Going Out No. 24: Portland's Best Wine Shops
Where to buy a quality bottle of wine in Portland, Oregon (before tariffs ruin everything)
Welcome! This is the Going Out edition of Riley’s Recs, where I review a restaurant, bar, or activity here in Portland. Every Sunday, I also share Staying In recipe recommendations for your week. Don’t forget to check out pdxrecs.com for even more recommendations and follow RR on Instagram at @rileysrecs. Enjoy!
This might be a hot take, but grocery store wine is expensive. It’s cheaper to buy a bottle at a wine shop. Okay, fine—a better, cheaper bottle.
Sure, most grocery stores sell Ercole, a reliable liter of table wine for around $16, or “chicken wine” aka La Vieille Ferme rosé for $9.99. Both make excellent choices when you’re looking for a casual weeknight bottle or something to bring when you don’t want to show up to a friend’s house empty-handed but also don’t want to spend more than 20 bucks.
But if you’re on the hunt for a good bottle of wine? For something to enjoy and not just drink? Wine shops are undoubtedly better.
Any reputable wine shop will have a shelf dedicated to everyday, affordable choices for $20-30, sometimes less. The bottles are typically unavailable in grocery stores and very likely have been personally tasted and vetted by shop owners, which surprisingly isn’t true at all retailers. I heard through the grapevine (pun!) that New Seasons wine buyers aren’t even allowed to taste before they buy — they have to place their orders blind.
Buying from a wine shop is simply the best way to get more quality for your money—something that matters more than ever as costs continue to climb. A 10% tariff is already in place on all wine imports, and a proposed 20–30% tariff on European and other wine-producing countries is still looming. With import costs rising, distributors and retailers—grocery stores included—can’t absorb the extra expense. New York Times wine columnist Eric Asimov agrees: wine prices are going up no matter where you shop.
What will higher prices do? First, they’ll likely push drinkers to either cut back or shift to more affordable alternatives, like beer. Second, because U.S.-based wineries have less grape diversity than their European counterparts, we’ll likely see more consolidation and fewer choices on the shelf.
All of this makes a strong case for supporting your local wine shop over big-box or online retailers. Independent shop owners tend to have close relationships with winemakers and distributors, which means they’re picking the best bottles they can find while still trying to pass on distributor discounts to you.
Will I still buy wine at the grocery store? Absolutely. But here are four shops I think are worth supporting, especially in the wake of tariff announcements. But also because it’s Oregon Wine Month and the Willamette Valley was just named the #1 destination in the world for wine tasting by VinePair, and it felt like a great time to highlight some of my favorite spots.
Address: 3928 N Williams Ave
Wine Bar: Yes
What to buy: a Wine for Newbies class for $25
Ora et Labora wins the category for best backstory. Co-owners and husband-and-wife team Sarah and Dave Gregory both arrived to the wine world following career pivots. Sarah was formerly a journalist, and Dave was a teacher at De La Salle High School. COVID and burnout prompted a change in careers and life plans (this would be the second career switch for Dave who once studied to become a Jesuit priest).
Like most careers, our past work always proves useful in our current work. In this case, Dave uses his knack for teaching and classroom management by hosting wine classes in the event space next door to the bottle shop. The classes, which range from one-offs like Bargain Wines from Famous Regions to a three-part Foundations series, are approachable and genuinely helpful. Most classes are guided via PowerPoints filled with animations and memes, a clear callback to Dave’s time in the classroom. If PowerPoints work to teach high schoolers the quadratic formula, they should also work to teach adults about wine.
Ora et Labora’s classes showcase why the shop is so special: because it’s run by newbies. And newbies know how to learn. What I’m trying to say is that Dave and Sarah’s newness is an asset. They’re committed to doing things differently: they taste everything they stock, they offer approachable classes, and they even offer *gasp* beer and non-alcoholic options in their tasting room.
In the spirit of doing things differently, Dave (a former magic nerd) also now hosts the occasional magic show in their event space. As someone newly interested in magic (I went to Magic Castle in LA last year!), I am thrilled to see more magic shows in Portland. Check their website for details about upcoming events.
Address: 1515 NE Broadway
Wine Bar: No
What to buy: Case of the Month for $135
Great Wine Buys is a straight-forward name for a straight-forward shop. This is where you go when you need to stock up before the holidays or get a monthly haul. There’s a solid assortment of Pacific Northwest bottles, but the true gem is in the back of the shop where you’ll find an extensive collection from Southern France, Italy, and Spain. Everything feels affordable and well-curated.
