Urban Winery Southeast Wine Collective -Wonderfully Portland (PDX)

Firstly, the rumors about Portland are all true!! The food, the coffee, the creative, and yes, the hipsters too!  But now add wineries and wine making to the list of what makes Portland truly unique as a culinary destination.

On my trip to Portland, I was really looking forward to wine tasting at the Willamette Valley vineyards, which I did and absolutely loved (more about that in another post). However, I had also heard about the “urban wineries” and was intrigued by the concept.  Basically, a group of small, burgeoning winemakers get together and establish a venue for commercial wine production within the heart of the city, producing wines from grapes grown all over the Pacific Northwest. What a fabulous idea!

While there are over 10 urban wineries in Portland, the one we visited was the Southeast Wine Collective, which is a small space opened in 2012 by Kate and Thomas Monroe. The goal of SE Wine Collective is to bring together like-minded sustainable wineries, providing them with equipment for wine production, a space for wine tastings, wine sales and wine focused events.

The space itself is gorgeous with a tasting room that seats about 30, that overlooks the warehouse that houses the operations of the winemaking itself. At any given time, the Collective houses anywhere from 4-12 winemakers, so you are always bound to have a good and varied selection. They offer tastings, flights, and bottles to buy. They also have a “house wine” that the current Collective wineries have crafted together.

We had an enjoyable afternoon sampling a flight, chatting with the friendly and knowledgeable staff, and really getting a taste for Oregon wines. I absolutely loved the idea, and that smaller winemakers could really show their stuff. We need an urban winery in DC!

I would highly recommend a visit to SE Wine Collective if you are visiting Portland – get a cheese plate, do a tasting, get a bottle, and make an afternoon of it!