Southern Oregon is an amazing vacation destination and an oenophile's delight, offering lovers of the great outdoors and great wines plenty of options. The Southern Oregon AVA stretches 125 miles south of Eugene to the California border, and 60 miles between the Cascade Mountain Range to the east and the Coast Range to the west. Sunny Southern Oregon is the state's warmest wine-growing region, but the diverse topography, hillsides and valleys create an array of microclimates where many varieties flourish.

On their own the wines are wonderful but pair them with Rogue Creamery cheese and the taste is brilliant. Central Point's "Artisan Corridor" features the world-famous Rogue Creamery, Lillie Belle Farms chocolates, and Ledger David Cellars wines. Feed your soul on your trip to Southern Oregon with a visit to Crater Lake National Park, and to the Klamath Basin where vast wetlands attract millions of migrating birds traveling across the Pacific Flyway. More than 350 species of birds travel this major route each fall, including the courting grebes of the amazing "water dance".

There's something to be said for variety. That's especially true in Southern Oregon wine country where there's no shortage of wine varietals to experience.

Fall is a great time to explore the AVAs of Southern Oregon and discover the Tempranillos, the Viogniers, the Malbecs and even the Pinot Noirs. There are distinct differences between wines produced from the grapes of the Applegate Valley and the Umpqua, Rogue and Illinois valleys. You can taste it.

The one constant across the region is the connection between the wine community and its customers. This is a consumer-based industry and the 60-plus wineries here have built a reputation for making visitors feel welcome. At small wineries, you are going to see the fall harvest and most likely interact with the very people who are making the wine.

"While the Willamette Valley and Oregon, in general, boasts a sense of community, I believe Southern Oregon really epitomizes this notion," says Hilary Berg, editor of the respected Oregon Wine Press magazine. "It's a close-knit group. There is an overall unpretentious vibe in Southern Oregon that makes it a special place. My advice? Don't go changin'."

And when Hilary Berg thinks of Southern Oregon wines, she says variety and quality are the first words that come to mind.

"Southern Oregon grows many varietals, from cool-climate Pinot Noir to warm-climate Tempranillo," she says. "In fact, many Willamette Valley winemakers source fruit, including Pinot, from Southern Oregon. The region produces a high volume of quality fruit coming from interesting sites."

Because Southern Oregon is warmer than Northern Oregon growing regions, there are more red wines in production. Hilary quickly recites the "big reds" to be found including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo, Merlot, Malbec, Dolcetto, Zinfandel, Grenache and Syrah.

The Southern Oregon wineries have combined to become a growing force in the U.S. wine industry. Ten years ago, this was a relatively undiscovered region. Since then, however, the industry has doubled in size and a number of strong personalities have stepped up to promote the area and its wines. There are great wines on the market now, area winemakers say, and the future looks very bright.

The secret to the region's varietal success stories is the diverse collection of AVAs (American Viticultural Areas).

With so many outdoor pursuits available throughout Klamath County, perhaps the most unexpected fun can be found looking through binoculars. You may not work up a sweat but you'll be surprised at the adrenaline rush.

Birding is a lifestyle in Klamath County. Casual watchers and serious birders alike keep a watchful eye from the shores of Upper Klamath Lake and nearby Lake Ewauna. But that true birding experience doesn't fully take flight until you pick up a Birding Trail Book at the Discover Klamath visitor center and migrate to a wildlife refuge.

Once in the wild, you begin to understand why so many people are so passionate about birding. There they are: the Snow Goose, the Great Egret, the Killdeer, the Canada Geese, the Eared Grebe and, of course, the Bald Eagle. You start to keep track, making a list of each bird you see. You look through binoculars to see a bird's markings, the feather colors or pattern that help identify the species. The guide book confirms your finding.

The bird count quickly soars with so many species flying over or wading in the waters of the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. Be it from a car or by foot, you make your way along a dirt road and search for something new. And when you find one, you feel that rush of excitement. Quickly write it down and don't look away too long. You might miss another one.

It's easy to understand why so many birding enthusiasts come to the Klamath Basin. With six easily accessible national wildlife refuges less than an hour's drive from each other, there's so much to see no matter the season. These refuges are on the Pacific Flyway, an aviary interstate where millions of birds follow their annual migratory patterns.

The six refuges are an attractive destination for anyone who wants to watch wildlife. The common equipment includes your bird identification book, paper to list what you see and binoculars. The refuges also are a popular place for wildlife photographers equipped with powerful camera lenses. What you see when you're here depends on the time of year.

Fave Five

As coordinators of the Klamath Basin Audubon Society's annual Winter Wings Festival, Diana Samuels and Anne Wenner know their birds. We asked them to identify five birds they look forward to seeing each winter. Their favorites are featured here.

Just north of Medford, in the suburban town of Central Point, lies perhaps Southern Oregon's most luxurious rest stop. It's known as the Artisan Corridor, and it's home to internationally award-winning cheeses and wine and a chocolatier who is one of the 10 best in the country.

Don't let the industrial neighborhood fool you. Side by side sit three unique businesses dedicated to showcasing their locally crafted products. Each offers tasting experiences on site, often incorporating one another's ingredients. Each focuses on producing quality products using sustainable, environmentally friendly techniques.

Your gourmet experience is located just a few minutes west of Interstate 5. Take Exit 33 and venture north on Hwy 99 (Front Street) to reach the Artisan Corridor.

Rogue Creamery

Craig Nelson uses a "Star Wars" reference when he describes the art of cheesemaking at Rogue Creamery. "You learn to use your Jedi master power to read the cheese. It's all about feeling the force, and allowing the force of that milk to tell you what's going on."

