Sunday we went to a rather unique wine tasting at Barnello Vineyards not to far from us. This is not a wine you would have heard of as it is a very small boutique vineyard. The owner/operator Ed only gives one tasting tour a day 3 or 4 times a week. The vineyard is actually in his back yard where a converted stables serves as his cellar and wine processing area. He grows about 12 rows of Pinot Noir and 4 Rows of Chardonnay. He personally takes you around and explains his process, trials and tribulations. The tasting consists of his opening four bottles of his wine and sampling from each. You then keep the wines. His 2018 reserve Pinot Noir was very good and got a bronze in an international tasting so he was quite proud of that for being a relative newcomer. Unfortunately he does not ship to Texas so we left with a couple of Pinot souvenirs.

Monday we drove into Portland to do some sightseeing and shopping. It was sad to see all the boarded windows from the idiotic responses to the Floyd incident. It looks like downtown may be starting to recover but there is still a bit of work to do. Like in other metro areas, the homeless population is out of hand. We started out at the Japanese gardens which were nice but not spectacular. Afterwards, Myra out of the goodness of her heart, took me to buy my anniversary gift which will be showcased in later photos. After our fill of Portland, we drove North and stopped at the Cheesecake Factory for some libations and snacks. Twas a good couple of days.