The Latest From the Oregon Truffle Festival

2019 Oregon Truffle Festival Recap

Categorized: Past OTF

Every year, we recap our festival as a reminder of how far we’ve come. This year’s recap has been funded in part by a grant from the Willamette Valley Visitors Association in utilization of Travel Oregon Regional Cooperative Tourism Program funds.

Oregon Truffle Festival 2019 By the Numbers

The 2019 Oregon Truffle Festival was a huge success, with over 2,631 tickets sold! These attendees, plus over 60 truffle-hunting dogs, were treated to over 30 events, over 30 guest chefs and 23 additional speakers and trainers. Our sponsors included 24 wineries, breweries and distilleries.

All told, the 2019 festival consumed, shaved and infused over 100 pounds of truffles of various kinds over two incredible weekends. We can’t thank our guests enough for helping us share this amazing Willamette Valley treat!

Media Coverage

The Oregon Truffle Festival continues to catch national attention. Over 95 pieces of media made over 520 million impressions across a collection of print and online media outlets.

And many others!

Eugene Weekend Events

Mercato del Tartufo

Guests connected with friends over delicious food and drink, and got a taste of Italy in Eugene as we kicked off the 2019 Oregon Truffle Festival! It was some big, Italian-style fun, with cicchetti plates, truffled risotto, and hearth-oven pizza from Chef Rocky Maselli, sweets from pastry chef Amy Mirate, paired with wine and locally crafted Amari cocktails inside of the bustling Provisions Market Hall.

A Villa Evening

The Gourmand weekend attendees were spirited off to Pfeiffer Winery’s gorgeous Tuscan-inspired Villa for an elegant and intimate evening. They were served a four-course truffle dinner prepared by Sybaris Bistro’s Chef Matt Bennett. This candlelight dinner at one big table paired with wines selected from the Pfeiffer cellar was truly unforgettable.

Forage & Feast in Eugene

Weekend guests experienced an authentic truffle hunt lead by professional truffle hunters with their dogs, then chose from our classic multi-course winery luncheon with wine pairings, featuring a guest chef in a gorgeous wine country setting, or a luncheon designed to pair truffles with some of Oregon’s best brews at Alesong, nestled below King Estate winery. This tour began with a glass of wine at King Estate.

Grand Truffle Dinner, Hilton Eugene

Almost 300 Guests joined us for an evening of conviviality around the table at our 14th Grand Truffle Dinner, featuring Oregon’s native winter white and black truffles in a sumptuous six-course meal paired with magnificent Oregon beverages. Considered by many to be the pièce de résistance of the weekend, the Grand Truffle Dinner featured ten celebrated guest chefs known for their love of fresh, seasonal ingredients, and their skill and creativity with Oregon truffles.

Eugene Fresh Truffle Marketplace

Our signature Fresh Truffle Marketplace is a unique tasting and demonstration experience that highlights the burgeoning regional truffle industry, as well as our local farm-to-table bounty. The Oregon Truffle Festival’s Marketplace offers fresh native truffles for sale, regional wine tasting, artisan food sampling and sales, truffle cooking demonstrations with tasting and recipes, a truffle dog demonstration and an all day lecture series to ensure a complete experience with all that the Willamette Valley has to offer.

The food, the wine, to see our “truffle friends” that we have made over the years…
Eugene Festival Attendee

Truffle Growers’ Forum

This forum is an annual gathering and focal point for the North American truffle cultivation industry. It attracts an international cast of speakers and growers from across the continent to discuss the breadth of thought and methods employed by successful truffle producers throughout the world. It enables growers, researchers, journalists and truffle purveyors to keep up with advances in truffle science, engage with successful growers, and make valuable contacts within this growing industry.

The truffiere tour was invaluable, not only on seeing first-hand orchards but mostly for the opportunities it gave us to meet and talk with other participants and speakers.
Truffle Growers’ Forum Participant

Truffle Dog Training

The Oregon Truffle Festival is proud to have established The Truffle Dog Training Seminar, the first event of its kind in North America. If you’re interested in teaching your dog to hunt truffles, OTF’s Truffle Dog Training Seminar is the perfect opportunity. Day 1 is in the classroom for the fundamentals of scent training. On Day 2, participants and their dogs have a one of a kind opportunity to engage in an authentic hunt for wild truffles in their natural habitat. While we cannot guarantee 100% success finding truffles on day 2, we do guarantee a high-value learning experience, and a lot of fun for you and your dog.

Absolutely loved it! The instructors were very helpful. Was really fun to see the dogs working, and successfully at that. It was an incredible experience to be in a real truffle patch!
Truffle Dog Training Participant

Yamhill Valley Events

Fruit & Earth: A Taste of Place

New to the program in 2019, this interactive panel paired wines from several Willamette Valley Vineyards AVAs with Oregon truffles, taking us on an exploration of the shared terroir of these two local treats. Panelists Maxine Borcherding, sommelier and culinary educator, Mike Thelin of Feast Portland and Hot Luck Festival, Willamette Valley Vineyards Winemaker Joe Ibrahim, and Dr. Charles Lefevre, truffle scientist and Oregon Truffle Festival founder led a lively discussion on wine, truffles, and the happy marriage between the two.

