Sampling the Wine and Sake of Oregon

Last month I headed up to Portland and Seattle for a brief personal holiday of sorts (because we all know how extremely busy I am on a day to day basis), and while in Oregon, I met up with my friend Meeshie for some raucous good times. Of the various adventures we had though, nothing was quite as enjoyable as our day wine tasting in the Portland hinterlands (a day that included a wonderful lunch at Red Lobster — a perpetual vice for me). We didn’t go too crazy — only stopping off at two destinations — but spirits were had by all, and since Meeshie’s mom was our designated driver, we were able to let loose a bit and indulge in some rather hefty helpings of booze. Needless to say, the spittoons were left empty.
A full photographic essay of our tastings after the jump…

Our first stop of the day, excluding the aforementioned Red Lobster — for the seafood lover in us, was actually a “sakery.” Yes, this was the home of Saké One, one of apparently six sakeries in the States.

Not perhaps the most scenic of locales; however, eagle-eyed readers can spot Mt. Hood looming in the distance.

WELL HELLO. I have no idea what the letters above me say. Either “Saké!” or “Check out the douche below.”

Inside the shop/tasting area. Woodsy charm abounds.

Meanwhile, the walls were unsurprisingly adorned with bottles of sake. I wouldn’t say that going into the experience I was a sake enthusiast, but I was more than happy to give it a whirl.

Our first taste. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was, but I can report that it was very tasty.

G Saké. Okay, this stuff was pretty damn awesome. I was becoming a convert to saké by the second.

In the middle of our tasting, we were informed that a factory tour was starting up. We paused the drinky-drinky, donned some booties, and embarked on the total saké experience.

Bottles emerging from a conveyor belt.

Random boxes and supplies. An industrial wonderland, if you will.

Once bottled, the saké winds up here, I imagine, ready for shipping.

I believe this is a giant mill that grinds down rice for the saké. And in case you don’t know what rice is, there’s an explanatory placard in the foreground.

Here’s Meeshie posing with a giant sack of rice. I told her to stand next to it for scale, and of course, being that this IS Meeshie, she up and hugged it.

How saké is made — in confusing flowchart form!

Me standing at the forefront of America’s saké future!

That big round this is basically the largest rice cooker you’ve ever seen in your life. Although, I suppose they could get larger. Excuse my hyperbole.

After the rice is cooked, it’s brought here to this sauna-type room where it’s covered in stuff called koji, which is basically mold. The koji breaks down the rice into fermentable sugars etc.

Real life koji!

Me eating koji. Didn’t taste half bad, especially considering it was mold.

Meeshie LOVED the koji. She still talks about it, which is kind of sad.

The process and whatnot.

It all takes place in these giant vats.

Me amongst fermentation.

One thing leads to another and ta-da! Saké!

Okay, back to the tasting. I think this one was called “Pearl” or “Diamond.” I liked it quite a bit.

We also drank an organic saké, an unfiltered saké (which I enjoyed), a plum-infused saké (too sweet for us), and an Asian pear-infused saké (much better than the plum). Overall, a delightful array of flavors and sensations.

Unfiltered saké. I liked it more than the filtered organic saké. Meeshie disagreed. It was a sore point.

We were very happy, as clearly NOT evidenced by this mildly enthusiastic photo. I didn’t buy anything though because I didn’t want to check my luggage on my flight back to Los Angeles later.

Next we headed to Shafer Vineyard Cellars, located here in this bucolic and pastoral enclave of Oregon.

Charm incarnate.

Meeshie poses with a wide array of wines, and yes, we tried them all.

Almost all the wines were delicious, and Miki, who ran the tasting, treated us very well. She even gave us complimentary chocolate. We particularly enjoyed the sparkling white wine as well as the pinot noir.

Here’s Miki in her wine fort.

Needless to say, after enjoying sizable gulps of all those wines, we became rambunctious. Meeshie was soon flittering about in the adjacent Christmas store.

I think Meeshie was in heaven.

The holiday spirit was contagious.

Seriously, I don’t know what the hell we were doing.

Here’s Meeshie enjoying the company of a snowman.

And here’s me with an oversized nutcracker. Did I mention that we sampled about twenty bottles of wine?

In the end, Meeshie’s mom bought the pinot noir and the sparkling white, which I’m triumphantly holding here.

God Bless AMERICA!

Thank you to the good people of Saké One and Shafer’s. We had a great time, and I encourage everyone to drop by both locations and/or purchase their wares online!
Saké One
820 Elm Street
Forest Grove, Oregon 97116
sakeone.com
Shafer Vineyard Cellars
6200 N.W. Gales Creek Road
Forest Grove, OR 97116
shafervineyardcellars.com