SALEM IS MOPO WINE, BEER & SPIRITS WINE Sip a guided flight of reserve wines beside a woodburning fireplace at one of Oregon wine country’s most breathtaking settings at Eola Hills Legacy Estate Vineyard in West Salem. Some of the area’s oldest ownrooted vinifera vines are located on the nearby Bethel Heights Vineyard. Nestled alongside the Willamette River in South Salem, the renovated tasting room at Stomp by Croft Vineyards was once a 1940s dance hall and offers award-winning organic wines and gourmet pizzas. A flight of gamay noir, pinot noir or chardonnay at Benedetto Vineyards in Dallas includes five current releases. Selftaught winemaker Jason Hanson and his wife, Marlene, grow the grapes for their estate wines on their fourthgeneration family farm at Hanson Vineyards, near Woodburn. Local lore used to be that the soil at Silverton’s Farm on Golden Hill was made of gold because everything planted there thrived. Enjoy a guided tasting of the vineyard’s estate-grown riesling and taste for yourself. WINE TOURS Sit back, relax and do the rounds of even more awardwinning tasting rooms with the friendly Crush Wine Tours, an excellent choice for wedding parties and family reunions. Good Vibes Tours will pick up your group in a fully customized Mercedes Sprinter and take you on a tailored tour of Willamette Valley wineries, plus breweries and distilleries. BEER Pair a pint of guava-accented golden ale with savory pork tacos at North Salem’s Xicha Brewing, the first Latinoowned brewery in the Pacific Northwest. In Southeast Salem, Santiam Brewing focuses its lineup on Britishstyle cask-conditioned ales, which are unfiltered and naturally carbonated for ultimate smoothness. Nearby For Tomorrow We Die Brewing Co. brews its beers with an eye toward seasonality. That means you can sip more stouts in winter and more lagers in summer. Angel’s wine, beer and spirits Raise your wine glass — or pint of craft beer or shot glass — and toast the tantalizing flavors from these Salem-area makers. Jordan & Dani Brooks Wine TravelSalem.com 28
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