In Part 3 of our Alaska Airlines Free Wine Tasting series, we are going to visit Hood River, Oregon! As a quick reminder, the way to get the free wine tasting is that you must have flown on Alaska Airlines from one of the 30 participating airports and will visit one of the listed Oregon or Washington wineries within a certain amount of days. You must be a Mileage Plan member and be able to show your boarding pass as proof that you’ve taken the flight. To find out more about the Alaska Free Wine Tasting program, feel free to visit Part 1 and Part 2 of the series!

Hood River is a gorgeous little town about a little over an hour east of Portland. It’s known more for its craft breweries, but there are a few good wineries surrounding the immediate area as well. For this portion of the trip, we explored three different wineries: Wy’East Vineyards, Mt. Hood Winery, and Stave and Stone. We went on two separate days hence why you probably see a contrast in the pictures. Wy’East and Mt. Hood were on a rainy day and Stave and Stone was on a smoky day. We went to Stave and Stone first earlier in September when the wildfires were going on. About a month later, we were passing through this area again so we thought we would try other wineries that we couldn’t experience the first time.

Disclaimer: This is not a partnership blog post with Alaska Airlines. This is solely my experience using Alaska Airlines Free Wine Tasting Program and all opinions are my own.

WY’EAST VINEYARDS (WINERY #6)

TASTING: $15 FOR 5 WINES (COMPLIMENTARY WITH ALASKA AIRLINES)

We got here around 10:30 a.m. and we were the first tasting of the day. Even though it started off slow, it quickly got packed by the time we left. The service is set up where you get one wine glass for your five wines. Every time you are done with your wine, you go back up to the bar and they will give you the next wine. Since we were using the Alaska Airlines Free Wine Tasting benefit, we decided to get try both flights: the Estate Flight and the Roots of Red.

The wines were pretty interesting, but we ended up not buying a bottle. As always, since the tasting was complimentary and we didn’t buy anything, we left our servers a nice tip.

MT. HOOD WINERY (WINERY #7)

TASTING: $15 FOR 5 WINES (COMPLIMENTARY WITH ALASKA AIRLINES)

This property is absolutely gorgeous. Even with it raining, everything surrounding us was picturesque. I’m not sure how they use to do the tastings before COVID, but when we went, you had to go inside and fill out a paper of the five wines you want. You write your name on the paper and then they call you and bring out a tray with all your wines. Sadly, there was no explanation of the wines and the lady that checked us in was a little rude so it kind of hampered our experience.

We made the best of it either way and took our wines outside since the inside seating was full. All the tables were at a safe distance and we found a bench at the very back of the patio. We originally wanted to sit out in the chairs facing the vineyards, but we were afraid that it would start raining, which it did. In my opinion, I think the wines were okay. You probably come here more for the view than the wine, but definitely don’t let my opinion deter you from at least trying it once. Especially, if it’s complimentary.

STAVE AND STONE (WINERY #8)

TASTING: $10 FOR 3 WINES (COMPLIMENTARY WITH ALASKA AIRLINES)

Out of the three wineries that we tried in Hood River, this was probably our favorite. It was smokey the day we went so we, unfortunately, couldn’t sit outside. We were told that on a clear day, you can see Mt. Hood from there. I bet it would have been amazing, but I guess we’ll have to come back another time.

Regarding the wines, there are two introductory flights that you get to choose from: white or red. Since there were two of us, we opted to do one of each. Again, not sure how they did things before COVID, but they give you all the wines at once and then give you a quick run-through of each wine. I would say their bottle are more on the pricier side coming in around maybe $50/bottle. We did end up buying a pinot noir and we’re not even pinot noir people. Just shows you that it was that good.

Like always, if you have any questions or comments, leave them down below! Would love to hear from you. <3