Will Travel For Bubbly
When Anne Amie Vineyards in Carlton, OR hosts Bubbles Fest the only thing you can do is call up your girlfriends and ask them if they want to join you! If you have never heard of Bubbles Fest and you LOVE bubbly you are missing out. Bubbles Fest brings together 25 wineries one room so you can sample their sparkling wine over the course of 2 bubbly days.
Getting to Bubbles Fest
So, I greeted the girls at the airport with individual Stay Healthy Travel Packs. First, I need you to know that I am NOT that person. I flew 8-12 flights a week (no, I wasn’t a flight attendant) when I worked in corporate for 10+ years and I was NEVER that person. But on this trip, I was THAT person.
And probably because the week before our trip, I came down with the flu and it knocked me out for 1 week….and I know how tired I was and didn’t want any of us to come down with it during the trip or after. And now I’m not sure I will ever travel without one of these little packs again.
I bought everything on Amazon including the reusable ziplock bags.
Here’s what I put in them:
- Wet Ones-to wipe down our areas: the tray table, seat belt, heat vent, arm rest, head rest, window cover…you name it, we disinfected it.
- Emergen-C Immune Plus-to take every morning
- Airborne Immune Support Gummies-to take every night
- Yogi Echinacea Immune Support Tea-just in case we needed more immune support
- Nature’s Way Sambucus Elderberry Zinc Lozenges-As needed immune support lozenges
- Liquid IV-we were going to be tasting LOTS of bubbly over the course of the 3 day weekend, we certainly needed to stay hydrated (You can order Liquid I.V. online and save 25% and get free shipping when you use the code BUBBLY22.)
The pro-active Stay Healthy Travel Packs are great, but I also had some reinforcements should any of us feel like we were starting to come down with something.
I swear by these…they kept me on the road and functioning clearly for those years I was traveling like a maniac.
- Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs
- Cold-EEZE Cold Remedy Lozenges
- Alka Seltzer Tablets
If you’re feeling extra bubbly and wonderful you can add some travel staples like
- Chapstick
- Granola/Protein bars
- a cute tumbler/cup
And now armed with all the essentials, we were ready to board the plane….with our first class seats on Alaska Airlines. By the way…. if you have never flown Alaska, you MUST. I repeat…you MUST. Best customer service ever. Best experience you will ever have in the air on a domestic flight. Ok…done with my commercial for Alaska that is not even sponsored.
Accommodations
Now if you have ever been to Oregon Wine Country, you already know there are not a whole lot of hotels around. Hotels can also feel impersonal and personally I think they can disrupt some of the fun of a girls weekend. Since I was with 2 of my girlfriends, I booked us an Airbnb and it was PERFECT! A cute little place on a Kookoolan Farm. Everything we needed for the perfect girl’s weekend in wine country: great views, private space, with the most gracious hosts next door. I would love to go there when then weather is nicer because they allow you to pick your own vegetables from their garden.
Since we had a kitchen we ran through Trader Joe’s and the grocery store to buy everything for our meals for the weekend. And if you didn’t catch the Valentine’s Day Post we made that CharTREATerie board and celebrated National Pizza day with homemade pizzas.
Eating at “home” is a great way to spend time together and let us sample local produce as well.
Sokol Blosser Winery
We started our own personal Bubbles Fest at Sokol Blosser Winery because they were not going to be at the actual Bubbles Fest. If you didn’t know they named Bubbly Side of Life (they didn’t really know they did either). It’s always a great time there and their Evolution Sparkling is some of my favorite! I wrote about these sparkling in the Valentine’s Day Post as well and you can get those same sparkling wine in their normal bottles as seen in these pictures. Yes, definitely we enjoyed these that evening and, of course, wrote our reason for celebrating on each bottle.
This place is one of my favorites to go to for wine tasting. They have a great dining room and outdoor patio. It’s a more intimate experience because you are seated at tables and they come to you to pour your next tasting. I much prefer being seated around a table so we can continue chit chatting verses attempting to lean in over the bar to see everyone in the group. And their views are awesome! Really an overall perfect experience.
