Cupcakes or Kisses?

Friend: "Would you rather eat a cupcake or kiss him?"

Me: "Well I'd rather kiss him than eat a cupcake, but if the choice was kiss him or eat Chinese food, Chinese food would win hands down."

(conversation after our fourth winery, on our way to a cupcake shop in Newberg)

The last Saturday was fraught with romance, intrigue and suspense, aka wine tasting, drunken conversation and cupcakes.

Three of my friends and I met up at the Sherwood Starbucks and carpooled out to the Dundee Hills for our first group wine tasting. We kicked off the day with tastings at Winderlea, which was by far the most gorgeous tasting room and vineyard that we visited (the photo above is from their deck). Absolutely breathtaking. For $10 we received four tastings, a chardonnay, a rose and two pinot noirs. The rose was my favorite, although their Reserve pinot noir was delish as well. They also have a pair of adorable dogs who mingle with all of the guests and try to steal crackers from you.

We then meandered down the road to the Crumbled Rock tasting room. Not as awe-inspiring as Winderlea, but their fee was only $5 for four tastings, so I wasn't complaining. I enjoyed the wines I tasted, but only two of them were actually Crumbled Rock's; the rest were from other privately owned vineyards. I had an awesome time socializing with my friends at Crumbled Rock, but I don't know if in 10 years I'll remember that I tasted there.

Then we stopped to sober up at Farm to Fork off of Highway 99 in Dundee. I've been there quite a few times since I work in McMinnville, but my friends wanted to try it, and we didn't want to fork out the dough for Dundee Bistro (although the two are not that different in price). I had my usual $7 Parisian Baguette and was satisfied, but the service was super slow and we practically had to beg the waitress for the check. It definitely fit the classy high society wine tasting vibe, but I don't think my friends would stop there again just for a casual lunch.

After refueling with non-liquid substance, we once again piled into our 1990 Beemer and embarked on some of the more well-known and established wineries in the Dundee Hills. It was onto Domain Drouhin! After several wrong turns (piece of advice, don't let me be navigator during the next wine tasting excursion) we finally pulled into the gravel parking lot of one of the most respected wineries in the Willamette Valley. Let me tell you, the place was packed! But as soon as we walked in, one of the Domain Drouhin employees grabbed four wine glasses, found us a cozy corner on their deck and started pouring the first taste. Amazing service!

It was $10 for three tastings, which put it at the most expensive for the least amount of wine of the day, but it was worth it! Winderlea may be the winner for best ambiance (although Domain Drouhin came super close), Domaine took the prize for best wine. I absolutely loved the smoky taste of their 2008 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, and the group as a whole raved about the 2006 Pinot Noir Laurene Cuvee, even though we all typically liked the pinot grigios and chardonnays (I know, I know, that's practically illegal to say in pinot noir country). At $40 and $65 a bottle though, respectively, they were both out of our price range.

Then we crossed the country road and headed to Vista Hills. It was our last winery of the day, and we needed to power through in order make it back to Beaverton for one of our group member's to pick up her car which was in the shop. It was $10 for 5 tastings (but they threw in an extra white wine tasting for free!) and was pretty delicious, although it was difficult to detect the difference between all of them when you are pounding them down and you've been drinking all day. I have no definite opinion on any of their wines, but the group agreed to start out with Vista Hills the next time we go wine tasting, in order to give them a fair chance.

It was leaving Vista Hills that we decided we needed a cupcake from Sweetest Thing Cupcakes in Newberg, and that's when the quote of the day took place (listed at the top of the page). Another awesome quote also came into existence ("I swear I've seen a horseshoe on his ass!"). The turtle cupcake from Sweetest Thing at $2.50 was bomb.com (attributed to JZ), but I'm not a huge sweets fan, and I could've passed on it (although that brings me back to my Chinese food comment...)

It was definitely a blast, and I think we hit some fun wineries for our first wine tasting trip! Now to start planning the next one...