[/caption] I finally decided that it was about time that I went on my first winery tour and I figured that there was no better place to start than near my own backyard. My wife and I decided that we would tour as many wineries within Washington County as we could. After visiting the visitor center, we mapped out our touring route and headed out towards Forest Grove. We figured that we could visit up to 8 vineyards without being too rushed. However, we were only able to visit 5 wineries on this trip. Our first winery was Elk Cove Vineyards, which had spectacular views of their winery and also of the many trees along their property. We then headed out to Patton Valley Vineyard, which consisted of a twisty gravel road. The hospitality was wonderful and I was given the opportunity to take some photos inside the chilling room. We then found ourselves at Plum Hill Vineyards, which also was just off a gravel road, near the main highway. The tasting room was colorful and relaxing. The owner was gracious enough to give us a grand tour of their winery operation. We got a glimpse of the winery operation and saw just how difficult and time consuming it can be. The hospitality was again fantastic. We then headed out to Montinore Estate. The building may have been constructed of concrete but once you got near the entrance it took on a feel of an old west building. The interior was very welcoming and really made you feel like you were in a grand tasting room. Again, I was given permission to walk along the vineyard and take photos of the grounds and the vineyard. Our final destination was David Hill Vineyard & Winery. The tasting room house was an old English style home that was right in the middle of the vineyard. The grounds were well manicured and there were several rolling hills of vineyards throughout their property. All of the wineries mentioned were surrounded by their vineyard, which makes for a great atmosphere as well as many photo opportunities. Since I’m trying to become a wine lover, this gave me several opportunities to try some really great Pinot Noir wines. On our next wine tasting tour we hope to visit some of the other 20 or so wineries within the Washington County area. I highly recommend that you visit any of the wineries mentioned and expect some great hospitality and some pretty good wine too. The photo shown on my blog was taken at Elk Cove Vineyards. It was about 10:30 in the morning so the sun wasn’t too bright. There were several shady areas around the trees and their grounds have several flowers that create an epic scene. I never used my tripod on this trip since there was no need. To get this shot I had the camera set at Auto Exposure and the ISO at 100. The white balance was set at -1 and the F stop at 7.1. Since the sun was so bright I also attached my CIR-PL and my Warming filter. I was using my 12-24mm wide angle lens and had the focal length at 14mm. The Exposure Time was at 1/100 second. Photographing wineries can be real challenging since you are always trying to get as much of the vineyard in the frame without having too many distractions in the photo. I tried to incorporate as many trees and flowers as possible without losing sight of the main subject.