Oregon House
Oregon House

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS

Oregon House is a small town. if you need help organizing activities while staying with us, don’t hesitate to ask for advice, we know all of the wine makers and other craftspeople here. Oregon House and other parts of the Sierra Foothills have been making wine for years but on a smaller scale than Sonoma and Napa counties.

We can organize a weekend around one winery with activities in the vineyard or winery during the day and private dinners paired with their wine and hosted by the winemaker in the evening at the Inn. Or if you’d rather make bread or pick olives during the day, the dinner can be around the products you produced.

RECOMMENDED 2 DAY-TRIPS FROM THE INN

In addition, near Oregon House, are 2 day-trips we highly recommend from the Inn:

  1. North/Northeast
    1. Lunch at Sierra Nevada Brewery and tour of the brewery in Chico, CA
    2. New Clairvaux Winery and Abbey Church outside of Chico in Vina, CA
    3. Hickman Winery in Bangor, CA, on the way back (or on another day as it is close enough to go and come back in a half day)
  2. West/Southwest
    1. Bridgeport Covered Bridge in Penn Valley
    2. Lunch in Grass Valley or Nevada City (we can offer suggestions)
    3. Drive back over the Bullards Bar Dam.
  3. All of our remaining recommendations are right here in Oregon House, so if you want to stay put, there is plenty to do here. There are many lovely hikes and rivers in the area as well.
    1. Grant & Marie Winery
    2. Clos Saron Winery
    3. Frenchtown Farms Winery
    4. Apollo Olive Oil
    5. Artisan Lavinia Bakery and Apothecary
    6. Apollo Arts (Performing Arts and Da Vinci Theatron)
    7. Bird Watching Guides available (inquire with us)
Oregon House Area

1075 East 20th Street
Chico, CA95928

https://sierranevada.com/visit/

The brewery tours, Taproom restaurant, and special events are all posted on the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. website. Based in Chico, with lots of outside dining, it is a wonderful stop for lunch before wine tours at New Clairvaux and Hickman Family Winery on your way back to Oregon House.

26240 7th Street,
Vina, CA 96092

https://www.newclairvaux.org/visit
http://www.newclairvauxvineyard.com/

New Clairvaux Vineyard, located in Northern California town of Vina, in Tehama County, is a unique winery destination. The farmland, once owned by Leland Stanford, grows prunes, walnuts, and grapes, which the monks harvest from the orchards and vineyards to sustain the community. With one of the world’s most distinguished winemaking histories, the land now serves as home to Trappist-Cistercian monks. This Roman Catholic order’s rich viticultural history dates back nearly a thousand years. Together in partnership with fifth-generation California winemaker Aimée Sunseri and her family, they strive to revitalize this remarkable place.

The Welcome Center and Gift Store are open daily from 9:30 am – 4:15 pm.
The Wine Tasting Room is open daily from 11 am – 5 pm.

In addition to the winery, one can visit the monastery’s Abbey Church, which once stood on Spanish soil, built in 1220 by King Alfonso VIII at the Abbey of Santa Maria d’Ovila. In 1835, the Abbey was secularized by the Spanish Government, after monks had lived there for 700 years, and the property went into private ownership. In 1931, William Randolph Hearst purchased the church for his estate at Wyntoon, CA, near Mt. Shasta. Julia Morgan, Hearst’s architect, drew plans to restore it at Wyntoon. Eleven boat loads of stone came to San Francisco and were stored in a warehouse near the Cannery. But the Depression hit and Hearst was financially unable to reconstruct the monastery. Instead, he presented the stones to the city of San Francisco with the understanding that the entire monastery would be reconstructed as a De Young museum near Golden Gate Park. But those plans were stopped by WW II and the stones remained outside, near the present day De Young. In 1955 Father Thomas Davis arrived in San Francisco on his way to the Vina Monastery, and saw the crates of stones in Golden Gate Park. It became his desire to have this monastery for the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina. Finally, in 1994 his dream came true when the Board of Trustees of the Museums awarded and transferred the Stones to the Vina Abbey. The Abbey had 10 years to do “something” towards reconstruction. And, in 2016, a Ground Breaking Ceremony was held on May 1st. On the anniversary of the monastery’s foundation, July 2nd, 2018, the Abbey of Our Lady of New Clairvaux dedicated the fully reconstructed Ovila Chapter house as its Abbey Church. This 12th-century building is where monks chant the daily Opus Dei or Divine Office and is therefore the heart of the community’s monastic prayer.
This Abbey Church is open for self guided tours from 2:30-5 PM Monday – Saturday.

11 Orange Avenue,
Bangor, CA 95914

https://www.hickmanfamilyvineyards.com/

Alyse and Tod Hickman’s family owned winery is beautifully situated with a view of the foothills, on the way to Chico from Oregon House. Their tasting room is consistently open Saturday and Sunday for tasting and, seasonally, for special events. The oak studded foothills and terroir reminded them of the eastern side of Sonoma, their native county. They began developing the winery property in January 2002, planted Zinfandel in the spring of 2005, and then officially opened the winery doors to the public on Mother’s Day 2011. They personally do all aspects of the wine production and management with much needed and appreciated help from their children and family. Tod and Alyse pair wines with the Café Collage cuisine and host wine tasting dinners remotely on a regular basis. They frequent the café with their customers and host tasting dinners there too.