Fruit & Earth, Part Deux

Nothing speaks quite so eloquently to the unique and welcoming sensibility of Oregon wine country than Soter Vineyards and their distinctive wines. Guests enjoyed them with a beautiful, fireside dinner prepared by winery chef Alex Daley, who knows how to make Oregon truffles shine. This intimate evening followed the Fruit & Earth panel discussion and tasting, completing the evening with balance and finesse.

Forage & Feast in Yamhill Valley Truffle Hunt and Winery Luncheons

OTF guests enjoyed the best of the Old World in North America’s singular truffle region, Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The day began with an authentic truffle hunt lead by professional truffle hunters with their dogs, followed by unforgettable luncheons featuring top culinary talent and foraged Oregon truffles. Held at Stoller Family Estate and Willakenzie Estate, this was wine country immersion and winter truffle excursion at its most authentic.

The Romance of Rosé

This elegant evening was held at the spectacular new Clubhouse at Domaine Serene Winery, celebrating their annual Rosé release in the Burgundian Cave room. The was accompanied by Oregon truffle appetizers prepared by the evening’s four honored chefs.

James Beard Legacy Dinner

James Beard, a native Oregonian, was a longtime champion of Oregon truffles and proclaimed them as equals to their more expensive European counterparts. To honor his legacy, guests convened in the Clubhouse Great Hall for a four course dinner prepared by James Beard-honored chefs, thoughtfully paired with Domaine Serene’s award-winning wines.

The event at Domaine Serene is the ultimate experience, the appetizers, wines and place were incredible and the dinner was just out of this world – thank you, thank you
Yamhill Valley Weekend Participant

Truffles & Bubbles Brunch

Could there be a better way to celebrate Sunday of the festival’s Yamhill Valley Wine Country Weekend than a sparkling truffled brunch? New to the festival in 2019, guests arrived at the stunning Anne Amie Vineyards tasting room where they enjoyed beautiful sparkling wines from Anne Amie and a truffled brunch prepared by Chef Mike Delaney.

What keeps us coming back every year are the food, people & wine. Love the whole experience of the cultural center—being able to look at art, learning about truffles, truffle hunt, cooking demonstrations. The wineries & the people/families that run them.
Yamhill Valley Weekend Participant

Newberg Fresh Truffle Marketplace

The Newberg Fresh Truffle Marketplace, held in the beautiful Chehalem Cultural Center Ballroom, is a unique tasting and demonstration experience that highlights the burgeoning Oregon truffle industry, as well as our local farm-to-table bounty. The Marketplace offers fresh native truffles for sale, regional wine tasting, artisan food sampling and sales, truffle cooking demonstrations with tasting and recipes, and a truffle dog demonstration.

Sunday Suppers – New in 2019

Sunday Supper, a perfect closing act to wind down a festive holiday weekend. Start with truffles. Add essential ingredients–friends, family, wine, cozy–and you have a Sunday Supper. Hearts warmed, appetites sated, off to dreamland…a sumptuous truffled adventure closes, a new tradition begins.

Lady Hill Winery, a 5th generation family farm and winery continued its Summer Sunday Supper tradition just for OTF guests. Complete with candles, atmosphere, and gorgeous food and wine pairings around a big beautiful table, this Sunday supper was a perfect end to OTF’s wine country weekend for 40 lucky guests.

40 other guests ended the festival weekend on a high note with Sunday Supper at The Joel Palmer House. Chef Chris Czarnacki, known for cooking with truffles and mushrooms, was our celebrated chef for the evening. The Sunday feast was paired with fine wines, and the essential ingredients of friends, family, wine, and cozy.

The Joriad

5th Annual North American Truffle Dog Championship

Round 1

Now in its fifth year, the Eugene OTF Weekend kicked off with The Joriad™ North American Truffle Dog Championship. At this family-friendly competition, spectators cheered for 26 talented truffle dogs and their trainers as they competed to find hidden truffle-scented targets. Five finalists wen into the woods for the next level of competition.

Championship Finals

The morning’s five finalists advanced to the Joriad™ Field Trial in the afternoon for head-to-head, nose-to-ground action in the wild. Joey, a three-year-old Labrador retriever owned by Ava Chapman, won this year’s competition by finding 10 truffles!

The 2019 Joriad champion dog and trainer — 2019 Joriad Champion Ava Chapman and her dog, Joey

The Joriad exceeded our expectations! We enjoyed the entire experience from start to finish. This was our first time seeing a truffle hunt and to say we learned a lot is an understatement. The organizers of this event put a great deal of care to ensure the competitors AND their dogs enjoyed the day. We are grateful for this wonderful experience.
Joriad™ Participant