Penner-Ash Shea Vineyards

In May of 2010, my wife and I vacationed in Oregon. Part of our motivation for choosing Oregon was our desire to visit the region that gives birth to some of our favorite wines. On our last day their, we just happened to be very near the Penner-Ash Winery. Since we had a great appreciation for this wine, we made the side trip for a visit (See the slideshow below). The great thing about visiting the wineries is discovering how many different varieties and types of wine they produce (OK, I know that you can just as easily figure this out by visiting their website, but nothing beats being there). Even though I didn't see any, I asked if they ever produced a bottling from Shea Vineyard grapes. The answer was yes, and that they had some production that was just about to be released. This was both good news and bad news. The good news was that it existed. The bad news was that it meant I had to go somewhere that I had so far managed to avoid - On-Line Ordering! (I don't have anything against on-line ordering. I've just tried to stay away from it because I was afraid that once I started there would be no stopping me.).

When it became available, I ordered two bottles of the 2008 Penner-Ash Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir (as of this writing, I have only sampled one bottle. The other is aging in my wine cooler). All I can say is it was everything I had hoped. I just don't think you can go wrong with grapes grown at Shea and in the hands of exceptional vintners like Penner-Ash, you just know you're going to enjoy some great wine. Now I just have to decide if I'm going to go crazy with the on-line ordering thing and fill up my cooler.

Penner-Ash Vineyards -

• A view of the Vineyards

• A closer view of the valley

• Enjoying Penner-Ash Pinot Noir