Oregon Wine Life: Tasting at Walnut Ridge Vineyard

We had such a beautiful, warm and gorgeous Sunday yesterday that we decided late afternoon to pack up and head northwest of Eugene and just west of Junction City to the picaresque zone that houses about 5 vineyards in this commonly referred to area as the ‘tenderloin’ of the Southern Willamette Valley. This community of vineyards is working on getting their own AVA, which is quite a complicated naming process, needing the name approval of the Federal Government before proceeding. When they do get their AVA, this will then be the seventh added to this world-famous zone, the Willamette Valley, and the beautifully structured and exquisite Pinot Noirs and Pinot Gris that are produced here. The Willamette Valley is not only famous for its Pinot Noirs but in addition, other varietals are starting to get major recognition. As we found out yesterday on our stroll, trying some fabulous Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs, at our newly discovered and now new favorite, Walnut Ridge Winery.

We were on our way to Pfeiffer Winery, one we hadn’t visited yet, when right before the turnoff, we saw a quaint sign pointing in the direction of Walnut Ridge Vineyard. Why not? We are out here anyway and we still have a few hours of fun before closing…”Let’s go there first!” we said.

One of the things I love about wine tasting, besides the obvious, the wine, is to experience the tasting room in and of itself. One never knows what they are about to encounter as they enter through those gates.
As we made our way up the twisty little dirt road, this beautiful English style stone manor stared back at us up on the hillside. Off to the left, was the tasting room, standing there so quaintly to greet us. Every winery I have been to thus far in this area always strikes me in a different lovely way but immediately Walnut Ridge had just taken first.

Tasting room Walnut Ridge Vineyard. — The tasting room at Walnut Ridge designed after a bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

We were warmly greeted right away by the proprietor Jim. I started taking the whole room in and was as equally impressed by the interior as I was the exterior. It was decorated for Mardi Gras and we soon learned that their tasting room, built in 2015 was modeled after a bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Jim was able to acquire the original blueprints from the city of New Orleans to replicate for their tasting room. We noticed that they had a few 2012 Pinot Noirs available by the bottle so we just blindly jumped in and went for that. A good risk too, it was fabulous!