Yamhill-Carlton District Open House April 26.

His head sort-of bobbed down and towards me at the same time, elongating his neck like a pleasantly surprised turtle. "What's going on here today?" spilled from his now wide open grin, with equal parts excitement and curiosity. He didn't wait for a response, "we thought we would take just advantage of the weather, you know, buy some wine and sit out on your patio. But this...this is great!"

I didn't need to explain that we were hosting an open house for wineries of the Yamhill-Carlton District AVA. He and his friends had already figured out what the 14 stations set up throughout the tasting room were for. "So do we get a glass here, or how does this work?"

A ten dollar donation later, he and his friends each had a glass and a program to accompany their rightful excitement to taste some of the wines from the Yamhill-Carlton District AVA. Then, they slipped out of my sight, into the tasting room, and I greeted another group of guests who was equally excited to start tasting.

It seemed like this was a pretty standard response for the course of the afternoon. Regardless of having known in advance, or just happening upon the tasting, all of our guests were excited about the chance to taste some serious wine. I have to admit, I felt the same. In the four hours that the open house ran, we shared our wines with over 200 guests.

Many, many thanks to; Atticus, Barbara Thomas, Belle Pente, Carlton Cellars, Carlton Hill, Elk Cove, Kramer, Racine, Resonance, Roots, Stag Hollow, and Twelve. It was absolutely a pleasure to host you all in our winery, and I am confident in saying that we all represented the AVA well.

Cheers!

Ksandek Podbielski
Director of Hospitality