I’ve loved Willamette Valley Pinot Noir since one of my very first restaurant jobs, where I was introduced to Chehalem and declared Oregon Pinot my forever favorite. So when Pete and I finally made it out to the valley years later on an Oregon Lavender Trail press trip, I was smitten all over again. The cooler air, the lavender everywhere you looked, the wine and vineyards, the olive groves. It reminded us so much of our trips through Europe, except there was no passport required and no jet lag to sleep off. All the lavender fields and world-class wine, just a short flight from home.
One afternoon on that trip, we met up with my friend Christina for a glass of wine at Lange. As we caught her up on our week, going on and on about the lavender and the wine and the olive groves, I told her the whole thing would make the ultimate girls trip (even though Pete had loved every minute of it too). It started as a bit of a friendly jab at Pete, but a few more sips of wine later, we were saying it for real: we should turn this into a girls trip. A retreat, even. That afternoon at Lange is genuinely where Sip + Savor Summer Camp started.
Turning a Glass of Wine Into a Retreat
We took my original press trip itinerary as a jumping off point, added stops like Lange and Knudsen, and built it out from there. More than anything, we wanted to create the kind of retreat we’d actually want to go on ourselves: all the lavender and wine and good food, with some time carved out for the things that are good for the soul too, like yoga, crafts, and journaling. What followed was almost nine months of me and Christina testing crafts, mixing cocktails, and pouring over every detail until it felt exactly right. I’d also just earned my yoga teacher certification around that time, so weaving morning and evening yoga into the retreat felt like a natural fit, and gave me a way to lead part of the experience myself.
Christina and I ended up co-hosting that very first Sip + Savor Summer Camp together, and every photo in this post is from that trip! Here’s how the week unfolded.
Settling In With Cocktails and Girl Dinner
Our first night was all about getting everyone in, settled, and comfortable. We gathered over cocktails and girl dinner in Portland, which is exactly the kind of low-key, grazing-your-way-through-the-evening meal that makes everyone feel at home right away. By the end of the night, a room full of women who’d mostly just met already felt like friends.
A Tea Flight, Donuts, and a Lavender Picnic
Our first official day started at Smith Teamaker, where we experienced a tea flight and got to peek behind the scenes at how they package their teas. (We may or may not have had a box of Portland’s famous Blue Star Donuts along for the car ride into Willamette Valley … best road trip snack ever.)
From there, we headed to a lavender farm for a boxed lunch right in the fields, where everyone picked their own lavender and sipped lavender sparkling sodas. It was the exact kind of afternoon that planted the seed for this whole retreat, so getting to share it with a group of women who loved it as much as I did felt a little surreal.
That afternoon we made our way to Lange for our first wine tasting of the trip. The view alone is worth the drive, but the real treat was meeting Jesse Lange and tasting that year’s Pinot before it was even bottled.
After that, we checked into our tiny home cabins and closed the day with gentle yoga and a candlelit intention-setting workshop at sunset. The day seemed so perfect – a picnic in a lavender field, amazing wine tastings with a view, and ending with candlelight yoga – a few of us got teary and choked up. There’s something about slowing down, setting an intention, and moving through a gentle flow by candlelight as the sun goes down that sneaks up on you. And of course, everyone got to take their candle home with them.
Morning Yoga and a Private Lunch at Knudsen
The next morning, we synced breath and movement with a yoga session up in the vineyards, surrounded by the quiet, rolling hills and a little morning mist still hanging over the vines. Afterward, we had a light breakfast on the terrace before setting out on our hike through Knudsen Vineyards. Along the way, we got to taste the very wines made from the vines we were walking through, and made a running joke that every time we made it up another gentle hill, we’d earned ourselves a “little splash” more. The hike led us to a private lunch tucked into a cabin, where we got to meet winemaker Page Knudsen. That evening wound down around the fire pit with cocktails, popcorn, and savory s’mores, which might be my new favorite way to end a day.
An Olive Oil Tasting That Won Us All Over
The next day was the one I’d been looking forward to most: a blue glass olive oil tasting paired with wine at Durant Oregon. The views over the vineyard are unreal, and the olive oil was so good that our entire group ended up joining the culinary club before we left. Durant is Oregon’s only commercial olive mill and home to the only Olioteca in the Pacific Northwest, and their oils have earned honors at the New York International Olive Oil Competition, so trust me, the hype is real. I was especially glad we got to linger here. When Pete and I first visited Durant on our Lavender Trail press trip, it felt rushed, so having the time to slow down and really savor it this go-round felt like coming full circle.
That afternoon, we did some grownup summer camp activities like arts and crafts and fun cocktails and snacks too before getting some rest for the farewell dinner.
That night, we gathered at Mac Market, hosted by Alea and organized by Christina, with each course thoughtfully paired with wine. By the end of the meal, the conversation had turned tender, a few happy tears included, as we talked about how much it meant to share this kind of experience together as a group of women. It was the perfect send-off, the kind of long, lingering dinner where nobody wants to be the first to say goodnight.
The Future of Sip + Savor Summer Camp
I was so grateful to co-host this first Sip + Savor Summer Camp, and it’s a memory I’ll hold onto for a long time. These days, I’m pouring my energy into other projects, including our sister site Active Voyager, so I’ve handed the retreat over to the person who was there from that very first glass of wine at Lange. Native Oregonian Christina is now carrying Sip + Savor Summer Camp forward, hosting it in her home state where she knows every back road and hidden wine trail by heart. And who knows, I hope to plan more trips for The Travel Bite again down the road.
If a few days of vineyard yoga, lavender fields, and good wine sounds like your kind of trip, you can check out the next Sip + Savor Summer Camp, hosted by Christina.
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