We spent a lazy Sunday afternoon recently on the p...

We spent a lazy Sunday afternoon recently on the patio at Redgate Winery (Independence area), while tasting some good wines and enjoying live guitar music. Once you place your order, it is brought to your table; hand sanitizers are available and the owners told us they work hard at cleaning before, during and after their open hours. It was not crowded at all and therefore easy for us to maintain social distancing. There were several seating areas where the always hospitable Steve and Char Dunn had created conversational groupings of various styles of furniture, indoors and under cover. The winery is of course all about the wine, and we sampled the tempranillo and the pinot gris, both prize winners in Oregon and maybe beyond. We started with a nice crisp glass of chilled pinot gris while we sat at our sunny picnic table, and later followed that up with the tempranillo, selected to complement our pizza choice of Ruthie's Italian sausage and mushroom pizza. The tempranillo stood up well to the slightly spicy sausage, rich sauce and generous helpings of cheese and mushrooms. That baby was loaded with more toppings than we'd ever seen on a pizza! Other highlights were the fresh basil and Ovenbird Bakery crust. Yum! What a treat! Our friend ordered the Meat Lovers pizza and declared it the best pizza she's ever eaten! We'll be back! Thanks, Redgate for being the whole package for a wonderful Sunday afternoon!