Pacific City, Sunset Set-up Package

We have had wine packages to include with your stay here at The Craftsman B&B from the begening. We are changing the Pacific City Package to suit the wants of our guests. We created a Sunset package. Grab a back pack including a bottle of our Bin #50, Basket Case Syrah. Inside will be 2 keepsake wine glasses and a beach blanket. Just $20.00

Head out to the beach and watch the sunset while sipping on Syrah from Pacific City's own winery, Basket Case. Not just an Oregon Coast experience, and Pacific City experience.

If you don't finish your wine before it gets dark, no worries, you can wait for the stars to come out.

Working on the B&B

Sorry for the lack of blogging, I was busy watching Mike work on The Craftsman B&B.  With the start of our slow season, he applied a coat of oil the woodwork upstairs.  It's amazing how the blond wood, Hemlock, turns a gorgeous shade of red with the oil.  He uses Watco Danish oil.  Laura doesn't like the smell, but Mike and I do.  Wait, there is no smell I don't like.

The Mackintosh Room got it's stencil work done too.  This is the first time Mike has ever stenciled anything, but like everything he does, he figured it out on his own.  He has seen it done on TV, so how hard could it be.  He borrowed a design from Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the icon on our brochure.  Mike used flat white ceiling paint for the bedroom and the bedroom green for the bathroom, the bathroom walls are a light shade of green.  It really livens up that room, the dark green walls really pop now.

Mike's parents, Jack and Mary are arriving today from Denver.  They are here for Thanksgiving and will stay for a 11 days.  They like to help around the house during their visits, so Mike has a list going.  Not a lot of stuff, but Jack like to paint, so there are some touch-ups that are needed.  Suitcases and painted walls don't mix very well.  Mary like to walk on the beach, so now that I am "mature," maybe she'll take me out with her, not likely, but it's worth a shot.

We plan on wine tasting this weekend at the wineries around Salem.  They are not open Thanksgiving weekend, so we will hit them and do our other Salem errands too.  Got to stay green and combine our trips to "the city."

We will be wine tasting on Thanksgiving weekend too.  Laura will work a day for Basket Case Wine at their custom crush facility, 12th and Maple in Dundee.  With the Tasting room, Twist, Portland Farmers Market and wine tasting weekend, they will need and appreciate the help.

Another busy weekend here at the B&B, so back to watching the work.

W5

W5, that would be Walla Walla, Washington Wine Weekend.  Mike and Laura left me at home last weekend.  They went to Walla Walla for wine tasting with friends.  They rented a house south of town with 5 other couples.  This was there first visit to the AVA and enjoyed it a lot.  They set a record pace, 12 people may have slowed them down a bit but the visited 13 wineries.

One nice thing Mike liked about the area is that some wineries have taken up shop in the downtown area.  It makes it easy for the taster to sample with out driving miles to each winery.  They only visited 2 wineries down town, but the idea is great.  It supports other retailers in a down town area by having tasters walking through the town, not just driving through.

All in all Mike and Laura purchased about 4 cases of wine.  This is Cabernet Sauvignon country.  They got wine that is not distributed, that is, not sold anywhere but the winery.  Many of the wineries have limited the production, they are not growing the business.  They keep the production the same year after year.  This saves them in having to buy fruit form others and insures they sell out every season.  With that, demand has also increased.  Many wineries in the Walla Walla Valley have pre-sold the wine, year after year.  If you have ever been wine tasting, you will notice how wineries like to sign you up for their wine club.  That way they can ship you wine every season and make you a long time customer.  Some wineries in this region have filled their club lists, the only way to get the wine is to be on that list.  Now, because the lists are full, you are required to buy a certain amount of wine every release, let's say it's one case.  If you don't buy the case you are off the list.  Mike and Laura have friends who are on closed lists.  They buy the wine and sell it off to friends.  Mike and Laura are on a wait list for a few wineries.  If current list members don't buy, they move up the list.

All of it will be for their personal cellar as the cellar for The Craftsman B&B is local wine found within a few hours of Pacific City.  This is for our guests that are traveling from around the country, they want local wine.

