Menu for Shallon Winery in Astoria, OR

Visited this winery about 12 years ago the owner was great the first visit was with my sister. We was so impressed we went back... the next day with my wife so she could get the same experience. Sorry to see it close Read more

{ 2005 03 30 } The Shallon Winery I have to tell you about one of my favorite places and people. It?s Mr.Paul VanDerveltd?s... Shallon Winery. Born in Seaside(!) because his mother wanted him born there, he went to school in Astoria and eventuallygraduated from Astoria High School before going on to Reed College. He had to leave after his first year when his father foundout that Reed was red1 and left to serve in the Navy during Korea and eventually came back to Astoria to take over his father?sconstruction company. He proceeded do to many things, one of which was to spend over a million dollars of grant money from theUniversity to make a whey wine. Paul says, Whey wines: As far as I know, I had the first good tasting commercially producedwhey wine in the world and still produce the only whey wine. These wines should be good for you; they should have the vitamins,minerals, and some of the protein that milk has. Several universities have in the past spent a great deal of grant money tryingto make wine from the whey, and have essentially failed (I don?t get any grant money). If you come to his winery, he will giveyou the full tour, practiced and rehearsed to perfection. So practiced that if you come a few times, you will start learningyour role and play it as well as you can. Sometimes he will tell you about the Black Raspberry wine and sometimes he won?t.Sometimes he will offer it to you and sometimes he won?t. Its a rare treat ? he will take out consecrated silver cups and pour atiny bit of wine that is inky black and unfathomably deep. Paul says, Wild BLACK Raspberry: A dessert wine too precious toeven mention, the berries picked one at a time in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest! Talk about precious desert wines likeChateau d?Yquem at $200 a bottle, but they are available. This you can?t get. If I ever have any, it?s $85 for 375 ml. And thendepending on his mood, maybe reflective or maybe a bit sad, he will tell you about his close friend (?an Read more

Paul is a vocal autobiography of his unique talent, personality, and winery. the product is remarkable, the environment unique,... and Paul is a special vocal purveyor of HIS craft. I enjoyed and appreciated the adventure, and the wines are perfection tomany. love the blackberry too, miss the peach from once upon a time. Read more

This was an amazing experience. Give yourself a little time and enjoy this man and his knowledge. His wines are so unique. Stop... in whole you still can! Read more

Shallon is an aquired taste. We were not prepared for the "experience". Call first and read all the reviews. We visited his... establishment about 2 years ago but after reading the reviews I felt I must give my two cents. The first hint I recieved thatthis tour was not going to be ordinary was just trying to gain entrance to the building.... Paul is an original, doesEVERYTHING his way. You cannot just walk in and purchase, you will be required to tour and taste. I would strongly suggest youdo not bring children. Plan on staying at least an hour. My wife and I were grateful for the experience and found Paul to be alikeable fellow that is very proud of his product. He is a craftsman and his artistic passion for his product comes through.Quirky, awkward, entertaining, and interesting are my best desciption of this experience. We will always remember this vacationdue to our visit with Paul. We did not purchase his products but I did enjoy tasting his "Chocolate Wine"..... If you have thetime, you must experience this tour at least once. Read more