Things to Do in Beaverton

Erin Marie Palmer and her oenology savants demystify supping tactics during 90-minute libation classes alongside a select spread of wines from the Pacific Northwest, California, and around the world. Students can choose from three globetrotting tastings, including Understanding Pinot Noir, Date Night: An Adventure in Wine for Couples, and 7 Things Everyone Should Know About Wine, a crash course in essential varietal facts, originally programmed for young professionals and fledgling stemware. Each session uncorks five or more wine flights while dispensing valuable information about etiquette, history, and pronunciation, all of which are useful for peppering conversations during forthcoming dates and parent-teacher conferences. Although food is not included, pupils can glean knowledge about culinary pairings.

Árdíri Winery & Vineyards' winemakers John Compagno and Gail Lizak personally tend to each vine on their five-acre vineyard in California's Napa Valley and 15-acre vineyard in Willamette Valley, Oregon. They age each harvest's fruit in French oak, creating complexly flavored whites and reds, such as the 2009 Willamette Valley pinot noir that was named one of Oregon's 50 Best Wines in 2011 and 2012 by Portland Monthly.

John and Gail share their award-winning varietals year round at their open-air tasting facility, where staffers pour samples from behind a black concrete bar and roll-up windowed doors afford stunning views of Mount Hood and the Chehalem Mountains. The boutique winery's dog- and bike-friendly grounds also include a covered flagstone patio, a fire pit, trails through the vineyards, and picnic areas perfect for sighting the rare behatted brown bear.

Portland Festival Ballet's artistic director, John Magnus––whose career has touched down in the world of South African dance as well as the prestigious Joffrey Ballet School in New York––headlines a cast of performance-arts instructors and serves as the architect behind the organization's lively, world-class productions. Their seasoned coaches prepare fledgling hoofers and thespians to face the crowd through a schedule of acting and dancing classes for kids, teens, and adults. During breathtaking performances that have included The Nutcracker and the annual Spring Concert, Portland Festival Ballet's charismatic performers storm the stage at the ACMA Performing Arts Center to dazzle audiences with high-flying pirouettes and convincing impersonations of ficus trees.

For nearly a quarter-century, the Portland Fall Home and Garden Show has showcased the wares and talents of hundreds of local nurseries, landscapers, and contractors. Widely acknowledged as the best time to plant and prepare for spring blooms, the fall season is ideal for consulting with professionals on upcoming projects and putting seeds and bulbs to ground. Attendees can glean inspiration from 11 onsite garden displays before shopping the extensive selection of trees, azaleas, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs, as well as garden gnomes that don’t steal your socks while you sleep.

When chemist Gary Gougér first started making wine, he was an amateur who was simply translating his love of vino into a pleasurable hobby. Soon, his passion took over, and he began racking up numerous International Gold awards for his red blends. His science background, coupled with training at one of the world’s finest winemaking schools in Australia, helped Gougér take his wines to the next level. Now the proprietor of his own Cascadian winery, he crafts blended creations, along with single-varietal bottles, that take center stage at tasting-room events ranging from holiday events to varietal samplers.

Bella Organic Farm's 100 acres of picturesque rural farmland yield a cornucopia of produce, which its workers cheerily harvest and sell directly to Portland residents. Not content to keep customers well fed, the farm also draws families, music lovers, and food aficionados to its pastoral atmosphere with a plethora of seasonal activities. A series of harvest festivals fill the air with blues, rock, bluegrass, and country music and simultaneously sate the appetites of guests with food-cart fare and local microbrews. Sun-soaked youngsters can take refuge in a bounce house, navigate twisting hay and corn mazes, relax on a hayride, or explore a petting zoo stocked with barnyard animals and friendly carpet samples.