Danielle K.
Yelp
Wine is holy.
It's true!
We drink it during church because we're emulating the Last Supper. Vineyards like this one are named after saints (and saintly owners, perhaps). And as you walk into the estate, there's a huge painting of a jolly drunken monk in is brown garb at the top of the stairs, happy to greet you.
So, since we've now established that wine is possibly the nectar of the gods (or God), when you go wine tasting at St. Josef's Winery, you'll feel remarkably close to the divine with so much of it in your system.
For a measly $5, you get a souvenir wine glass...and a taste of several different wines (read: eight or more), all made on the premise. The only thing for me is, after tasting so many wines with nothing to cleanse the palate in between, it was hard for me to decide which wines I liked best.
I'm a Syrah fiend. While their Kitara Syrah had good flavor and kick to it, by the time I got that far in the wine tasting process (the vineyard's namesake Joe said we needed to go in a certain order, so that meant trying at least four or five different wines before getting to the Syrah), my mouth was dry and it was hard to drink. Oh, their reds are dry.
I'd have to say that the winner from the bunch that we tried has to be the Gewurztraminer (try saying THAT five times fast), which was a nice, light, white, sweet dessert-ish wine.
And, surprisingly, the bottles were quite affordable, too, ranging from $9 to $24.
It was a pleasure to get to chat with Joe, who came to the United States from Germany, about his lifelong passion of winemaking with his family, the different varietals, and the nuances of each wine. The only thing was that the wine tasting room was quite small, and had the tendency to get pretty crowded.
The estate grounds are gorgeous, and I went on a day that was quite dreary, so I can only imagine what it's like during the summer. There's a pond and graduated grassy grounds, a huge fountain, a nice deck for barbeques and the annual festival, and lots--and lots--of grape vines.
So next time you're on your way to Silverton for a hike at Silver Falls, take an hour to stop and get blessed...with wine, that is.