Friends of Shelter Animals) benefit auction about a month ago (read the post here). Using our certificate, we drank a lot of wine while we toured the grounds.

We began in the tasting room and then ventured out into the rain to have a look at the vines. Then, we went into a room where they sort the grapes during the right season. We took a flight of stairs down and found ourselves surrounded by giant metal vats. Finally, we walked down a ramp into the "caves"--creepy, I know. The caves are underground, and are actually man made. There were a ton of oak barrels containing aging Pinot Noir. After we checked out the super cool cave bathroom that boasts three deep red walls, one cement-ish cave wall, and a cool vessel sink, we moved one. We went back to the tasting room, and had even more wine.

Four of us went on the tour and tasting, and our favorite was by far the Renegade Ridge. At $85 for the 2006 bottle, it is definitely a special occasion wine for most people, but it is delicious. None of us had been on a winery tour before, and it was a really fun way to spend a couple hours.

There are four steps to wine tasting (this is a very simplified set of instructions, and I am not an expert!). First, you swirl the wine. This allows you to examine the color and consistency. While swirling (or after, if you're highly uncoordinated), you smell the wine. The bouquet or nose (I've heard it called both) give you an idea of what you're about to taste. A lot of wines are very complex, and the more you do it, the more variety you will smell. Then, you sip the wine. This allows you to experience the full essence of the wine. Finally, you spit or swallow. If you're tasting a lot of wines, it may be best to spit. If you aren't driving, it can be more fun to swallow. After all, who wants to chew their food and spit it out? Archery Summit didn't have a place for spitting, or dumping out a spit-in glass. However, many wineries will provide this for you. This process is easy to remember as the four S method: swirl, smell, sip, and spit/swallow. There were people who just took gulps of the wine, and they didn't get kicked out or anything. You can certainly taste the wine that way if you prefer.

Pros: great wine, interesting information, pretty drive from Portland
Cons: expensive wine, caves can feel creepy (especially if you're claustrophobic)
Bottom line? If you've never been on a wine tasting, you really have to! The folks at Archery Summit are friendly, knowledgeable, and offer good wine, so it's a fantastic place to visit.