if you've ever worked on a farm you'll know what this means ...

and now - page 2

no one wore their camp jackets to opening night ceremonies - a little disappointing

there were no o. n. ceremonies - quite disappointing - just 50 wineries pouring 2 wines each - no big deal for a professional wine ummmm ... taster

some dorked out - heard this asked of a winemaker - "do you pump oxygen into the must or just air?" - could tell he wasn't sure how to answer - "technically I guess ..."

one guy had a curled up on the sides mustache - he had wine stains on the curl part of it - made me laugh

my bus seat partner turned out to be Lulu - she runs the wine program at a high end San Fran restaurant - we talked about balance and acidity and tiny, tiny wineries we both knew about - made that experience palatable

ran into lots of friends from the Oregon wine industry - they called me Montana - I've been called worse - by most of you!

met Madonna and her business partner Radish

Madonna is on my left - well I guess you could pick out Radish - sorry!

here's what the designated driver of our school bus looked liked - clearly instilled confidence from the outset

and finally - I promise not to East Coast bash anymore but I sat next to a couple of guys from Indiana today at lunch - low key, quiet, smart about wine, polite - told them they'd fit right in the Cool Falls

... Day 2 much better!

your pal,

mt

ps: they gave me a 3 ring binder full of Oregon wine info - will have it at the store next week if anyone wants to borrow it - full of lots of good info - or we could all just get together and taste some of the wines I'm finding - up to you really!

told you so

Pinot Camp couldn't have started worse

I know - you smart people will say it's self fulfilling prophecy but just read first and judge later please and thanks ...

had a "real nice" drive along the Columbia River Gorge from Spokane to Portland - arrived 4ish - had my first event 6ish in the famed Pearl District in downtown Portland - after searching for an hour or so found a place that served both fresh oysters and Albarino from Rias Biaxas Spain - life is good thought I

headed to the winery sponsored event in that same district - traffic had been bad for the Oregon sponsors so the only people there were 7 east coast "campers" - now I love you east coasters but 7 of you in a bar out west is a lot to handle - finally our pal Bill from Adelsheim vineyard arrived - love him - life is good thought I 

should have read the email more carefully - this was a Portland BAR tour - I had already downed 3 drinks when we started walking - I was thinking food might be in the near future - turns out a club Instead - at like 7 o'clock - no food - I have to drive 40 minutes south to the wine country for my hotel reservation - yep, snuck right outta there - life is good thought I 

drove to Newberg, Oregon - I'm sure is cool but on this Friday night not many restaurants were open when I called around at 8:45 - the only one I could find was Pasquale's Italian - open until 9:30 - life is good thought I 

Robert Irvine from Restaurant Impossible will be there soon - the decor - absolutely atrocious - the service - actually pretty damn good - the menu straight from the 70's - we're in the middle of Oregon Wine Country and my red wine choices are Woodbridge Merlot, Ménage a Trois, Louis Martini Cab and house Chianti in tiny Libby glasses - I had the meatballs in red sauce and the house Chianti - life had gotten "less good"

my youngest granddaughter Milena always says after she falls down or gets an owie or something bad has happened to her - "it's ok - it will get better" - I'm adopting that attitude - gonna have fun tomorrow!

your pal,

mt