example of Oregon metrude c n **n .v s e fo r the most part the only place you
can find Nehalem Bay wines are at the winery , which does make them more
expensive than wine from other Oregon winer ies, » you ve got to go there to get
them
if you go at the right time you may find that the wine is almost secondary to
the winery itself The specialty of the Nehalem Bay W inery is fun It is their
Near the North Fork of the Nehalem River on the logging roed e l » known as
H ig h *» / 5 3 between Nehalem and Wheeler is an anomaly in the Oregon wine
raison d'etre Ray says, "We may not make the best wine In the state, but we
hare more fun than any other winery ' No arguments there I wen, to one of
their (p re tty much) monthly events, a barbecue and band weekend There were
oysters and other munchies cooked outside on the g r ill, snacks inside, all the
industry It is celled the Mehelem Bay W in e ry Why an anomaly9 Whet
else would you cell a winery located 5 0 miles from the neorest other winery,
that is set in an arae better known for tree cutting than wine tasting, has trades
running through their backyard that allow a tram from Oar ibold! to pull up to
the front duor, is visited by the former 'leader' of the M erry Pranksters and
that throws parties featuring bonds like the Crackpots9 Anomaly City
founded in 1973 as the sixth or seventh winery m thestete, depending on
wines available to be sampled, three trash cans full of ice cold beer ,f you
weren t e wine dr inker and lots of dancing If that duesn , sound like standard
winery bashes (especially the Bokxeiser ) It s becasue it was not standard But
whose opinion on the matter you care to regard. Nehalem Boy has survived a
bumpy 20 years and Is in the process of continuing to become a more visible and
visitable place If you think that winer íes are predominantly haunted by
peté eeting, Lexus- driving, W ell 5 t r « t Jour n a l-reading yuppies, you hewent
been reeding this column enough Another way to discover that wineries can be
laid back is to visit the Nehalem Bay W inery Nehalem Boy has managed to leave
schedule cell 3 5 5 - 8 10 8 ) . culminating in a big oW pig roast
The Zen of Nehalem Bay struck me full force at this party I had recognized,
just by chatting with Ray, that this p is e was different, bu, being there with the
folks a, ,h,seven, mads me realize the, something special was taking place I
realized this place could just be some bar on Highway 5 3 that served cheap
beer, burgers and buffalo wings to a steady clientele and your occasional
ambitious tourist The thing is, it s no, I, is a winery the, produces 6 ,0 0 0
the "ordinary" by the side of the road and is roar inQ away from it in a big,
m ulti-colored school bus
It is somehow appropr late that Ken Kesey. noted uregun r ecluse end author of
just a few famed books, including Sometimes a Or eat Notion (a personal
favorite), would pay an annual visit to this winery in his legendary bus
"Furthur " (For those of you not fam iliar with 6 0 scounter - culture history i
suggest pick mg up a copy of Tom Wolfe s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test)
Kesey came last year and he is "scheduled" to make an appearance again this
summer For at least one generation Kesey represented the pinnacle of the
anti ■ establishment way of life Kesey wasn't the writer everyone in the
publishing world wanted him to be after achieving greet sucess with One f lew
Over the Cuckoo a Nest Me was different, he was more than a writer or an
acid taker. or an anti-establishment guru He was Kesey In a sm eller, but not
Insignificant way. the people at Nehalem Bay are doing with their winery whet
Kesey did with a portion of Amar icon thought
The location itself is »m eting to behold From the steps of the winery you can
see the massively scarred hllto in the background Not a tree on them If you
ar e crazy enough to drive 5 3 to get to the winery you w ill go throm /i basically
one continuous stretch of clear cuts hacked out oí the Coastal Range The scene
on that rood is appalling Highway 5 3 is almost a distinct boundary North of
5 3 the towns are tourist and/or community or inn ted, culminating in Cannon
Beech South of 5 3 the towns have obviously been timber and/or agricultural
towns W hile towns like Manzanita hold promise for a bright economic future,
towns such as Tillamook have uncertain prospects m the f a » of diminished
timber supplies and land on which to cut Nehalem Bay W inery is appropriately
placed, In the grand »hem e of things, on this boundary between two distinct
pasts and futures
Ray Shackleford and Carmen Qumtane now oversee the winery Nehalem Bay
has been through a lot w e r the year s Ther e have been * imes, even as ear ly as
the late 8 0 s , when tt was poorly tended and badly managed This has changed
Ray and Car men are car vi ng a niche for this coastal winery that is going to allow
it to prosper as a unique attraction, winery and community spot They d o it
hove a vineyard on sight to attend to Or owing wine grapes is tricky enough
without the complexities of the Oregon ooastal waether patterns to wrangle
with. » their vineyard is over the mountains in Rickreall
Nehalem started out in the 70 s producing » le ly fru it wines They have since
expandid their varieties, doing less fru it wine for the past several years They
still do some of what Ray likes to cell hot tub wines." one of them being a
pretty nice blackberry wine Their other wines are your standard Oregon far e
Pinot n o ir. Chardonnay, Pinot blare, White Riesling and Dry Oevurt? They a l »
dn a blended wine (Pinot noir, Marechel Foch and Cabernet Sauvignon) called
Nehalem Rad ( "a good spaghetti wine") anda Sparkling Brut which is a fine
C A N N O N B EA C H - T H E C IT Y T H A T M A D E
M C T A R N A H A N ’ S ALE F A M O U S !