17660 Pleasant Valley Rd,
Penn Valley, CA 95946

http://www.nevadacounty.com/bridgeport-covered-bridge-nevada-county-ca/

One of the most beautiful bridges in Nevada County, if not in all of the Gold Country is the Bridgeport covered bridge on the South Fork of the Yuba River in the South Yuba River State Park. The bridge was originally constructed in 1862, is 230 feet (70 m) long, and is the longest single span covered bridge in existence. More than a century ago, pioneers and miners paid a $2 toll to drive their wagons and horses across a covered wooden bridge over the South Yuba River at Wood’s Crossing. Now, traffic is limited to pedestrians only and there is no toll.

12585 Rices Crossing Road,
Oregon House, CA 95962

http://grantmariewinery.com/

Grant has been farming his vines since Renaissance Vineyard & Winery began planting them in the ‘80’s. As the vineyard manager for RVW, he made wine in their garage with Edward Schulten and eventually Edward left the business and he now makes the wine with his wife Marie. Grant and Marie rent their vines from Renaissance Vineyard & Winery and they sell their wines all over the area at summer farmer’s markets and online. They welcome visitors and are willing to offer tastings in our Inn for guests who would like to sample their wines.

Broyles Trail,
Oregon House, CA 95962

http://clossaron.com

Gideon Bienstock and Saron Rice have been making wine in Oregon House for 30 years. Gideon worked for Renaissance Vineyard and Winery as their winemaker before devoting himself full time to his own vines and making his own wines. With 4500 vines of Pinot Noir on 2.5 acres, Gideon has mastered the art of this variety. He and Saron host annual tasting events and welcome regular customers and visitors to his winery, less than a mile from our Inn.

12585 Rices Crossing Road,
Oregon House, CA 95962

https://www.frenchtownfarms.com/

Aaron and Cara Mockrish own and operate Frenchtown Farms on the property of what was Renaissance Vineyard & Winery. Currently leasing from RVW, Aaron and Cara’s farming is influenced in part by Joel Salatin, Rudolf Steiner, and Masanobu Fukuoka, but mostly by their own observations and hard lessons throughout each season. They currently live and make their wines in Oregon House, adjacent to the vineyards and are able to walk to work, where they are assisted by their dogs, sheep, chickens, and cats. If you would like to meet Aaron and Cara, taste their wines or have a meal paired with their wines we can work with you and them to arrange it.

12585 Rices Crossing Road,
Oregon House, CA 95962

https://www.apollooliveoil.com/organic-extra-virgin/

Apollo Olive Oil is the winner of multiple gold medals at the LA County Fair. Picked at their peak in the Sierra Foothills area of Oregon House, CA, Gianni and Diana Stefaninni mill the olives in their state of the art processing equipment where the measure of olive oil’s quality, it’s polyphenols, is on average, 10 times higher than most olive oils you find in the grocery store. We too, pick our olives and deliver them to the Apollo Olive Oil facility where our oil is processed and then we bottle and sell it to our guests and use it in the food we prepare for them. Come during the fall to have the full experience – picking olives by day, tasting the oil as the olives are milled in the late afternoon, then sit down to a four course meal featuring the olive oil just produced.

Stakhouse Lane,
Oregon House, CA 95962

https://www.artisanlavinia.com/

In 2011, Carmina and Dorian Matei purchased property in the idyllic Sierra foothills Mediterranean climate resembling parts of Tuscany and Southern France. They tirelessly cultivated aromatic gardens with the purpose of distilling medicinal plants like lavender, rose geranium, Damask rose, laurel, rosemary, and cypress. With a medical background and surrounded by a community of health practitioners both from Western and Eastern traditions, Carmina developed an artisanal and seasonal health care line using the fresh essential oils and hydrosols.

Dorian has been an artisanal baker for five years; his mentors are Chad Robertson of the famed Tartine San Francisco bakery and Dave Miller of Miller’s Bakehouse in Chico. In a charming four hundred square feet bakery, they have a stone mill to prepare freshly milled flour, an ancient oak slab table for hand mixing and preparing the dough; their bread is baked in a masonry wood fired oven built with their own hands. Once an absolute standard, today less than 1% of bakers still do this. If you visit, you will be joining an active bakery – they start their wood fired oven, finish milling their grains, and hand mix in their natural starter, then shape and bake – a daily ritual to produce hearty loaves. You can learn how to make a traditional country loaf with ancient grains, or a 100% rye loaf, gluten free bread or ancient baguettes.

12585 Rices Crossing Road,
Oregon House, CA 95962

https://www.apolloarts.org/

Apollo Arts is a local non-profit offering year round performances of ballet, symphony, opera, and theater. Check their website for the upcoming calendar of events. Of particular interest are their summer performances in the Da Vinci Theatron, a 1500 person outdoor amphitheater in the Sierra Foothills, less than 2-3 miles from our Inn at Café Collage. Come for a weekend, stay and dine with us, and attend a performance of your choice. During the winter months, performances are held at the Apollo Festival Hall on the same property as the Theatron.

Inquire with us if you are interested in bird watching. We have good friends who have been birding in the area for 30 years.

MAPS

Map

From Café Collage to New Clairvaux Vineyard | Directions

Map

From Café Collage to Nevada City | Directions

Learn more about our cottage accommodation:

Inn at Café Collage