South Africa — wishing we could stay there another couple of days. We’ve made side excursions for wine on trips from San Francisco to northern Michigan to Argentina.
So, when our family vacation this year took us to Portland and the Oregon Coast, we jumped at the chance to spend several days in the area’s premier wine region, the Willamette Valley. (To sound like a local, remember the correct pronunciation with the rhyme, “It’s Willamette, dammit.”)Anchored by the Willamette River, this fertile valley runs north-south for roughly 150 miles, from Portland to Salem.