Summer’s in Phoenix are the hottest, longest time of the year, a time when most people try to leave for a cooler climate. For my family and I, we started spending our summers in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho when my friend and client Patrick Murphy hired me to design his family a second home on stunning Lake Coeur d’Alene in 1999. In fact, we purchased a home there in 2004 and enjoyed many years of both summer and winter fun overlooking that magnificent lake. Fast forward nearly 20 years, my oldest daughter Tiffany urged us to “explore” and spend this summer somewhere else. So, I tasked her with finding a place that provided all of the following: a cool climate, a weekly farmer’s market, a small town but with fun things to do nearby, good food, and within reasonable driving distance from Phoenix. Well, she managed to find not only a town with all of that, but situated in a lush, rolling hills wine region! Needless to say, this is our new favorite summer spot.

McMinnville, Oregon is a small city of 34,000 people (10,000 less than Coeur d’Alene) an hour southwest of Portland and 45 minutes east of the coast, situated in the heart of the Willamette Valley. This region is known for its Pinot Noirs and there are literally hundreds of wineries to visit, serving much more than Pinots. Lucky for us, the wineries and tasting rooms were just starting to re-open to the public when we arrived on June 30th, along with dine-in restaurants, state parks and the weekly farmer’s market!

We rented a house on Airbnb about a mile from “main street” for the month of July. With the pandemic going on, neither myself nor my wife and daughter are working in the office, so we took all our work with us and my drafting table, cooking appliances, three bikes, and made the two-day drive to Oregon. We all got plenty of work done along with lots of walks through the woods, wine tastings, cooking and dining out, podcasts and rest. One podcast episode we recorded there featured one of the wonderful wineries we visited, Domaine Divio, and the owner and head winemaker there, Bruno Corneaux. Bruno grew up in Burgundy, France and went on to work in wineries around the world, before ending up in Oregon and starting Domaine Divio in 2014. Listen to this podcast episode here.

We were so impressed by the wines, the landscape, the restaurants, the friendly people and the whole experience in and around McMinnville, we not only want to return as soon as possible, but we want to give all of you the opportunity to join us! Given everything I just mentioned, plus plenty of airports nearby and an array of accommodations, yet still relatively small and unknown, we decided this is a perfect location for a new Candelaria Design Tour!

Peruse the photos below we took during our month in Oregon and you’ll see what a charming place this region is and all it has to offer. We are planning the McMinnville/Willamette Valley Tour to take place in April 2022, with our Spain Tours remaining in June and our Italy Tours in September. 

We hope you all managed to get away this summer and have some fun in these challenging times. We look forward to welcoming you into our office and new demonstration kitchen as soon as it is safe. In the meantime, comment below to let us know your favorite summer destinations and connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @markcandelaria.