Frivolity in the vineyard. Nudity, too.

If previous long holiday weekends this year are any indication, tasting room visitors Thanksgiving week may be greeted by a different kind of pilgrim: Nudists.

Read about it in this story in the Oregon Wine Press:

First Blush by Janet Eastman

Granted, drinking wine anywhere can lead to nudity. The sensual aromas. The romantic notions. There’s a long history of a wanted lover being seduced over deep red wine. Even the cupped curve of a wine glass is suggestive. And then there’s the shape of the bottle.

The whole scene is ripe for pleasure. Disrobing after that kind of immersion is only natural.

Ah, new nudity. It’s a different kind of first blush.

In a private setting, it’s all good. But tasting room staffers report witnessing recent acts of escapades au naturel.

Consider:

• A trio of refined women – two brunettes and a redhead – made pilgrimages in the spring and summer to Cubanisimo Vineyard in Salem. There, they took off their clothes and found a man willing to take photographs while they posed coyly behind well-positioned vines.
• A lovey-dovey couple asked to explore the rose garden behind Trium’s tasting room in Talent. A short time later, owner Laura Lotspeich found the duo posing in the buff for each other’s cellphones.
• An 83-year-old woman entered the Naked Winery’s tasting room in Hood River, flashed her American Association of Nude Recreation (AANR) membership card and then started to strip. She was quickly stopped and told that “naked” here is only a state of mind when it comes to anything other than wine not spending time in an oak barrel.
• And not a week goes by, say tasting room staffers at Dobbes Family Estate in Dundee, that someone doesn’t flash the life-size cutout of the Wine By Joe cartoon character.

Considering the thousands of fully clothed people who stream through Oregon’s tasting rooms on a yearly basis, stripping is a rare occurrence. When asked about misbehaving patrons, Michael Wisnovsky of Valley View Winery in Jacksonville was surprised. “We have really never seen anything improper or illegal happen in our tasting room. Nudity? Really? I feel a little left out.”

Read more at www.oregonwinepress.com