Mt. Hood Winery

This is a little awkward. I usually report on what visitors can expect when they visit a winery. However, in the case of Mt. Hood Winery, I am at a loss. The tasting room I visited in the summer of 2008 will be toast by the time this book lands in your hands. In August 2008, the proprietors of Mt. Hood Winery broke ground on the new winery and tasting room. During my visit, though, I was able to view architectural drawings of the winery’s new location at Vanhorn Drive on Highway 35. The renderings were impressive. Visitors to the Mt. Hood Winery will experience the real thing in the summer of 2009.

Since 2002, family-owned Mt. Hood Winery has produced exceptional wines under the winemaking direction of Steve Bickford. As co-owners, his brother Don and Don’s wife, Libby, are part of the Bickford contingent, involved in pruning, harvesting, and bottling. It’s a family affair to be sure — especially when you add Steve’s daughter and son-in-law to the mix of cellar and vineyard assistants.

Visitors to Mt. Hood Winery take pleasure in tasting pinot gris, chardonnay, riesling, pinot noir (from its own Barking Dog Vineyard), merlot, and its signature port-style wine with the name Puerto Montaña. In total, the winery produces nearly 2,000 cases annually. To supplement the winery’s own grape production, the Bickfords source their grapes from other nearby vineyards as well as Washington’s Columbia Valley. However, as their 22-acre vineyard — composed of pinot noir, pinot gris, riesling, and tempranillo — matures, we can expect more estate wines.

There is little doubt that the new 8,000-square-foot tasting room will be grander and provide plenty of space in which to experience Mt. Hood wines, view the vineyard, and take in Mount Hood in the distance — to say nothing of plentiful space for weddings and other events. Ironically, in 2009 the Bickfords will mark 100 years of growing fruit in the Hood River Valley. However, during my visit to the soon-to-be-demolished tasting room, my mind was on my wine. For $5, I took a glass of their Mt. Hood Winery pinot noir to the great outdoors, kicked back, and enjoyed.