SALEM IS MOPO TASTING tasting These days travel is often planned around seeking out culinary delights. What better way to learn about a place than through the food and drink that defines it? Meet some of Salem’s top tastemakers producing everything from sweet treats to award-winning wine. Discover the nuances of honey at Flying Bee Ranch, a family-run tasting room where you can sample locally harvested honey in a variety of flavors from clover and blackberry to buckwheat and coriander. Further satiate your sweet tooth with delectable doughnut holes at Bigwig Donuts, where popular bites include matcha chocolate and lemon poppyseed. As an added bonus, all the doughnuts here are vegan and gluten-free. If you’re in the mood for something savory, Don Froylan Creamery hits the spot. Here you can watch artisanal Mexican-style cheeses such as queso fresco and queso Oaxaca being made while waiting for a creatively stuffed quesadilla from the quesadilla bar. Feeling thirsty? Salem’s position in the heart of the Willamette Valley — Oregon’s largest wine region — makes it an ideal base for wine-tasting excursions. If you don’t want to stray far, head to the Chemeketa Cellars Tasting Room to sample wines made by students of the Chemeketa Community College Northwest Wine Studies Center. Just west of Salem, West Hills Vineyards produces everything from quintessential pinot noir and pinot gris to a crisp chardonnay. Located less than 1 mile from the Willamette River, Ankeny Vineyard has been growing grapes for over 40 years, focusing on pinots along with microplantings of chardonnay and muscat. Sip estate wines paired with wood-fired pizzas on their patio deck overlooking vineyards. Just northwest of Ankeny, in the town of Dallas, Benedetto Vineyards is a dream brought to life by four friends. After a vineyard tour, taste its estate wines ranging from earthy pinots to gamay noir. From Benedetto, it’s just a short drive to Eola Hills Wine Cellars’ Legacy Estate Vineyard, where you John Valls Eola Hills Wine Cellars TravelSalem.com 14
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==