Eola Hills Wine Cellars

Eola Hills' tasting room falls in the major metropolitan area of Rickreall, Oregon (population 57).  It doesn't look like much from the outside, just an aluminum sided barn with a cardboard sign reading "Eola Hills".  Not much presentation for Oregon's fourth largest wine producer.  The reason for this is that they incorporate grapes from many vineyards throughout Oregon, and produce their own wines, rather than having a large, on-site vineyard from which to draw grapes.  Eola Hills sponsors Sunday brunches, which seem quite popular, though we opted not to find out at $20/per person.  They also sponsor a Horse Drawn Wagon tour & Winemaker's Dinner in July.  

Thirty wines are available for tasting for free at the tasting room, and the staff was friendly and very helpful and informative.  The majority of the wines were rather bland, though quite adequate for daily drinking.  We did enjoy the Gewürztraminer, which we don't usually care for, as it had only 2.5 percent residual sugar, much less than other winemakers (we imagine Thai food).  We also favored the 1998 Lodi Zinfandel, the 1997 Ramsgate Merlot and the spicy 1998 Applegate Syrah.  Our favorite from Eola Hills was the 1999 Old Vine Zinfandel, which was surprisingly velvety, deep and full.   For daily drinking, we like the plain, old chardonnay they produce, with a heavy oak flavor.  Not the finest wine out there, but it just suits us.