Let me start of by saying I am totally biased. Oregon has the best wine tasting in the country. It probably mostly has to do with the fact that I can drive 10 minutes in any direction and hit a winery. And a lot to do with the fact that for now at least, it is not a horribly expensive outing.

Last summer for a town event I visited a new tasting room in one of my favorite small towns. The winery/tasting room being Pike Road, the town being Carlton. Carlton is known locally for producing the best pork that is distributed farm to table style to most restaurants in the area. But it also happens to be one of my favorite places to spent an evening.

Pike Road is a somewhat new addition to the town located in an old bank building, the vault which is still in use stores the wine bottles. The manager was pouring for us the night we were there. An extraordinarily kind and knowledgeable man who gave us the history of the winery, the sustainable practices they continue to maintain, the types of grapes and fermenting used to create their unique wines. I don’t think I have ever walked away from a tasting with more information and the wines we outstanding.