Hood River: Of Vistas, Wine, and Fuzzy Ponies

View of some mountains with names I can 't remember, also some interesting fruit tree trellis/support system

After visiting Multnomah Falls, my cousin and I drove a bit further east to a little town called Hood River, which has a scenic route around the area's many, many fruit farms and vineyards. Of course this route is called "the Fruit Loop". And of course there's not really anything to do in January around the Fruit Loop except visit the few tasting rooms that are open (many close for January) and look at the pretty scenery, perhaps see some alpacas, and maybe fuzzy ponies, if you're lucky.

Our first stop was Hood River Vineyards. Deader than dead, but with a friendly (owner?) pouring in the tasting room (aka, foyer of the production facility) and delicious port-style sweet fruit wines. I loved the raspberry. Bryan loved the Marionberry. But we both bought the estate-grown Cabernet, which was also very good.

The tasting room host at Hood River referred us to our second stop, Marchesi Vineyards. Now, Bryan and I are cousins on the Italian-American side of my family, so it seemed very appealing to us to visit a vineyard and winery specializing in Italian varietal wines.

View looking east from the terrace at Marchesi Vineyards

Our host Quinn is part of the family and just started managing the Tasting Room this past spring upon graduating from college. He was friendly, fun, and very easy-going. The Tasting Room has the feel of someone's sun porch: wicker patio furniture arranged in small conversation areas, baskets and vases of long, thin, crunchy Italian breadsticks on each table (for palate-cleansing), and table service for your tasting, if you don't want to stand at the bar. It was chilly outside, but the sun (and a dog) had some visitors tasting on the terrace patio, and I thought they were probably quite cozy under the outdoor heaters with complimentary blankets (nice touch!).

Tasting Bar at Marchesi 

The wines. We sampled a decent number (6 or 8 maybe?), and they were all very drinkable. With the more robust reds, we were given a complimentary cheese and salumi board with some bread. They also had their custom-label Italian olive oil for sampling with foccacia at the bar. And the coolest part about the salumi was the antique meat slicer Quinn used to create the paper-thin slices. I ended up purchasing a bottle of Barbera, currently their only estate-grown wine. It was very delicious, and I can't wait to have it with some lasagna when I get home. The Sangiovese was also great, and of course the reserves were even better. Bryan went with their red blend, and we both felt pretty good about the whole experience. 

Antique meat slicer

And what I didn't mention earlier is that we got a little lost and turned around trying to find Marchesi after leaving Hood River Vineyards. The good thing about it was that we drove by these adorable miniature horses (aka, fuzzy ponies). Twice. And then when we left Marchesi, I asked Bryan to go back so I could take pictures. Worth it.

Miniature horse mare with her baby