These days good wine is produced almost everywhere in the world. It's no longer just France and California dominating the top ranks. The Oregon winery Domaine Serene located in the beautiful Willamette Valley, was tagged by one critic as one of the 50 best wineries in the world. In 2013, one of their Pinot Noir's was ranked #3 in the world.
My good friends Julie and Dave are members of the Domaine Serene wine club and when they received an invitation to go to a special dinner at the winery, they decided to go and asked if I wanted to join them. I had never been to the Oregon wine country before so I thought it was a great opportunity to see what it was like.
The weekend we were there was designated the Oregon Truffle Festival so this dinner had a truffle theme that went with everything that was served. I didn't know that Oregon also harvested quite a lot of truffles. That was a surprise to learn.
Every course of the dinner was complimented by some of those Oregon truffles. Above is the main course, a braised short rib. (The full description reads: Braised Wagyu short rib with Oregon black truffles, celeriac-truffle remoulade and truffled pommes Anna.) Look at the size of those truffle slices! Delicious!
The Domaine Serene Clubhouse is a beautiful facility from the gorgeous cellar on the lower level to the main floor where the dinner was served to the private members room where a warming fire was roaring.
I certainly enjoyed learning about wines produced here and how the owners built this business after retiring. They were also instrumental in creating the Oregon luxury wine industry that has skyrocketed since. And, in a true turn of events, they recently achieved a dream of theirs by purchasing a winery and vineyard in France. I'd say they have a bright future now on two continents.
6 comments:
Wow! What a place. Looks more like a castle than anything else. I think you run in circles of which I can only dream. What great fun. I like to do wine tasting but why do the people running these things always complain when I taste a whole glass and why do I feel so funny when it's over?
I'm something of a wine master myself. I mean there are days when I spent $6 on a bottle of port at the grocery store!
I have never tried a truffle they are mostly very expensive, does it really taste so good?
Truffles and wine... wow! I am ready...
Truffles prices are so hight over here, I only eat them at restaurants or when visiting people and only once in a while. A single piece of truffle in an omelet is heaven for me.
It was fun to see all these pictures from your visit.
It's the cellar space that particularly catches my attention!
A beautiful post about a lovely winery and what looks like a fabulous evening.
Wines from that region can be spectacular, especially Pinot. Domaine Serene is our list of wineries we hope to visit. Elegant.
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