The "ahhhh" moment comes as you sit on a great, open, lush-lawned patio with Oregon's Willamette Valley stretching before you as far as the eye can see. Rows of pinot noir grapes march up the hillsides to your feet. Behind you stands a beautiful gable-roofed inn.

In your hand is a glass of pinot noir wine that was born in those very grapes, and beside you is your host who also happens to be the winemaker. "Ahhh, yes," this is what the trip is all about.

Lots of Hawai'i folks have reason to travel to Oregon, if only to drop off or pick up kids getting Mainland initiations at area colleges and universities. Taking a few days to travel down the Willamette Valley from Portland is well worth the time. Direct Honolulu-Portland flights make the 5 1/2-hour trip relatively painless.

My wife, Deena, and I were looking for a place to meet halfway for a short vacation as she returned from family business on the East Coast. Somewhere, perhaps in a barber shop, I picked up an old copy of Wine Spectator magazine with an article about touring in wine country other than Napa Valley.

One such destination was the Willamette Valley. It is at the same latitude (45 degrees north of the equator) as France's Burgundy region. Burgundy's most famous wine is made from the pinot noir grape, and within the last 30 years or so, because some winemakers noticed the similarity in soil, climate and geography, the Willamette Valley has become known for its pinot noirs.

I had been drinking pinot since before the movie "Sideways" made the wine a celebrity, so the Willamette Valley seemed a perfect destination. There are said to be more than 500 wineries in Oregon today, and well over half are in the region between Portland and Eugene.

In many ways, the Willamette Valley today is what Napa was 30 or more years ago. While there are a few large wineries, many are tiny. When you wander into a tasting room, you are likely to find a member of the owner's family or the winemaker pouring samples of cherished vintages. And crowds are rare, unlike in Napa, where bus tours often pull up at more popular tasting rooms.

But the Willamette Valley has learned from Napa's experience as well, considering how to grow without overgrowing. At the moment, a loud argument is going on over whether to permit an upscale 50-room boutique hotel to be built amid the vineyards above Dayton, Ore. For now, most travelers stay at small inns, B&Bs or roadside motels, or make day trips from Portland.

Willamette Valley tasting rooms have learned from Napa; most of them charge. The fee varies from $5 to $20 for a flight of three to five wines. Some will deduct the fee if you buy one or more bottles; others will not. Some serve crackers, cheeses or even olives with a tasting; most do not.

With so many wineries to choose from, most of them not very well-known, the challenge is where to go first. Start by ordering an excellent map from the Willamette Valley Wineries Association (see box on E5).

The good news as you drive around is that directions to all association wineries are clearly marked with blue signs that give drivers plenty of advance warning when to turn off main roads and how to follow the twists and turns up dusty hillsides.

You can plan your tasting stops from the map or one of several guides — but there are alternatives. One is to pick a vineyard at random and ask the person pouring there what other stops are recommended. Or, if you are staying at a friendly inn as we did, consult your host and other guests to learn from their experiences. A combination, with emphasis on the last, worked best for us.

Deena found our accommodations, the Youngberg Hill Inn and Vineyard, on the Web, and a great find it was. It is just south of McMinnville, home of Linfield College and the Evergreen Aviation Museum, where Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, the world's largest wooden airplane, is on display.

Two stories tall, the inn, built in 1989, offers breathtaking panoramic views. Very New England in architecture, the place, as we drove up to it, looked just a little like the hotel that drove Jack Nicholson crazy in "The Shining." But just a little.

Innkeepers Wayne and Nicolette Bailey, their two young daughters and a small staff are wonderful hosts. The stay includes a delicious homemade breakfast (from recipes good enough to be gathered in a cookbook that is for sale), and there is always an open bottle of the estate's prize-winning pinot noir on the sideboard — help yourself "on the honor system."

The Baileys' two black Labradors (Chip and Dale) will accompany you on your walks around the property, and their two cats will climb onto your lap as you sit on the patio, which is equipped for weddings and other events. There is even a basket of carrots by the door so you can stop to feed the horses.

Nicolette will make recommendations and reservations for restaurants, and though they have owned the inn for only a few years, Wayne is a fount of information about wine in general and Willamette Valley wine in particular. When asked, he will tell you that the inn supports the vineyards, not the other way around, but there are plans to add blocks of new plantings that may change that.

The inn has seven rooms, and the second-floor suites have private balconies. The library and game room are quite cozy, but we spent most of our time outside. We loved our "Gamay" room on the first floor, complete with fireplace and a door to the wraparound porch, a lovely place from which to watch the moon rise over the Willamette Valley.

My sweetie and I met up in Portland, and after two nights, picked up our rental car for the just-over-an-hour drive to the Newberg-Dundee-McMinnville area at the center of the northern Willamette Valley and home to more than 120 wineries.