Those master powers are employed every day, whether it's stirring and analyzing 8,000 pounds of liquid in a vat or manipulating up to 13,000 pieces of cheese through the aging process.

Cheesemakers use their senses of taste, touch and smell to evaluate where the milk or cheese is in the development process. The rest of it, says the Rogue Creamery plant manager and cheesemaker, involves the artisan principle of learning how to feel what the cheese is telling you and when it's ready for the next step. "Making cheese is a journey, and the journey is not quite a straight road. It's our job to keep it on its path."

Rogue Creamery has been following this principle for the past 80 years. The locally owned and operated cheese company creates handcrafted blue cheese recipes, cheddar cheeses and a semi-hard cheese named after a nearby state park, TouVelle. The cheeses have captured international and national awards, including recent wins at the 29th annual American Cheese Society, the largest cheese competition in North America.

Lillie Belle Farms

Traveling in Europe, Jeff Shepherd found himself drawn to chocolate shops. He couldn't stay out of them. "I'm going to go in here for a minute," he'd say to his wife, Belle. "I need a couple of things."

Each shop made and sold its own chocolates. "They were in every town and every village and every city you'd go to. I thought that was incredibly civilized," Jeff remembers.

Back home in Oregon, the former chef convinced Belle to let him buy $50 worth of chocolate. He used the chocolate and his own organically grown raspberries to make truffles, and then he began selling them out of the trunk of his car. People liked them.

More than a decade after his first truffle success, the master chocolatier continues to experiment. He and his staff at Lillie Belle hand-make a variety of gourmet chocolates in the European tradition, but with an American, specifically Jeff Shepherd, twist. The confections range from exotic caramels, luxury truffles, "Bean to Bar" chocolate bars, bon bons, ganaches, and toffees. Out-of-the-box ingredients such as bacon, cayenne pepper, chilies, figs and Rogue Creamery cheese infuse many of his creations.

Jeff primarily sourced organic ingredients for his confections, including the herb grown at his own farm for his best-seller, lavender sea salt caramels. It is this confection that garnered Jeff his first national recognition, following a trip to the New York Chocolate Show.

Jeff was recognized in 2009 as one of the top 10 chocolatiers in North America by Dessert Professional magazine. It was, he says, industry validation that he was on the right path, and doing the right thing.

Bob Kerivan originally planted grapes to give his wife, Lelo, something to do.

The two, frequent visitors to the Southern Oregon coast, had recently bought a 10-acre parcel of land in Cave Junction, 45 miles from the ocean and 5 miles north of the California border. The year was 1978, and Bob had just retired from a career as a transportation executive.

"I bought a fifth-wheel trailer and a pick-up truck and away we went to start a new life," Bob says.

Lelo, the green thumb of the family, recognized the potential of growing European varietals on their property. The German native had grown up around wine and wanted to keep busy. As a bonus, there were few restrictions on planting grapes at the time.

"We bought a little vacation place and somebody said, ‘you can grow grapes here without a permit,' " Lelo recalls. "I couldn't believe it. You can plant varietals without asking the government?"

Today, Bridgeview Vineyard & Winery owns more than 200 acres of vineyards and produces 65,000 cases of Oregon wine per year. According to Bob, that makes them the largest producer of case wines in Southern Oregon.

The staff at Bridgeview bottle more than a dozen Bordeaux-style wines, including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling. While they've multiplied their production of pinot noir and produce a popular Cab-Merlot, they have long been known for their Riesling. The climate and geography lend themselves to the production of this clean and crisp varietal.

"We have some of the best Riesling in the world right here," Bob says. "If you draw a (longitudinal) line from here we go right through the upper part of Germany and the lower part of France. It's the same type of weather."

Bridgeview bottles three Rieslings and some of their other wines under the Blue Moon label. Bob liked the idea of using a distinctive blue glass for the bottles to attract attention on wine shelves. So the Kerivans applied for a patent and own the U.S. trademark for wine bottled in blue glass.

The Winter Wings Festival attracts more than 600 birding and wildlife photography enthusiasts to Klamath Falls each February.

The three-day Presidents' Day Weekend event - Feb. 13-16, 2014 - originally created as a Bald Eagle conference for the protection of the then endangered species, now takes a broader view for wildlife watchers of all ages.

"Photography has become a driving force for the festival," says organizer Diana Samuels. "We even have a photography workshop because so many people want to photograph the Bald Eagles. Winter Wings is a great time to come to see the wintering raptors and the start of the spring waterfowl migration."

A top festival attraction is the early morning Bald Eagle observation field trip. "The Bald Eagles roost in trees in the mountains and birding Continued from page 6 Winter Wings Festival brings hundreds of bird watchers to Klamath Falls each February they leave their roosts at dawn to fly over the valley to feed," Samuels says. "We've counted as many as 165 eagles at one time."

The observation location is a festival secret, she says. Attendees wishing to wake up early are transported by buses. "It's very special. It's a popular field trip." The Winter Wings Festival, presented by the Klamath Basin Audubon Society, includes field trips, workshops and talks by renowned national experts, leading birders and photographers. Special viewing, hands-on activities and photo and art contests for children also are planned for families.

All activities take place in and around the city of Klamath Falls or in the wider Klamath Basin. Speakers and workshops are scheduled at the Oregon Institute of Technology.

Make travel plans for the next Winter Wings Festival by contacting Discover Klamath at 800-445-6728 or visiting either www.discoverklamath.com or www.winterwingsfest.org.

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