Co-owners John Kennedy and Dawn Bolgioni are almost always behind the counter; there if you need help or a suggestion, but not overbearing if you don’t. These guys know their stuff and have just the right amount of gruff to make me trust them implicitly.
My absolute favorite part of Great Wine Buys is the table near the front that houses their monthly selection of wines for under $15. Buy all 12 of them for $135 or pick and choose whatever bottle you want. When I was in my early 20s and living in the neighborhood, this table was a godsend. You’ll see prices here as low as $9.99. Each bottle is accompanied by a description written by Kennedy, who left a PhD in French Literature to take over Great Wine Buys in the early 2000s. His wine descriptions are not only genuinely helpful, but are also fun to read.
I mean, look at this one. It’s perfection.
Cameron Pinot Noir Willamette Valley 2023
$24.99/$19.99 by the case
It's been a while since Cameron made enough of their entry level Willamette Valley Pinot Noir to offer in any quantity but thanks to the bountiful 2023 harvest, here we go! A roughly equal blend of three Dundee Hills vineyards (including both the awesome Clos Electrique and Abbey Ridge sites plus La Colina) with a splash of Ribbon Ridge, this totally overdelivers for the price. It's young so airtime helps it open, and once it does it's classic Cameron with a fruit mix of dark cherry, brighter raspberry and black plum with a nice savory spicy underlayer. The inclusion of a few new barrels (atypical for Cameron) adds subtle hints of toast and cocoa that are gracefully woven into the rolling parade of flavors.
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Also, it’s worth noting that if there’s a bottle you want to try that you don’t see in the shop, the guys are more than happy to order it for you at no extra charge. I did this once for Angelo Negro’s Vino Rosso (a great chilled red for summer!) and am going to do it again soon for this Jean-Paul Brun 2022 Beaujolais I recently had in Baltimore at Le Comptoir du Vin.
Address: 3564 SE Division St
Wine Bar: Yes
What to buy: a flight of three half-pours for $18
Everybody loves Division Wines. And everybody loves Division Wines because of owners Will and Danyelle Prouty. They are a presence behind the bar; taking orders, suggesting pours, and answering any question you have about the wine list. Having spent 10+ years running South Park’s wine program and 30+ years in Portland, Will is a Portland restaurant and wine veteran, and his familiarity with both the industry and the city is evident.
In opening their own spot in 2011, their goal was to create a “place that just feels good.” And it certainly does. Division Wines is wine shop exceptionalism; a trifecta of approachable service, quality sourcing, and affordable bottle selection.
The smart move here is to get the $18 flight. It comes with three half pours of anything on their menu, which includes the option of choosing whatever off-menu bottles are open at the moment. Pair with charcuterie, cheese board, or soup, and you have yourself a happy hour or light dinner. On your way out, scope out the bargain shelf where you can find great bottles for under $30.
P.S. Division Wines is often confused with Division Winemaking Company. They are unrelated!
Address: 4243 SE Belmont St
Wine Bar: Yes
What to buy: the $30 Abracadabrin Magnum for your next dinner party
Natural wine: so hot right now. Often conflated with skin contact wine, natural wine simply means that the wine is made with grape juice and little else. Meaning, no chemicals or additives.
Ardor, a purveyor of exclusively natural wines, started as a pop-up at North Portland’s Red E Cafe. At the time, the idea was to expose more people to natural wine. That concept seems foreign now, considering their ubiquity on restaurant menus throughout the city. But in 2016, natural was new.
Ardor’s owner, Victor Martinez studied winemaking at UC Davis before moving to Oregon and picked Ardor’s space precisely because of how small it is. He wanted it to feel like wine shops and bars he saw when traveling in France and London.
Tiny like European spots? Yes. Inexpensive like European spots? No. The cheapest bottle available right now is $20. The rest mostly fall in the $30-50 range. All of them are beautiful; skewing pale and deep orange, blush pink, and candy red. Some are funky and unique—what I’ve grown to expect from a natural wine—while others you’d never know are considered “natural.” The point is: you’re in for a treat, but don’t expect to walk away with a $15 table wine.
Next door to Ardor is Nil Wine Bar, an exceedingly cool bar. You can sit inside at the bar or grab a picnic table out front. Bring your own food or order from one of the many food carts at the pod next door. I recommend the Brazilian one.
Looking for even more Portland wine recs? Check out ! Shayna posts info about upcoming tastings and events every week on Substack and Instagram.
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