Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Attractive aromas of dried herbs, orange pith and spiced cherries with some mineral undertones. Focused and structured with a medium body and a delicate finish. Drink or hold.
Weird Times. Great Wines.
In a place where flannel is formalwear and brunch is a competitive sport, Portlandia Wines was born to bottle the free-spirited flavor of the Pacific Northwest. Portlandia isn’t about swirling and pontificating. It’s about sipping while paddleboarding, pouring generously at backyard hangs, and choosing wine that makes you smile before the first glass. With award-winning quality and a “play hard, work later” mantra, we’re on a mission to make wine less precious and more… Portlandia. Call it craft with a wink. A little irreverent, always authentic. That’s Portlandia.
The Best of the Pacific Northwest
Portlandia embodies the free spirit of the region and the wild beauty it contains. Whether out in nature or in the city, there’s a Portlandia for that.
Flannels Optional
Experience the Pacific Northwest with us. Flannel isn’t required, but it doesn’t hurt. Portlandia’s wines are a tribute to the Pacific Northwest, its stunning surroundings and never too serious spirit of adventure. Consider our wines an invitation to discover the cultural and natural beauty of the region, even when you’re not here.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Stretching southwest from the city of McMinnville, the AVA with the same name covers about 40,000 acres across 20 miles until it meets the Van Duzer Corridor. This corridor is the only break in the Coast Range whose gap allows the cool Pacific Ocean air to flow eastward into the Willamette Valley.
The Pacific's moderating winds hit McMinnville’s south and southeast facing slopes where cool-climate varieties—namely Pinot noir and Pinot blanc thrive on ridges at between 200 to 1,000 feet in elevation.
Soils here are primarily uplifted marine sedimentary loam and silt, with alluvial formations; McMinnville receives less rainfall than its neighbors to the east because it is situated in the rain shadow of the Coast Range.