Sno Road Winery [May 2021]

From Boise we headed on up into Oregon, again we were trying to avoid the snowstorms predicted to happen in Montana. Our last stop before checking into the campground for the summer was in Stanfield, OR at the Pilot RV Park!! How funny that I just mentioned our truck driving history last week and here we are staying at a truck stop RV Park. I didn’t even know there was such a thing!! I remember two things about this park. First, you had to drive through the truck stop parking lot to get to it and…

Second, that Gunner “escaped” out the door behind me when I got out of the motorhome to check in!! I didn't even know until the attendant said, "oh.. you have an escape artist," I had no idea what he was talking about until I saw Gunner running around the park!! LOL Whew, thankfully we caught him quick. [Parker would never] After we got set up, I had no plans to hang around the truck stop [been there… done that] so I found a little winery called Sno Road Winery. It is a family-owned winery and tasting room with locally grown Muscat grapes, and I felt it calling to me!!

It was a little easy to miss the tasting room since it was while you were driving uphill [or driving downhill I guess, depending on which way you were coming into town.. Haha!!] and in was also located in the middle of a bunch of other shops. In fact, when we first walked in I wasn’t even sure if it was the place to be for a wine tasting. I mean with the way the doorway was decorated, it made me think that we could possibly be walking into another one of boutique shops. But, my eye was immediately drawn to the piano, and then I could see the tasting room beyond… whew!! LOL

Sno Road Winery was founded in 2009, by Lois and Lloyd Piercy. They are both natives of this area, but sadly I could not find any information about how they met!! Lois grew up near the foot of Mt Adams in a rustic cabin. [without running water if you can imagine that!?] Her family raised cattle, and her dad broke horses. Llyod’s family moved to the area in the 50’s when he was a boy and started a sage farm. At this time many families were “attempting to tame the desert” living in tents or other simple shelters. Few were able to make this dream a reality.

Sno Road Winery is known for this fully restored tasting room and a couple of their estate-grown grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir. Echo West Ranch & Vineyard was started by Lois and Lloyd in the early 2000’s on 39 acres in the Columbia Valley in Echo, Oregon. It is considered to be a high elevation vineyard at about 850 feet [Hmmmm.. LOL!!] and it overlooks the Umatilla River. With its uncommon growing environment and robust, flavorful taste, Echo West Ranch Vineyard supplies the grapes for a few other wineries as well.  

Lois and Lloyd have "worn many hats" over their lifetime, and they find themselves to be very fortunate to have traveled the world together; from trekking in Costa Rica, rural Mexico… sailing in Venezuela, surfing False Bay and exploring the Grand Savannah, South Africa, Sweden, France and so on. Tasting and learning more about wine along the way. However, they always found themselves returning to the rural area in Oregon. This is where their heart is along with the grand-babies!!   

I loved all the different, colorful and pretty wine bottle labels. This says it best... “our taste for adventure is reflected in the novellas on our wine labels. We wish to share our stories and wines, the work of our hands, a reflection of our lives.”

Love, Lloyd & Lois

Did I mention that on our way to visit Sno Road Winery, we passed another winery that wasn’t even on my radar!? You aren't going to miss this one, so come on back next week as Wine with Wixy visits and old silo!!

Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!