The first-of-its-kind tour offers guests stops in Portland and the Willamette Valley with round-trip transportation from NW Wine Shuttle
Portland, Ore. (May 9, 2024) – Willamette Valley winery Artist Block announced today it will launch a new Immersive Art & Wine Tour on June 7 with Hopscotch, Portland’s permanent immersive art experience which opened last June in the city’s Central Eastside.
A professional multimedia artist herself, Artist Block’s founder Anna Sweet conceptualized the new tour as a way to provide travelers with an easy and exciting half-day tour experience that connects art, wine, and food happenings in Portland and the Willamette Valley.
Beginning June 7, 2024 and occurring every Friday through October, the Immersive Art & Wine Tour begins at Hopscotch where guests will explore the interactive and experiential art gallery that showcases installations from local, national, and international artists, now including Sweet.
With a welcome cocktail, the Rainbow Juice Frozé (featuring Artist Block’s Rainbow Juice Rosé), in-hand, guests will have free reign to explore the latest installation to open at Hopscotch, Anna Sweet’s ‘Keep Portland Yummy’ collection which features vibrant, playful sculptures of giant ‘yummy bears’ and ‘dotnuts,’ lifelike depictions of mouth-watering treats decorated with designs honoring iconic Portland eats and pop culture history.
A larger collection of Sweet’s contemporary artworks is on display at Artist Block’s estate winery which guests also visit later in the day.
Tour members are also encouraged to engage with Hopscotch’s 14 installations spread throughout its 23,000 square foot space, including Walls Within, a multi-artist mural exhibition in partnership with Portland Street Art Alliance; Chromesthesia, a three-room color experiment by local artist Seth Nehil; Rainbow Cave, a large-scale installation built with salvaged post-industrial scrap plastic bags and fishing nets by Brooklyn, New York artist Basia Goszczynska; and Diodic Daydream, an 800-square-foot pool filled with 40,000 light emitting diodes by Portland’s Matchless Builds.
Guests then board an intimate luxury coach from NW Wine Shuttle, where a special gift bag awaits each passenger from Artist Block. The coach then delivers the group out of Portland’s bustling city center into the bucolic nearby Willamette Valley and its rolling hillsides and dramatic vistas.
The tour stops for a winemaker luncheon at Wooden Heart, a family-owned wine country kitchen in Dundee where a local winemaker will host the group and provide a collection of their wines to share with each course. Guests will have the chance to learn about wine from the area’s most revered and engaging makers and how to pair it with their favorite local ingredients and dishes like an expert.
The day’s grand finale is a visit to Artist Block’s estate winery and tasting room in Dundee, where tour guests will immerse themselves in the modern tasting room, dressed with Sweet’s own contemporary artworks and those by others she admires. Guests can take-in a much larger installation of Sweet’s ‘dotnut’ series alongside groundbreaking works like Jennifer Lashbrook’s multimedia portrait of pop artist Andy Warhol and an unconventional photo series of the world’s finest wines paired with fast food icons.
Guests will also sample Artist Block’s irresistibly fun yet sneakily serious wines like “Rainbow Juice,” a rosé of Oregon-grown white Rhone variety Clairette and Italian varieties Arneis, Pinot Blanc, and Dolcetto and “Thicc Sister,” a full-bodied Syrah made from grapes grown in Washington’s highly-prized Red Mountain AVA. Artist Block’s wines are made by talented winemaker Bree Stock, Oregon’s only female Master of Wine, and are emblazoned with Sweet’s signature pop art-inspired designs.
NW Wine Shuttle then provides return transportation to Hopscotch.
“This tour has been in the making for many months, and I’m so excited to finally unhook the red velvet rope,” said Sweet. “We wanted to create an opportunity for locals and travelers to experience the best new art and wine offerings available here without the hassle of having to drive themselves or worries about driving after imbibing. All you have to do is show up, and we handle the rest.”
Future tour dates are booking now via Tock.
Immersive Art & Wine Tour Sample Itinerary
11 am: Arrive at Hopscotch and receive an exclusive welcome drink, Artist Blocks “Rainbow Juice Frozé” as you explore the immersive gallery
1 pm: Board NW Wine Shuttle
2 pm: Arrive at Wooden Heart in Dundee for pre-fixe lunch and a paired wine tasting by a local guest winemaker
3:30: Depart Wooden Heart
3:45: Arrive at Artist Block for a tasting and artist studio tour
5:15: Depart to return to Hopscotch
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About Artist Block:
Artist Block is a new Willamette Valley winery on a mission to introduce fine wine to the next generation. Founded in May 2023 by professional artist Anna Sweet, Artist Block’s modern tasting room is dressed with Sweet’s own contemporary artworks and those by others she admires. Artist Block produces irresistibly fun yet sneakily serious wines like “Rainbow Juice,” a rosé of Oregon-grown white Rhone variety Clairette and Italian varieties Arneis, Pinot Blanc, and Dolcetto and “Thicc Sister,” a full-bodied Syrah made from grapes grown in Washington’s highly-prized Red Mountain AVA. Artist Block’s wines are made by talented winemaker Bree Stock, Oregon’s only female Master of Wine, and are emblazoned with Anna’s signature pop art-inspired designs. The winery produces a collection of edgy and out-of-the-box wine tasting experiences and events that challenge wine appreciators to leave pretension at the door and to immerse themselves in art and the art of making and enjoying wine. Find out more at artistblockwines.com.
About Hopscotch:
Founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Nicole Jensen and Hunter Inman in Austin, Texas, Hopscotch is an immersive and experiential brand that brings together artists in collaborative environments to create unconventional, impactful and distinct shared experiences. The group’s Portland location provides guests with a uniquely curated art, light, and sound experience through interactive sensory exhibitions spread across 23,000 square feet in Southeast Portland. Hopscotch collaborates primarily with local artists, supporting their work with sustainable and artist-centered business relationships to elicit a sense of joy and wonder in their curated spaces where guests can explore beyond their day-to-day reality and connect with something larger than themselves.