The Real Bubbles Fest
And now the real fun begins.
2 days
25 wineries
40 different sparkling wines
If you LOVE sparkling wine, put this on your calendar for next year. It’s always the weekend before Valentine’s Day and hosted at Anne Amie Vineyards. The weather this weekend was perfect and their views are amazing! It’s definitely a treat to wander the property when you’re in need of a little bubbly break.
Tasting the Wine
You’re greeted with a glass when you walk in, that is yours to keep, and you then get a chance to wander about chatting with representatives from the wineries and tasting the 1-2 varieties they brought. Sometimes the winemakers come to Bubbles Fest themselves and you have the chance to chat with them as well…which is always very fun and interesting. They will tell you as much or as little as you want.
There are some people just there to taste a bunch of bubbly and have a good time. That is a wonderful way to experience Bubbles Fest but it’s only begins to skim the surface of this amazing event. Then there’s us: wanting to know everything about what we’re about to taste.
We asked just about every winery there:
- The process/which method they use to make it
- The soil where the grapes are grown
- Which grapes are used
- The amount of time on lees
- The story behind the winery
We want to know it all!
Each day we spent between 3-4 hours there. Learning about the wines we were tasting, taking notes so we’d remember, meeting new bubbly friends and sharing bubbly love and, of course, pausing between tastings to snack on some french fries!
Meet The Host
William Kobyluck is the Wine Club and Events Manager at Anne Amie. And he is an all around awesome guy. Bubbles Fest started out in 2015 with 11 wineries participating has more than doubled in the last 5 years. It’s become so popular that now there are 2 different days with different wineries each day. You will find Will wandering about, chatting with everyone making sure they are truly enjoying themselves.
The People
There is nothing better than meeting other people that are passionate about the same things you are. Bubbles Fest is for all those that love sparkling wine. Whether you are an amateur bubbly lover or are a seasoned veteran of the event you are sure to meet others that share your enthusiasm.
This adorable Champagne Gang was there to have just as much fun as we were. We love meeting other bubbly enthusiasts and having a laugh.
And what event would be complete without some Photo Booth fun? Thanks to Stumptown Booth, we have lots of fun pictures and boomerangs as souvenirs from Bubbles Fest 2020!
The Wine
Afterward, we sat down (with a glass of bubbly, of course) and compared notes. These are our favorites from all the vendors that were there.
Sparkling Rosé
Anne AmieVineyards 2016 Marilyn Reserve Brut Rosé
Adelsheim Vineyards 2014 Sparkling Brut Rosé
Apolloni Vineyards 2018 Sparkling Rosé
Elk Cove Vineyards 2016 La Boheme Brut Rosé
Gran Moraine Winery Yamhill-Carlton Brut Rosé
ROCO Winery 2016 RMS Brut Rosé
Photo Credit: Josh Chang, Foundry 503
Brut/Extra Brut
Argyle Winery 2016 Vintage Brut
ROCO Winery 2015 RMS Brut
Trisaetum Pashey 2016 Blanc de Blanc
Youngberg Hill Winery 2017 Youngberg Hill Sparkling
Winter’s Hill Estate 2016 Ninebark Sparkling Wine
Yes, there were lots others that we enjoyed, but these were the ones that truly “WOW’d” us.
Some of these are small wineries and don’t make mass amounts of bottles and others you can find all over the country in your local wine/liquor store. And they will ship, of course, your state has to allow that.
The Aftertaste
Now, I’ve been to Bubbles Fest before and it’s just one of my favorite events. It’s always such a fun experience. Not only tasting all the bubbles, but everyone is just so happy and friendly (and really, how can you not be…you’re tasting bubbly all day long).
And don’t just take my word for it….my girlfriends have never been before and here’s what they had to say.
This is official our new yearly girl’s trip! The perfect combo of bubbly + new friends + memories!
All this bubbly in one room is just a room full of happiness! Such a fun event where I found some new favorites!
And the good news….none of us got sick during or after the trip, so I’d say the Stay Healthy Travel Packs were a success!
