Last weekend, Erlend and I had the opportunity to go wine tasting and tour at Domaine Serene, a winery in Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley. The winery sits on top of a hill, with picturesque views of the surrounding vineyards:

And a mammoth! I’m not sure I remember the story, but I think that when they were building the winery, a mammoth’s bones were discovered in the spot where that sculpture currently resides. The winery built the sculpture in tribute.

Domaine Serene has a beautiful tasting room that was reminiscent of a Tuscan villa, filled with lots of large windows that open out into the vineyards and flood in lots of natural light:

Erlend and I were offered a flight of Domaine Serene’s red wines, including a pinot noir from 2009 and 2010, a syrah, and a rose. I’ve never been a fan of syrah, but I absolutely adored their pinot noir. My absolute favorite, however, was the rose:

Erlend and I decided to split a glass between us (it was only noon, after all) to drink as we explored the rest of Domaine Serene:

In the end though, we decided it was best to just sit in the sunshine on their beautiful patio and enjoy the view with our glass of wine:

Learn More:

  • Domaine Serene is about an hour outside of Portland, located in a town called Dundee in Oregon’s famous Willamette Valley. The winery offers tours and has a beautiful tasting room perfect for events. It’s conveniently located near other wineries if you’re interested in exploring the valley. Domaine Serene wines are available at select restaurants in almost every state of the US. I recommend their pinot noirs and their rose.
  • The event was specifically for Yelp Elite members. Even though I’m a Yelp elite, I have mixed feelings about the service. I was one of the early adopters of the network — I’ve been using the site since its early days in 2008, and started contributing a few years later. Back then, there were only a handful of reviews per restaurant and it really felt like a unique, trustworthy community. But nowadays, almost every restaurant in Portland has over 100 reviews. The community aspect that I used to like about the site disappeared — instead, I find myself waving through meaningless reviews as everybody just echoed popular opinions and sentiments in an attempt to earn badges and compliments. These days, it’s rare to find a review that is actually both thoughtful and sincere. To Yelp’s credit, they seem to be aware of this problem and make an effort to organize cool events to bring together power users and community members. This wine tasting at Domaine Serene was one such example.