The Wine Lover's Guide to Summer in Oregon

A Black woman wearing a denim shirt is carrying a bicycle down a set of stairs in an urban environment. The bicycle has a green paint job and honey leather wrapped handlebars.

Original, unique designs to help with lifting and carrying your bicycle

Lifetime leather bar wraps in five styles for every type of handlebar and bicycle

A woman bicycling on a bright summer day over a green lawn wearing suede fringe cowgirl boots and with a 6-pack of Anchor Steam beer connected to the top tube of her bicycle with a honey leather 6-pack frame cinch

Best-selling "commuter essentials" for making the daily commute easier

A dark brown leather round, barrel-shaped saddle bag with cedar wood sides mounted to the back of a brown leather Brooks saddle on a cream-and-brown painted bicycle

Stunning handcrafted bicycle bags carry the essentials and turn heads!

Two people playing a game of travel cribbage on a wooden picnic table with a small leather and birch cribbage board

Our original best-selling Travel Cribbage Boards have fans worldwide

Two sets of travel dice on a dark brown leather table surface. Both sets show six dice coming out of a square brass tube. The dice are 7mm, smaller than standard. One has white dice and the other has black dice.

Play dice anywhere you go in a handcrafted brass keychain or necklace.

Two people playing dominoes using small, domino-sized playing cards on a walnut wood table with snacks and drinks. The domino cards are double 12 with different colors for each number and hand-drawn.

Uniquely functional for travel: hand-drawn domino playing cards (2 sizes!)

Close-up of a folding leather travel backgammon board mid-play on a weathered wood surface. A hand is reaching in and moving four game pieces (which are brass nails) between triangles, which are laser-engraved in the honey dyed leather. Accessories are visible, dice and doubling cube and peg storage

Our newest folding leather board and favorite game: Travel Backgammon!

A variety of handcrafted leather and wood handles on a sample board as seen from above and an angle

Leather handles in 8 styles, 4 leather colors, and 3 metal finishes

A white chest of drawers in a white and lilac baby nursery with three colors of leather Morrison bin pull handles, in Honey, Dark Brown, and Black

Strong yet soft, durable and sustainable, no-bumps and no-bruises

A white kitchen drawer under a gray countertop that has a natural tan colored leather handle with nickel hardware and an engraved label that says 'Silverware'

Add a label to handles and pulls for superior organization

Two cabinet doors swinging open towards each other with matching leather Lovejoy loop handles. The leather touches so the cabinets don't crash into each other, a solution for problem corners in kitchen design planning

Flexible but sturdy, creative solutions to tricky problem corners

A roll of natural leather on a white background

We wrote a free educational series about our favorite material, delivered to your inbox.

Valerie and Geoff from Walnut Studiolo are standing on a pile of driftwood between two boulders on the North Oregon Coast beach near Manzanita, with mountains and grey sky in the background

About Us

A long dark brown leather blueprint tube is shown on a long countertop being hand stitched together by Geoff, whose stitching hands are in the background

More Information

Valerie and Geoff Franklin of Walnut Studiolo standing behind their bicycles on a grassy green lawn. Geoff is doffing his hat to Valerie and she is smiling, as a gesture of service.

Customer Service

Our blog "In a Nutshell" is chock-a-block with fresh and intriguing content written by in-house humans!

This blog is written by humans.

100% written by humans.
We don't use generative A.I.

Read Our Statement on A.I.

by admin
June 18, 2019
2 min read

With 16 different winegrowing regions, 700 wineries, 72 grape varieties, and abundant good summer weather, Oregon is a playground for wine lovers. And wherever you go, our Oregon-made handcrafted leather Wine Case will make the trip picnic-perfect.

Our favorite summer wine activities

Explore all the wine regions

Many people have heard about Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs, but have you tasted a Rogue Valley AlbariÃ±o, or a Walla Walla Merlot? These are some of our favorites, and it's a thrill to find great wine in all corners of Oregon. Dovetailed with a camping trip or historic hotel, that's all you need for a memorable summer road trip.

Bicycle wine country

There's more than one bicycle tour of Oregon wine country, but one of the best-known is the Eola Hills Wine Country Bike Ride - every Sunday in August.

Individualized bike tours are organized by tour groups like LifeCycle Adventures, or you can plan your own using Oregon scenic bikeways as a starting point, like on the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway.

Laidback winery day trip and picnic

One of the simplest, and most enjoyable ways to explore Oregon wines is with a simple day trip, a target winery, and picnic plan. Bring along a stocked picnic basket and a leather wine case, and have your friends meet you at one of your favorite wineries. Most wineries have picnic tables and gorgeous grounds that they welcome you to enjoy and linger. You can buy a glass or cork a bottle on the grounds and relax a few hours in the bucolic scenery rather than rushing around for quick tastings.

Leather Wine Case on the beach by @adventurewine

Oregon winegrowing regions (AVAs)

Summer road trippers are likely to pass by at least one of the sixteen different wine growing regions of Oregon - and they're all worth exploring!

Learn more about each of the regions and their participating wineries on each regional wine organization:

Special events

Wine summer begins in Oregon with Memorial Day Wine Weekend, the first of two big annual winetasting events. On that weekend, celebrating the beginning of the growing year, wineries pull out all the stops, with special tastings, snacks, and music. Even some wineries that aren't normally open to the public prop open their doors.

Wine summer ends with Wine Country Thanksgiving Weekend, the last of the big annual winetasting events.

The majority of events and wineries are in the Willamette Valley, but check with individual regions and wineries for summer events around Oregon: there are winemakers dinners, outdoor concerts, barrel tasting events, seminars, game nights, and more.

Country