Oregon's Bounty: Food & Wine
Mark your calendars for Bon Appétit Presents Feast, A Celebration of Oregon's Bounty, Portland's first international food and drink festival Sept. 20-23, 2012. Spearheaded by savvy veterans Carrie Welch (co-creator of the NYC Wine & Food Festival) and Mike Thelin (culinary event producer for Eater and IACP), the event will show off Portland's world-class culinary talent alongside national and international peers.
Locally, some of Portland's most esteemed chefs, including James Beard award winner Gabriel Rucker and finalists Cathy Whims and Naomi Pomeroy, will be hosting events and geeking out on Oregon's premier culinary scene.
Springtime is Wine Time in Oregon
In a first for Oregon, Governor John Kitzhaber has given a nod to one of the state's largest tourism draws by designating May "Oregon Wine Month." The Oregon Wine Board kicks things off with Unwine'd (April 29), a celebration featuring 100 of the state's wineries under one roof. The month-long designation will close with Memorial Day Weekend (May 26-28) in the Willamette Valley, when more than 150 wineries open their doors to the public.
In addition to the ever-present opportunity to sample wine at tasting rooms throughout the Willamette Valley, additional events rounding out the spring include:
The North Willamette Vintners' annual Wine Trail Weekend (March 31-April 1), with activities and sampling at 24 participating wineries. This weekend allows the rare opportunity to taste, blend and sample wine direct from the barrel with the winemakers.
The Chehalem Mountain Winery Association annual Mountains to Metro tasting in downtown Portland on April 19.
And, the Columbia Gorge Wine and Pear Fest, which returns to Hood River (May 19-20) after a successful inaugural year in 2011 to highlight the bounty of this rich agricultural region.
With all these Oregon Wine Month events, visitors will have no shortage of opportunities to raise a glass of Oregon wine and toast spring.
Food Carts? There's an App for That
Visitors need all the help they can get navigating the more than 600 registered food carts dishing out all sorts of tasty vittles in Portland. Fortunately, the dedicated folks at FoodCartsPortland.com (who have been diligently tracking and cataloging the carts since 2007) have introduced an iPhone app that's sure to help.
The 99-cent Food Carts Portland Mobile app allows users to search by vendor location, type of cuisine or hours and create a step-by-step route to the food carts. It also lists all of the food cart pods — areas where several carts congregate permanently — and profiles the carts with photos, sample menus and contact information.
Visitors without iPhones can still benefit from the exhaustive catalog at FoodCartsPortland.com's mobile website, though they will miss out on the mapping features.
Not Your Momma's Booze Cruise
Splish, splash - be sure to paddle or you'll be taking a bath! Join Rogue Wilderness Adventures on the latest addition to its lineup of stellar culinary-themed overnight rafting trips on Oregon's Wild & Scenic Rogue River - this is glamping at its finest. With Oregon's most award-winning small batch spirits producer, Bend Distillery, Rogue Wilderness' newest adventure takes guests on a four-day journey from August 27-30 that combines rafting with day hikes, gourmet meals, and one-on-one lessons with a craft distiller. Trip-goers will learn to flavor their own vodka at the beginning of the trip and be able to enjoy it while camping along the river.
