March 26th, 2021
DOUBLE HURRAH! THIS MONTH, AGAIN, FROM FRIDAY, MARCH 26TH, BRINGS A WIDER REOPENING OF OUR HOSPITALITY. MORE INDOOR SEATING ALLOWED ALTHOUGH LIMITATIONS ON NUMBERS MAKE RESERVATIONS ESSENTIALLY IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY FOR THE WEEKENDS. PLEASE CALL US AT (503) 831-4916 OR EMAIL TO hospitality@leftcoastwine.com. TO MAKE YOUR RESERVATION TODAY.
We look forward to the coming of longer days of spring into summer and the warm weather pleasures of patio tastings and dining. Soon there will be picnics and families spread across the oak savanna. We can hardly wait!
At this time, our casual, bring your own blankets or chairs and glassware for oak savanna seating, for bottle sales daily and pizza orders, Friday through Sunday, is open without reservations in rain free weather.
We will do our best to accommodate walk ins, more available in the better weather across our beautifully restored oak savanna. But please remember that making a reservation is the very best way to assure your place for a sit down tasting and delivered to the table food service.
A light, changing, seasonal menu of Estate grown and locally sourced ingredients, including Estate duck and chicken eggs and honey, is offered Monday through Thursday. Our delicious wood fired pizza is available Friday through Sunday.
For spring, we are open daily, noon to 5, final food orders at 4:30. Masks continue to be required by state mandate while moving about the property. Removal when seated is welcomed.
A special treat at Left Coast, as March moves into April, is the flowering of the Yoshino cherry trees, lining the driveway, up to the winery. These are some of the same variety that contribute to the world renowned annual Cherry Festival in Washington, DC, that, unfortunately, is discouraging visitors this year.
In tribute to our country's proud and beautiful national capital city, I want to provide a history on the origin of the Festival that inspired our own Yoshino plantings here at Left Coast. Enter in 1885, Mrs. Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, a world traveler, writer, and diplomat who had recently traveled to Japan, at a time when few women enjoyed such opportunities.
She campaigned tirelessly to bring Japanese cherry trees to the city until 1909, when her idea reached the receptive ear of the new First Lady, Helen Herron Taft, who had, herself, lived in Japan. Quickly, the Japanese became involved, with a donation of 2,000 trees, arrived in early January of 1910 but found to be thoroughly infested and had to be burned in their entirety. Agriculture, as we who farm well know, can convey both cruel and triumphant outcomes.
More than two years later, through the generosity of the city of Tokyo, a donation of more than 3,000 replacement trees of 12 different varieties arrived in our nation's capital. The vast majority live to this day, a gift of friendship of the Japanese people.
Here, at Left Coast, our far fewer trees are yet to break into flower. This year's bloom is estimated to arrive sometime between March 30th and April 5th, the peak bloom lasting a matter of days.
We invite you out for this short lived beauty. However, the arrival of spring is bursting out all over the property. Bud break awakens the dormant vines to the beginnings of a new, upcoming vintage.
Today's daffodils and hyacinths will be followed by iris and then the summer cavalcade of lupine, roses, oriental poppies, Shasta daisies, black eyed Susans and more. It is a pleasure to share our special spot, here in the heart of the Willamette Valley, with you as the season of new growth and vibrant colors unfolds.
By mid May, the oak savanna will again be filled with the musical talents of our After Hours Fridays. There is a sense of, yes, a different, new normalcy returning, post a most trying year. We are ready to enjoy that with you on the expanse of our working farm.
I leave you with this family photo, taken last week by Winemaker Joe, his wonderful face in the photo above with me. Here are the three of my younger generation: Left Coast's Creative Director, Cali, your's truly, CEO Taylor, and the eldest, Karleton, who, with his Cordon Bleu training, was in the Left Coast kitchen in earlier days and is now contributing his metal fabrication and building expertise to upcoming projects.
How blessed we are, here at Left Coast. We are daily thankful for the hard working Left Coast Team that makes it all happen. A toast to their passion and devotion in bringing forth the very best from this land, from vine to wine, and to the care and thoughtfulness they bring daily to the integrity and sustainability of the Estate.
And, of course, we ABSOLUTELY couldn't do it without you!
Heartfelt thanks,
❤Suzanne and All of Us at Left Coast❤
Photos from Lisa, US Today, Suzanne, and illustrations by Cali.
