Our Vineyards

Portland Wine Company is an urban winery, which means we don't own a single vine. What we do have is twenty years of relationships with some of the best growers in the Willamette Valley — people who've spent decades reading their soil, their slopes, and their weather, and who farm like it matters. Because it does.

Every wine we make starts with a phone call to one of them. Below are the sites we return to year after year, along with the families and farmers who make them worth the drive.

Sunnyside Vineyard

West Valley (East Salem) · Certified LIVE, Organic

Planted in the early '70s, this self-rooted vineyard has been lovingly tended by Tom and Luci since 1980. The gentle southwest-facing slope of volcanic soil tops out at 690 feet, and it's a late-ripening site that yields intense Riesling and earthy Pinot Noir. We also source the Gewürztraminer (planted 1983) for our "A Frayed Knot" from here, and we're excited about a newly grafted block of Gamay. It's a magical place with superb wine grapes.

First L&S Vintage: 2012

Temperance Hill Vineyard

Eola-Amity Hills · Certified Organic, Certified Oregon Tilth

If Oregon had a classification system, Temperance Hill would certainly be rated Grand Cru. Planted starting in 1980, this wide-ranging site spans myriad aspects and elevations, all producing highly desired fruit. It was developed by, and is still owned by, the Koo family. Vineyard manager Dai Crisp and his year-round crew care for it like it's their own, and they're a large part of why we love the site as much as we do. We pull dense, spice-driven Pinot Noir from two separate blocks, and thanks to the cooling coastal winds funneling through the Van Duzer Corridor, it's usually the last Pinot to come into the winery each year.

First L&S Vintage: 2007

Gemini Vineyard

Laurelwood District · Organic Transitional, Integrative

Planted in 1995 by Dale Hatfield (son of Senator Hatfield, R-OR), Gemini is an early-ripening site on quick-draining loess soil. It's been captained since 2019 by Luke and Emily deHayrs, with help from their young twin sons. We take our Pinot Noir from the younger (2014) front block — the highest point on the site at 500 feet — planted with multiple clones in a massale style and trained to Scott Henry trellising, which works especially well in vigorous growing conditions. Chickens and sheep have recently been introduced between the rows, which should only add to the vine health — and make it an even more fun place to visit.

First L&S Vintage: 2018

Arlyn Vineyard

Chehalem Mountains · Certified Organic, Biodynamic, Integrative, Regenerative

Janis Pate purchased and began planting her jewel-box property on Calkins Lane in 2012, and she maintains a singular, precise vision of excellence for it while continually expanding what she's growing. The east-facing slope below her home garden sits at the edge of the Ribbon Ridge AVA and shares its Willakenzie marine sedimentary soils, planted to the Burgundian varietals that flourish there. We get highly aromatic Wadensvil-clone Pinot Noir from the site — plus visits with runner ducks, pigs, black-faced sheep, and Miss Cooper.

First L&S Vintage: 2019

Ribbon Ridge Vineyard

Ribbon Ridge · Certified Organic, Certified LIVE

RRV was planted in 2001 by Dewey and Robin Kelly, and it's home to Pommard and 777 clones of Pinot Noir rooted in thin topsoil, sandstone, and marine sediment. The resulting wines are graceful but carry an undeniable weight and concentration — hallmarks of the smallest of the Willamette Valley's sub-AVAs. The Kellys produce a small amount of wine under their own label and fire up the vineyard's wood-fueled pizza oven for visitors most weekends in the summer.

First L&S Vintage: 2018

Sunny Mountain Vineyard

Willamette Valley (Monroe)

Sunny Mountain floats above the town of Monroe, in the southernmost reaches of the Willamette Valley AVA. The 12 acres of Pinot Noir and a smidge of Chardonnay are tended by owners Steve and Sally Price — him a former OSU viticulture professor, her the retired Corvallis librarian. They established the vineyard in 2005, and clones like Pommard, 828, and Mariafeld thrive in the sandy sedimentary Belpine soils there. The elevation runs 600–800 feet with a squarely southeast aspect, and we take our Pinot from the lower section of the site — usually the first fruit to arrive at the winery each harvest.

First L&S Vintage: 2013

The Extended Family

Beyond these six, we're lucky to work with a growing list of small, thoughtfully farmed vineyards across the Valley — some in every vintage, some for a single small-lot wine that only happens once. Stop by the tasting room and ask what's pouring; there's a good chance it's got its own vineyard story worth hearing.