Tastings started as soon as we approached Newberg, at the well-known Rex Hill Vineyards. Erath is probably the largest and best-known winery in the area. It recently was sold by founder Richard Erath to Saint Michelle Wine Estates, which owns some of the largest wineries in Washington state. Argyle Winery in Dundee and Archer Summit in Dayton also are large, by local standards, well-known and widely distributed.

We left Portland on Sunday afternoon with plans to stay three nights in the Willamette Valley before returning to Honolulu on Wednesday.

What we did not know was that while some wineries are open year-round except major holidays, a large number are open only from Tuesday or Wednesday through the weekend, which cut into our tasting possibilities.

On Monday, for example, we asked the winemaker at Maysara winery for his recommendations. Maysara is a small, young winery where you gather for tasting around a table amidst tanks and barrels in the winery itself. But the wines are excellent, and we bought four bottles.

The winemaker there suggested we go next to two adjacent wineries in the Eola Hills, Witness Tree and Christom. Had we checked the hours marked on the map, we would have found that both were closed — and saved ourselves about an hour's drive.

But disappointment turned to joy as we decided to try the tasting room for Coelho Winery in tiny Amity, Ore. Inside, we met Dave and Deolinda Coelho. Of course, we told them we came from Hawai'i, where there are many more Coelhos.

As always, saying you are from Hawai'i opens the doors to "oohs," "aahs" and lots of friendly conservation. The Coelhos were proud to tell us they are sending their daughter to the University of Hawai'i in the fall. (Three bottles.)

Another winery we enjoyed was WillaKenzie (named for the kind of soil in the region) near Yamhill. The setting is stunning, with a well-appointed tasting room overlooking fields and forests. It would be a good place to bring some store-bought bread and cheese for a light lunch outdoors ... with wine, of course. The tasting-room staff was friendly and knowledgeable, and the tasting was free. (Four bottles and a wine key.)

Next trip, we will visit the Willamette Valley over Thursday through Sunday. Even then, keep in mind that many wineries open their doors only twice a year, over Memorial Day weekend and Thanksgiving weekend, when the whole valley celebrates with wine festivals. Others are open only by appointment. Always call to be sure.

Our best "appointment" was at Domaine Serene, another vineyard with a national reputation, where the tour and tasting cost $20 a person but was well worth it. Christina Hug from the marketing department escorted us and two visitors from Santa Fe, N.M., through the winery, which is built five stories down a hillside so gravity manages the wine-making process with very little need for humans to handle the grapes.

The building looks like a Tuscan villa, surrounded by vineyards. Would-be interns compete for the chance to work long hours and learn in this vineyard, and the Evenstad Reserve (named for the owners) was one of the finest wines we tried.

Unlike most wineries, winemaker Tony Rynders at Domaine Serene blends the best grapes from its several vineyards to create the signature Evenstad wine, and only after it is finished are the single-grape wines bottled with what's left. (Four bottles and a wine carrier.)

A jug of wine always needs that loaf of bread, and the presence of so many interesting wineries in the area has attracted distinctive restaurants as well. In addition to the good food, which usually draws heavily on the local farms and fisheries, these restaurants have extensive wine lists with many local vintages, so you can try a glass or bottle if you missed the winery.

Often these are husband-and-wife establishments, and the typical story is that the couple met while working at some world-renowned eatery in Las Vegas, or Miami, or New York, but wanted their own restaurant on a smaller, more intimate scale. Often one or the other partner is from Oregon, so there is the pull of home.

Our first night, Nicolette Bailey recommended Bistro Maison in McMinnville, an old home converted to a lovely French restaurant. Strawberries were in season, and one of the evening's specials was a pork chop with strawberry sauce, unusual and delicious. That bistro standard, French onion soup, also was remarkable. Unshelled hazelnuts, a longtime product of the valley, were placed on the table after dessert, a lovely touch.

Our other "bistro" was very different. The Dundee Bistro has a contemporary look and menu. Fresh Copper River salmon was one of the outstanding specials the night we visited.

The premier dining experience of our visit was The Painted Lady, in Dundee. Another husband (Allen Routt) as chef/owner and wife (Jessica Bayley-Routt) as maitre d'/server/bartender; another restored Victorian home, but this place was exceptional. The sign outside reads, "Refined. Modern. American." And it is.

An appetizer called "foie gras hot and cold" offered duck liver in three stellar preparations with a glass of sauternes to make it complete. The slow-cooked wild salmon was marvelous, and the Oregon beef also was remarkable. There was a chef's tasting menu with wine pairings available, but everyone at the table has to agree to have it, and my sweetie was not cooperating, so we went a la carte.

Though less than a year old, everything about the place was special, from the simple but stylish interior to the light jazz that accompanied dinner. The Painted Lady restaurant is open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m., Wednesdays to Sundays, so plan ahead.

The couple recently bought the house next door, and they hope to turn it into a wine bar/cocktail lounge with entertainment. That alone would make it worth going back to the Willamette Valley, not to mention all those wineries yet to be tried. We can't wait.