Oregon Wine Month is returning this May and will be celebrated at locations throughout Oregon and beyond. Now in its eighth year, Oregon Wine Month is dedicated to developing more Oregon wine fans across the U.S. as winegrowing season officially kicks off in Oregon with vines beginning to show bud break. Deep in the throes of spring, May is a beautiful time of year to visit Oregon wine country and enjoy hundreds of wine events and promotions at tasting rooms, restaurants, and retailers across the state.
Oregon is known as a premiere winegrowing region with more than 769 wineries and 1,144 vineyards growing 82 grape varieties across the state. Oregon’s wine quality reputation is overrepresented; although the state produces only 1.5% of wine domestically, in 2018, no other state had more than half of its wines rated 90+by Wine Spectator.
Oregon Wine Month Events
Hundreds of regional collaborative events in Oregon in May include the Walla Walla Valley Spring Release Weekend, Taste. Learn. Celebrate! with Cascade Foothills Winegrowers, Umpqua Valley Winegrowers Barrel Tour, Applegate Valley Uncorked Barrel Tour,Portland’s I Love Gamay, and Roam the Rogue. The month also offers up ongoing experiences that visitors can take part in, including Passion for Ribbon Ridge: AVA Passport Tasting and touring the Bear Creek Wine Trail. The Oregon Wine Board online calendar has a full listing of wine events for May.
Visitors to the Oregon Wine Month site will also see a collection of wine-friendly recipes and suggested pairings, including Spring Pea Pasta with Bay Shrimp and Ham by Chef Jason French of Ned Ludd, and the highly-trafficked recipe for Bananas Foster by Chef Adele Nofield of Wilf’s Restaurant & Bar.
Oregon Wine Month events will culminate June 2 at Crush on Oregon, where the Oregon Winegrowers Association will host its first ever consumer tasting at Castaway in Portland. Local wine lovers can taste through more than 80 wines from more than 40 Oregon artisanal wine producers.
Drink Oregon Wine at Restaurants, Retailers and at Home
Frequent restaurant diners may notice fun flights offered at dozens of restaurants where sommeliers and wine directors are creating flights of off-the-beaten-path varieties, vintage verticals, single vineyard comparisons, unexpected food pairings and more for Oregon Wine Month. The featured wines are entirely up to the restaurant to choose, so the flights are a wonderful example of the diversity and food-friendliness of Oregon wines.
For example, these include: a Pinot gris flight with Lange, Adelsheim, and VanDuzer at Bread and Ink Café in Portland. They’ll also offer a Pinot noir flight from Domaine Drouhin, Ponzi, and Cooper Mountain. A flight of Stoller Rosé, Ponzi Rosé, Sokol Blosser Rosé will also be available at Oregon Wines on Broadway, also in Portland, and a special compilation of Southern Oregon wines will be poured for Oregon Wine Month at Prospect Historic Hotel Dinner House in Prospect, Oregon. In Eastern Oregon, The Palm Court at the Geiser Grand in Baker City will feature a flight of Oregon wines including the Willlakenzie Estate Pinot blanc, Eola Hills Sauvignon blanc and Copper Belt Ranchers White.
Major retailers in the region including New Seasons, Costco, Safeway and Fred Meyer will be celebrating Oregon Wine Month with featured bottles for sale, discounted cases, and in-store tastings of Oregon wines.
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