M ore m c T a r n a h a n ’ s A le is sold
in
C ann on B fach per c a p ita than
ANY OTHER CITY IN THE W ORLD,
‘flay
' «K
1, was, without question, an excellent party Other events they do are a
Mother s Day brunch with e string quartet. Father s Day Open House ( this
month) and a weekend fu ll of events on July 4th including bar becues, bends,
dancing, daily visits by the tram . The Fun Run E xp r«s ( for info on the trein
cases of wine each year It’s certainly not Chateau t efite Rothschild, but
Nehalem Bay may be per forming a task as difficult as producing fine wine
They
are, 1n thelr own way, attempting to create new attitudes From years of work
with environmental and social justice groups I know that to be one of the moot
difficult things to do
The crowd at the winery the nigh, I was there consisted mostly of locals It
was April Not a tie to be found People were dancing until they were really
sweeting W hile standing outside to cool off Kathy and i overhearda
conversation between a couple the, made me think "Whet kind of wine do vou
rave." said one "I've got the White Reisling I think it's pretty good." replied
the other The conversation wen, on br tefly from there No sophisticated wine
terminology was used, and I, was clear the couples exper tence with wine was,
at best, limited The thing was they could have been talking about anything
They ware articulating their enjoyment of a (perhaps) new experience The, s
what made the conversation » poignant An introduction was being made that
C a n n o n llc a c h
In C o a x ic r T h c a lc r C o u r t y a r d
was significant An understanding that did not previously exist in this universe
f vlablivhvd 1977
was born
Maybe it wen, from there Maybe Ray or Carmen told them that crab meet
would go moely with that wine and the couple derided to buy o bottle ,0 try that
out Who knows9 If not these two people, most likely, especially having seen
Ray work a crowd, two other people I have no doubt that someone there learned
something that night This winery may be an an important cultural phenomenon
as there is in Nehalem if only for this simple reason They offered people a greet
ttm eet a good price, welcomed people in a way that made them feel like they
belonged and at the seme time taught some people about some of the many
I ealuring Nnuhwcxi, ( j li f o r n u
A Impxwicd Wmcx
Collector Wines From IH7J
Through Current Vintage»
I rjturing Over I (XX) Wine»
Wine Kavkt, Glaxie» A
Wme Related Item»
positive aspects of wine dr ink inç
If you ere on the co », or planning to go there I recommend stopping by the
winery which is located less than a mile down Highway 53 off ,0 1 Buy a bottle
Different Wme»
fro m Around The World
Each Week
of wine for the bench or the hot tub or Jus, to have so you con show it to people
who ha/e never heard of this place before Give them a cell at 3 6 8 - 9 4 6 3 and
find o u t w h a n thair n e x t a v a n t is T a ll th e m y o u ru o ri s h o u t th e m in The
too
W in e T a s tin g
Every Saturday Afternoon
1 5 PM
Open 11 AM 5 I’M
436-1100
I 24 N l le m lo c k
F O H ob M 2 . C a n n o n F U ach O M t 7 | 10
Recommended W in e Tour fo r Ju n e Kind of an off month being between
Merna ial Day Weekend and the insanity that compr i« s July 4th A good be,
(hough is A m lty V in e y a rd s ' Summer Solstice F estival on the 18th and 19th
The bands Tall Jazz plays Saturday and M yrtle Brown s Destiny plays Sunday
F a $7 you get the music, a glass of wine and you get to keep the glass Amity
Vineyards is located in Amity jus, of, 99W atop a h ill that overlooks the entire
Southern Yamhill Valley They have excellent wine, notably Pino, noir,
including an Eco Wine, male entirely from ag an ically grown Pinot noir
grapes, produced without sulfites and bottled in recycled bottles F a more
infam ation cell them at 8 3 5 - 0 8 5 0
- s jg p s if T '.
e ó 'fc
I akc I line to 1 favcl til
( hegon’s Scenic Wine Country1
l.xperiem e the beauty, peace anil
,
fantastic nine of Oregon's nine regions
a
Laurel's
Cannon
Heai h
ACCORDING TO CANNON BEACH
R ESIDENT ‘ M A C ” M A C T ä R N A H A N ,
1 he bcxl bed A breaklaxtx. ho(dx ind icxia iiisn lx
ax well ax the most inletcxim g winery lours
WHO EARNED A GOLD MEDAL WITH
h is
S cottish a le .
Closed Tue*
Oregon
llin z
,
■
W ine Shop
2 k ) N . Hern lock
(3 0 )) 4 )6 -1 6 6 6
Itavei('onruchon
f io u tm i t i t n e l i s t
-X,M) 946-3885
Inn
‘Ja Sint teXlk
•Ja 4 i m 4L xm
"Ht didn't xiy »I dente. ' did Ae?"
DON PETRIE’S
ITALIAN FOOD COMPANY
613NW Third 265 FOOD
Nye Beach, Newport
Oregon Qrape
Nursery, Inc.
I
u
4nd
nnarXjttit
J rund u On Stj i tampaiut
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1X27 S.W. J ilt « n u n
k*uriL«nd, O n -g u a U72U1
2211-701U
Specializing in
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Fresh Christmas Decorations
CINDY 1.1117, OWNER
65 S tX X X A R STREET
W E STU N N O R B M IW • FOM
(501) 656-7199
I2)
T v 4«rw UX«A
tampan y
impoutH t
my Snuuinl
rA* k *» t
V«, Swr/t I I . »»»i Ht ¡t
Bruce K. Sims, 1 \(\
C e a lr o v e r s y e q u a liz e s fo o ls a n d v is e m en
a n d ik e
fools l o o t I I
O liv e r R e n d e ll Holm es Jr
( e rtifu d ru bín \i counlonl
V 5 IU«>4___________________ 7 lx n? I?
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