Silo stylin'

Have you ever slept in a silo? I'm pretty sure my dad might have a few colorful stories to tell on this subject, but I doubt they were nearly as stylin' as our recent stay!

While visiting some terrific friends and family in Portland, Oregon, we decided to wander south into the Willamette Valley for some wine tasting and an overnight. We chose to stay at the Abbey Road Farm B&B -- a working farm just outside of the little town of Carlton -- because, well, how often do you have the chance to stay in a silo?

Our room was round (duh!) with radiated heat flooring and an incredible view of vast pastures of winter wheat, clover, nut and fruit orchards and, of course, grapes. The whole Willamette Valley is quite a departure from the Napa and Sonoma Valleys of California where the majority of the land is planted with grapes. The valley is spotted with darling farms and quaint towns that seem to lovingly embrace sustainable living. We saw livestock of all types, bees (hence the clover fields), nut and fruit trees (Oregon is the largest producer of hazelnuts), winter wheat and other grasses, landscape foliage, and grapes...all making for an interesting drive through the countryside.

Our visit coincided with one of the Willamette Valley's biggest wine festival weekends. Twice a year, the valley hosts a festival that includes all the small wineries who typically don't have the resources to open to the public. It was a great way to meet the local winemakers and taste the fruits of their labor. Unfortunately after the first day we felt a little challenged by the wines. The Willamette Valley's topography, soil and climate is often compared to the famous Burgundy Region in France, and we knew we'd had Oregon pinots we were very fond of, but the wines we'd found were too delicate and feminine in style for us (we live in the California, afterall!). We wanted more earth, more "muscle".

With the help of other travellers, as well as our dinner host at the incredible restaurant, The Painted Lady, we discovered some bigger pinots the next day including Retour, Solena, Brittan and Lange. We didn't come home empty handed.