Southern Oregon’s rugged, rural Rogue Valley area and the cities of Grants Cross, Medford and Ashland abound within the edible and drinkable issues that makes on a regular basis life right here so pleasurable for locals — and a delight for guests.
There are artisan cheese and meals producers, family-run fruit orchards, egg and honey-producing farms, natural vineyards, craft breweries and whiskey distilleries and even gourmand chocolate producers. A lot of this bounty is discovered on the Rogue Valley meals path, a self-guided journey to numerous farms, artisans and eating places in Southern Oregon.
The Rogue Valley area is nice to go to anytime of yr however spring via fall provides a cornucopia of recent produce, fruit and different seasonal merchandise. You may wander by yourself or obtain a free map at southernoregon.org/food-trails/rogue-valley-food-trail to start out discovering this pleasant and frivolously visited area of Oregon.
We arrived in Grants Cross after a easy six-hour drive north on Freeway 5 from the Bay Space. Our base camp for 3 days was the historic Weasku Inn, a captivating, woodsy sanctuary alongside the banks of the Rogue River. Positioned simply exterior Grants Cross, the lodge was inbuilt 1924 as a fishing haven. Its cozy Lincoln Log-style important lodge immediately transports you again to an earlier period of Pacific Northwest journey, when the cabins and lodge rooms attracted such luminaries as Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Bing Crosby and Walt Disney.
We cherished our keep right here, not just for the peaceable and enjoyable setting within the woods, leisurely breakfasts on the principle lodge’s broad deck (included with all bookings) and walks right down to the river, but additionally as an ideal base for scenic meals and drink-filled exploration of the Rogue river valley area and its meals path.
On day certainly one of our Rogue Valley exploration, we made a beeline to the Applegate Valley between Grants Cross and Medford, the place our first cease was the distinctive farm store of the Pennington Farms, a 90-acre family-run berry farm and bakeshop within the Applegate Valley. Farmer Sam Pennington grows dozens of forms of berries and his spouse, Cathy, makes pies, baked items and jams utilizing her Italian grandmother’s household recipes. We stepped inside the country, renovated barn to pattern the each day altering collection of housemade berry jams, pies and baked items. Make sure you strive a few of their hard-to-find varieties, reminiscent of lusterberry, kotataberry, and tayberry jams — for an genuine Southern Oregon deal with.
The Applegate Valley has a captivating really feel that evokes the quiet, rural Sonoma wine nation of years previous. For wine tasting, we headed to Wooldridge Creek Vineyard (named after the household who first settled right here within the 1800s). The winery started as Ted and Mary Warrick’s “hobby” winery within the Seventies. Over time, these two SoCal expats developed Wooldridge right into a severe industrial winery which incorporates an natural vineyard and creamery. They produce a restricted provide of simply 5,000 instances from 12 premium varietals, which could be tasted of their tasting room and patios.
In Central Level, near Medford, you don’t wish to miss the Rogue Creamery cheese store and its award-winning cheeses. Over the past 90 years, Rogue Creamery has mastered the artwork of artisan cheese — particularly blue cheese — and its merchandise could be discovered at cheese counters and eating places nationwide and around the globe.
Their famend, restricted version Rogue River Blue cheese is hand-wrapped in natural, biodynamic syrah grape leaves soaked in pear spirits and was named “World’s Best Cheese” on the World Cheese Awards in 2019-20. Their tasty grilled cheese sandwiches are sufficient to make any blue cheese-lover swoon. About 45 minutes drive from the store, you can even go to the Rogue Creamery’s dairy and farm store for an insightful take a look at a working dairy farm and recent cheese, after all!
Different worthy stops on the Rogue Meals Path embrace the Applegate River Lavender Farm close to Jacksonville and the English Lavender Farm in Applegate Valley. Go to these farms between June and early August, and also you’ll see considerable fields of aromatic lavender and peruse lavender merchandise.
Natural produce and meats are bought at Rogue Artisan Meals. Whistling Duck Farm in Applegate Valley provides recent produce and fermented veggies, and Day by day Blessings Farm in Grants Cross provides recent eggs, produce and flowers. Wild Bee Honey Farm in Eagle Level and Mountain
Blossom Bees north of Grants Cross provide honey-inspired treats. And Dunbar Farms is a 110-year-old family-owned farm specializing in stone-milled flours and estate-grown wines.
Our evenings have been centered on Grants Cross, only a brief drive from the Weasku Inn. We loved pleasant riverside eating on the TapRock Northwest Grill, wonderful eating at Partake and a full of life craft brew and meals truck scene at Weekend Beer Co. The city’s small however colourful historic district is enjoyable to discover with a free downloadable map (discover it at visitgrantspass.com), and it’s the place you’ll discover Home of Glory, an artisanal dessert cafe that serves up housemade gelato and savory Cuban-style empanadas.
And Oregon wine lovers will discover a number of downtown tasting rooms that includes the area’s wine producing areas — the Applegate Valley, Higher Rogue, and Jacksonville — every with its personal wine path.
Every night again on the Weasku Inn, we settled into Adirondack chairs by the fireplace pit simply exterior the principle lodge, the place we loved a glass of native wine and inn-provided s’mores and mirrored on the day’s scrumptious surprises. It was a becoming celebration for this straightforward getaway full of pleasant Southern Oregon allure, gorgeous surroundings and artisanal meals, wine and craft beer delights.
If You Go
Weasku Inn: Rooms begin at $179. 5560 Rogue River Freeway, Grants Cross, Oregon; weasku.com
Pennington Farms: Opens at 9 a.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. Saturday at 11341 Williams Freeway, Grants Cross; www.pennington.farm/.
Wooldridge Creek Vineyard: Opens each day at 11 a.m. at 818 Slagle Creek Highway, Grants Cross; wcv.farm.
Rogue Creamery: The creamery cheese store, which sells grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and different snacks in addition to Rogue Creamery cheeses, opens at 10 a.m. each day at 311 N. Entrance St. in Central Level. The dairy and farm stand opens at 10 a.m. each day — and provides free guided excursions at 10 a.m. and a pair of p.m. Wednesday-Sunday — at 6531 Decrease River Highway in Grants Cross; roguecreamery.com.
Applegate River Lavender Farm: Open seasonally at 375 Hamilton Highway in Jacksonville https://applegateriverlavender.com/.
English Lavender Farm: Opens at 10 a.m. Friday-Monday in June and July at 8040 Thompson Creek Highway in Applegate; englishlavenderfarm.com.
Taprock Northwest Grill: Opens at 9 a.m. each day at 971 S.E. Sixth St., Grants Cross; www.taprock.com/.
Partake: Opens at 5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday at 111 S.E. G St. in Grants Cross; partakegp.com.
Weekend Beer Co.: Opens at midday each day at 1863 Washington Blvd., in Grants Cross; weekendbeercompany.com.
Home of Glory: Opens at 9 a.m. Monday-Saturday at 115 S.W. G St. in Grants Cross; https://houseofglory.co/.
