Category Archives: Winery

Brangayne Wines

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Last year for Easter, a whole crew of us went out to Orange in New South Wales for a relaxing long weekend. This was the third year that we celebrated the Easter weekend together, and most of the weekend is spent eating, drinking and generally relaxing. As Orange is one of the better known wine regions in the state, we did take a wine tasting tour one of the days (surprising, I know).

This shot is down the drive way leading into the winery. Easter is nicely getting into autumn, so the colors were out on display!!

Sony A7R II | FE 55mm F1.8 | 55mm | f/5.0 | 1/400th sec | ISO100 

Road Through the Vineyard

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I’ve commented on it a few times. We had a magical long weekend in Yakima Valley. It was a few years back.  We were in the middle of a photog class and the missus’ project was HDR photos.  I’m not sure how we managed it, but we discovered a relatively remote set of vineyards. It was just about an hour before sunset.   She took some really incredible shots, these have to be the best memories of that weekend.

We also went to ~6 wineries, which always makes me happy.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 17mm | f/4.0 | 1/3200th | ISO100

WA State Vineyards

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I didn’t think I would say this. I’m having some very fond memories of our trip to the Yakima Valley last year.  We went for a photo project, but we also tasted some great WA State wines.  Highlight of the trip for me was Hedges Winery, they have some absolutely great wines for really good value.  My favorite is the Hedges Family Estate – a wonderful wine for a mere $25/bottle.

Nice wines.  I’ll have some next time I get back to WA State.  This wasn’t taken at Hedges, but at a vineyard just down the road.

Canon EOS 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55mm | 1/160th | ISO100

Sunset and vineyards and mountains

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Hi all – I’m sending this from our new digs (temporary housing) from our new country (way down under).  Couldn’t be more excited to be down here and having new opportunities to travel and take photos.  We (the other half of Paul Rin) have been plotting and scheming on new places to travel.  We are proposing a new project – Beaches of the South Pacific – and yes, that’s just a great reason to get me to more beaches…

Today’s photo goes back to last spring and to Yakima.  We are still unclear on what mountain that is in the distance, but pretty sure it’s Mount Rainier. This photo was taken at about 8:30 PM, as the spring day was winding down.  Looking forward to more very different vineyard lands in the near future.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55mm | f/4.0 | 1/160th | ISO100

Sun Rays over the vineyard

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For our anniversary this year, we went out to Yakima Valley for a combination of wine tasting and photo-taking.  We were wrapping up our 10-week photography class, and we had to submit the Final Project the following week.

First of all, doing wine tasting in Yakima Valley is pretty difficult. There are ~5 or 6 distinct sets of sub-regions. These sub-regions can be over 70 miles apart at either end.  The second issue is that there are some ‘can’t miss’ wineries and there are some, well, that can be missed.

For one of our projects, we were doing HDR landscapes. After a day of drinking wine (excuse me, ‘tasting’), we enjoyed the end of the day over some vineyards.  Today’s shot is nearing the end of the day, but not quite sunset.  Not really sure who’s vineyard this is, but the sun was perfect and my wine-buzz was just right.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 17 mm | f/5.6 | 1/3200 seconds | ISO100

Remains of the Day

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I know, I know, I’m on an Oregon kick.  I’m really hoping to get back soon. We were supposed to go in March. My dear readers will remember that an ill-timed illness prevented us from going. We missed tasting more of the great wines coming out of Oregon these days.  Today’s photo is a blatant advertisement for one of my favorite Oregon/Washington State wineries (not that they are providing me any free wine…hint hint).

Our trip to Oregon last fall included visiting at least seven wineries over two days. I may be missing a couple, but that’s not the point.  One of my favorites is Owen Roe Winery.  They make ~ 18 different wines sourced from great sites in both Oregon and Washington.  They have a few lower-end wines. You can get these in the ~$15-25 dollar range. This includes the Sinister Hand (Southern Rhone style), Abbot’s Table (red blend), and a ShareCropper’s Cabernet Sauvignon.  Then they have some higher dollar Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, and some world-class Syrahs coming out of Washington.  Today’s photo highlights what we tasted last fall. This includes the 2009 Chardonnay. We don’t remember the second one and can’t find it on their website. We also tasted the 2008 Abbot’s Table. We also tried the 2008 Yakima Valley Red Blend. We also sampled the 2008 Cab Franc from Yakima Valley.  This winery is highly recommended. If you want to stop by, make sure to make an appointment. They don’t have an open tasting room.

 Canon XSi | Canon EF 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 | 28mm | f/4.0 | 1/60th | ISO400

Italian Villa in Oregon

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During our last stay in Dundee, Or, we stayed at the Black Walnut Inn and Vineyard.  I was a great Inn, located down off the main road through Dundee.  There are four rooms in and above the main gate which you drive through to get to the main house.  The Inn was very well-kept. It really made you feel like you were somewhere in Northern Italy. In reality, you are in the Pacific Northwest of the USA.  This place is highly recommended. Find a good reason to make a nice weekend. Make sure you have a bottle of the wine made on site!

Canon XSi | Canon EF 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 | 35mm | f/7.1 | 1/200th | ISO100

Oregon – Domaine Drouhin

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For today’s shot, we’re going back to Oregon (even though we didn’t go back last week).  We spent a weekend last August in Oregon. We tasted wines, lazed around, and ate great food. Oh yea, we also drove around with the top down on the car. That doesn’t work too well on some of those dirt roads.  We stopped by a few wineries. Domaine Drouhin is one of those that has sophistication and class. The wines are just as good.  Lovely grounds. The wines were lovely. I enjoyed seeing the two menus from the White House hung on the walls. Their wines were served there, which is nice validation that you have some pretty special wines.

Canon XSi | Canon EF 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 | 28mm | f/2.8 | 1/1600th | ISO200

 

Back to Oregon

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Next weekend we are planning on a second trip to the Willamette Valley in Oregon.  This time, we are targeting the mid-Willamette Valley wineries.  I’m pretty excited about the trip. I want to make sure to hit up NW Wine Company. I also plan to visit Wineworks Oregon (they have a great selection of whites). Finally, I want to go to Yamhill.  I’m sure we’ll make it to a few more, but those are on the short list.

Today’s shot is from our last trip to the Oregon Wine country.  There’s a part of me that thinks I could buy a farmhouse. I could grow a vineyard. Basically, I could take it easy and work the grounds.  I think it would be so relaxing to get out of the city, the hustle and bustle and just tend to the plants.  This is an old wagon, sitting by the side of a semi-paved road.  There were so many of these moments as we drove around Dundee and Newberg.

Canon XSi | Canon EF 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 | 55mm | f/2.8 | 1/1250th | ISO200

Over the Grounds at the Winery

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During out stay in Australia over the holidays, we went wine tasting in the Yarra Valley outside of Melbourne.  We visitied Sticks Winery, which was good, relatively easy drinking, fruit focused wines.  We visited Domaine Portet Winery, which was much more refined and classy.  Finally, we visited Tarrawarra winery, which was generally good wine, but had a feel of mass-production behind it.  We also had lunch at Tarrawarra, which was really good food, but the service was a little pretentious.  The photo below was looking out from the tasting room and over the grounds, which were beautiful.  Again, used HDR technique to give slightly more depth.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 31mm | f/18 | 1/250th | ISO400