Winter's Hill Estate — Attraction in Oregon

This is our second visit to Winter's Hill in 12 months. We came Labor Day last year and loved the wines and team at the Vineyard. We became club members and were excited to return this year to share it with our friends. Head Winemaker Russell made our second trip even more enjoyable spending nearly an hour with us answering our questions and sharing the history of the vineyard and their winemaking process. I cannot say enough about the experience and I haven't even talked about the wine!

This is one of the few vineyards where quality of the wines is more important than quantity; and it shows in every wine we have every tasted from Winter's Hill. From our first glass at our first tasting last year, to every bottle we have opened at home, to the impromptu tasting we stumbled into after our second planned tasting (they were sampling older wines to ensure consistency and happily let us join in), we have never been disappointed.

Winter's Hill is truly a family vineyard that has stuck to its core values since it's beginning and that is reflected in its quality and consistency of the wine. I say this so anyone reading this review doesn't have the same expectations when they visit Winter's Hill and try to compare it to a wine tasting at another vineyard just up the hill where you sample wines brought in from France. We have been to both and are members of both. But we value our experiences at each and every winery we visit inherent to what they offer and deliver. In that regard, Winter's Hill will always be one our favorite Vineyards to visit, favorite to bring our friends, and they consistently deliver us a favorite wine to share at our table for any occasion.

Special thanks to Russel for taking the time to make our experience special and welcoming our friends. We cannot say enough good things about...

I hope our experience was an anomaly. Our first trip to the Willamette Valley. Made online reservations ($62.50 for 2 people) based on stellar google reviews. Lovely atmosphere but that was the only positive thing. The older gentleman server launched right into the script without a friendly greeting and the entire experience was over in 30 minutes (not the 90 minutes allotted on the reservation). The wine pours were the smallest I've ever encountered at any wine tasting. Glasses were not changed during the tasting, nor was there any place to pour out residual wine before the next pour was made into the same glass. The wines themselves were meh but that may just be a personal taste preference issue and not a knock on their wines (I don't have any professional training as a sommelier or vintner). When we left, nobody acknowledged us, thanked us, offered to answer any questions, or even tried to sell us anything. It was like an experience I'd expect at the Department of Motor Vehicles. I saw the owner and the winemaker (her son) schmoozing other tables and giving detailed explanations and a brief tour of the grounds, but we definitely did not get that experience. Perhaps this was because we pre-paid online already? Maybe because it was toward the end of the day on a Sunday (but other tables arrived after us)? Whatever the reason, I definitely won't be back. Just hope that our other wine tasting experiences in the Willamette Valley...

The setting on the patio is very nice with a view of part of the vineyard. We had high hopes due to the 5 star rating, but our host and the wines were a disappointment. Our host was irritated at our 15 minute delay due to unanticipated road construction although we were the only ones there, had a depressing attitude, and made a point of letting us know that this was his last day, because he was tired of the hard work in the wine industry. We discovered that he was knowledgeable about wines, but only after we asked him some specific questions about this winery’s processes. He was becoming a Toyota car salesman, and all 6 of us agreed that he’ll starve in that job. He poured the entire flight in advance, allowing the wines to sit in the 100 degree temperature. When we ordered some salami, cheese and crackers, he brought out plates, serving knives, and the food in its original package, leaving us to prepare and serve for ourselves. In the aggregate, the wines were our least favorites compared to half a dozen other tastings we had...