All this may sound crazy.  Required to buy a certain amount, waiting lists and all.  But once you have tried the wine and like to go out for date night dinners, bringing your own wine and paying a corkage fee saves you hundreds of dollars.  It's also nice to explore different areas of the country searching for that perfect "whatever" you are into.  It gives your travel a purpose, a destination.  Just like people come to Pacific City on the Oregon Coast and our B&B, they want to relax, hike, fish and explore our beaches and forests.  We love it here and Mike and Laura also love to travel and experience food and wine from other regions.

Booze for Boobs!

I know, Booze for Boobs, but read on.  I wrote about breast cancer awareness here.  I just wanted to remind you that tomorrow, Friday is the big party at Twist Wine Company.  From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Twist will donate 100% of their proceeds to the breast cancer fund.

Twist will be pouring the wines from Basket Case, Shy Wines and Reversal.  Several beers will be on tap as well.  Live music, disco ball and the "pole" at the end of the bar will keep the mood festive.  Pick out some vintage vinyl to spin before the live music starts.

You can find Twist just west of the 4-way stop in Pacific City.  6425 Pacific Avenue, Unit B.  2 blocks from my home at The Craftsman B&B.  Call them with questions at 503-965-NUTS.

We hope to see you there, but if you can't make it, Twist is donating 10% of sales for the whole month of October to Breast Cancer.

Come see me at the party, I'll be the blue dog with the pink shirt.

Pacific City, Picnic Lunch

The last package we offer at The Craftsman B&B is our Pacific City, Picnic Lunch.  If you are staying 2 nights with us, for your grand day out we will pack up a picnic backpack filled with goodies.  We don't always make the a lunch the same, but to get an idea, we make 2 wraps, turkey and ham, a pasta or potato salad, water, cookies and the perfect item to pair with a bottle of our Bin #50, Basket Case Syrah, Fritos!  A perfect lunch for 2 for $30.00.  If you are here just one night, we include a mini insulated cooler for your feast.

Why do we like Basket Case wines?  Apart from the winemakers live across the street, this is a great everyday drinking wine.  Employing a screw cap, this is perfect for the beach or trail.  Open it up, pour it out, close the bottle and enjoy, until your next stop when you can do it all over again.  This wine is made for the crazy in all of us.

So syrah, not an Oregon grape you say.  Well its not where you are, its what you can get.  Even though Basket Case is an Oregon winery, they source the fruit form where it grows best, Washington.  The colder winters and hotter summers yield perfect growing conditions, known as terroir, for this jammy grape.  Advantage, boutique winery!  Not stuck with the fruit they grow like estate wineries, they purchase fruit from where they choose and bring it back to their facility and make the wine they want to.

Syrah is a grape that originated in the northern Rhône Valley of France.  It is used in another of our favorite wines, Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  We can't figure out what we like best, saying it or drinking it.  Anyway,  Syrah came to America in the 1970s, where it was planted by a group of "Rhône rangers."  The vines made their way North to Washington in 1985.  Aussie's, Oy,Oy,Oy, as they say, call it by a different name.  Anybody?  Shiraz, today it is Australia's most popular red grape.

OK, why is Pacific City included with all those other great cities, towns and villages in the work with significant Arts and Crafts architecture?  Well, it has gone through a kind of revival after the fine restoration of The Craftsman B&B.  As one of the oldest houses in the area and built in the time the movement was going strong, it has been a great example to the local builders and designers.  Most of the new construction in the area are Craftsman style houses.  Yes, we do have our share of beach cottages, grand houses and salt boxes, incorporating the ideals of Maybeck and New England shingle style.  We'd like to take the credit.  We have shown how to highlight the details of a house.  Before we restored our house, it was covered in peach and green aluminum siding.  All the trim was brown.  The details were there, they just needed to be shown off.  We stripped the siding to find cedar shingles.  They were removed and we started over.  The main part of the house is covered in lap siding.  All the bump out parts of the house are in shingles.  It is painted in historic, period colors; Gray-green for the body, dark green for the trim, white windows and red accents.  Wow, it only took a few months for other buildings in the area to follow our lead.  We even have had people up on the front porch with paint chips to match.  Mike will give you the paint codes, but asks that if they live in the area, he will help them choose different colors.  Mike is a color expert.

So come visit me.  See our Craftsman style house for yourself.  Walk around the town and you will see, the style is just about everywhere now.  The real estate market is ripe now, but it is cheaper for you to stay with us at The Craftsman B&B.  Don't forget to stop by Twist and taste all the wines from Basket Case and their sister labels; Shy Chenin and Reversal.