In an effort to keep you up to date on wineries in Portland we will be featuring one winery a month in an email and on social media. The plan is to give you a couple of highlights in this email and then follow us on Facebook or Instagram to hear more about each winery.We hope you enjoy this snapshot into each of these unique small Urban Wineries.
A big THANK YOU! has to go out to Aliya Hall for taking the time to interview our winery members.
Adega NW Wines
When did your winery form and how did you get into the wine industry?
I started Adega Northwest in 2014. Previously I was involved in a winery that was my first label, Script Cellars that I started in 2011. The idea with Adega was to branch out and do something a little bit different. I started it with my mother just making three wines, a Cabernet, Syrah and a Pinot Noir. The Cab and Syrah grapes were from Washington and the Pinot grapes from Oregon.
As far as getting into the wine business it’s been a long journey overall. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do early on career-wise. I went to college for international business and thought that sounded like a good idea, but it wasn’t really for me. I’m a college dropout and didn’t really know what I wanted to do from there. I studied architecture, which I thought I wanted to do a long time ago and really enjoyed but ultimately it wasn’t for me either. That was when I got into restaurants and that was in 2001. I worked my way into finer restaurants, I’ve always had a passion for food, even growing up my parents would take me to decent restaurants for special occasions and were real foodies and I was inspired that way as a result. I got into restaurants to make a buck and pay my rent, then I decided I really loved food and enjoyed wine and there were a couple of sommeliers that really intrigued me and I had no idea what that was before. It was like, “Wow you can get paid knowing about wine?” I was really getting into it at that point and I had a few wines that dropped my jaw and that was it — I was in.
So, I went to school in Washington DC and finished my education here in Portland. I moved here in 2002-2003. From then on it was wine, wine all the time. I moved back to New York City and worked as a wine professional and sommelier. After studying for about five years, I decided to change course and go into winemaking, I was starting to get burnt out on the New York grind and in restaurants and knew I could float back into it. At the time I was in my late 20s and I was like, “Well, I always wanted to make wine and I feel like I need to at least try it and see if it’s for me before I turn 30”. I moved out here and I worked for Rob Stuart in McMinville for my first vintage and worked for a lot of other people since.Why did you decide to be an urban winery instead of in the valley?
Well, for starters I couldn’t afford one. It would be nice to be out in wine country and if I was sourcing fruit from the Willamette Valley, that’d be a whole different story. Maybe I would want to be a little closer to where the fruit sources. But being that I don’t have a vineyard, there’s nothing that pulls me in that direction per se. I source a lot of grapes from Washington State, and if I’m being honest, while I do love Washington there’s not a lot of places I source the fruit from that I would want to live. I want to produce wine where I want to live.
I’m really a city kid also, I’m from New York originally and grew up in cities my whole life and the idea of living in an urban center has never really stopped me from pursuing what I want to do. Being that I source from everywhere, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have the winery where I want to have it.
In case you missed it the Tasting Room at Adega NW Wines is now OPEN!
The Entrance to the Winery is Through the Parking lot on Schiller St. Between 17th and 18th.
Fridays: 3PM – 9PM
Saturdays: 12PM – 9PM
Sundays: 12PM – 7PM
4855 SE 18th Ave. Portland, OR, 97202
To hear more about Adega NW Wines be sure to check out our Social Media pages and you can find a link to them on our website.
News or Events from other PDX Urban Wineries
Three of our PDX Urban Winery Members will be pouring their wines at Taste for Equity.
We welcome you to join us for our second TASTE for Equity event featuring an evening of Oregon premier food, beverage and equity heroes. Our collective mission is to celebrate our diverse community and support equity work in Greater Portland. This event showcases the Oregon Wine, Beer, and Food industry with local chefs such as Chris Cha, Luna Contreras, Alexandria Guevarra, Nikeisah Newton, Thuy Pham, and Jaime Soltero, and winemakers from Helioterra Wines, Hip Chicks do Wine, RAM Cellars and more; all while honoring and celebrating important equity work taking place in the community.
Saturday September 11th 4:30pm – 9pm
The Redd 831 SE Salmon, Portland OR 97214 Advance tickets are required
Helioterra Wines Harvest Happy Hour is almost here!
We are super excited to offer you a unique experience into the winemakers journey through harvest; safely from our wine lounge!!
Happening every Friday 4-6pm from September 17th – October 22nd.
$30 for non-club members. $20 for club members.
We will offer past vintages of the wines we are processing that week and let you taste what is happening in the fermenters
