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Hi Wine Friends,
I thought I’d take this week to let you in on some secret new spots in town. No, they’re not speakeasies, but they’re all relatively new, and I haven’t heard enough buzz about them. So I want to make sure you all know they exist!
These places are a mix of wine bars and tasting rooms, and let’s be honest—the lines are getting blurred nowadays anyway. Many tasting rooms function as wine bars, and many wine bars are owned by wineries (and therefore function as tasting rooms). Thanks to early urban wineries like Division Winemaking Co., the precedent of being able to make (and taste) wine right from the comfort of Portland was established, and now many are following suit. The following range from full-fledged wineries to more traditional wine bars and everything in between.
If you’re looking to beat the dreary cold weather and have some fun indoors, I hope you’ll check these five spots out and then tell me what you think! I’m in the process of making reels on all of these places to give you a visual reference, so make sure you stay tuned on Instagram for the inside scoop…
So without further ado, here are my five favorite new wine spots in Portland that you might not know existed!
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Bar Nina is a new concept in a space you might already be familiar with: the former Les Caves on NE Alberta Street. Owner John House (winemaker of Ovum and the now-iconic Big Salt) and his wife Ksenija (former winemaker at Argyle) have re-christened this cozy, cave-like space in honor of their daughter Nina. It serves as both a tasting room for their own brands and a wine bar featuring great wines from around the globe, including library and reserve selections from their personal cellar. Nina offers European-inspired snacks (think Spanish tapas and cheese with Serbian pepper jam, brought here by Ksenija’s mom) and, in the warmer months, the upstairs patio pops up as ‘Big Salt Bar,’ featuring everyone’s favorite summer sipper.
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Fancy Baby is so new that it’s not even open yet, but it will be in the very near future (follow them for updates @fancybabypdx). I had the pleasure of attending a friends & family sneak preview night a few weeks back and I absolutely fell in love with the space, the concept, and, of course, the wine list. From the team behind Cru & Domaine–one of the best wine shops in Portland that you should all be regular customers of–Fancy Baby is in the heart of the Pearl District, just two blocks from Arden (so count me a regular). It calls itself a Champagne Bar and, based on their friends & family wine list, it really lives up to the name; the “limited” list (limited at eight pages) featured no less than four pages of grower-producer Champagne, with the remaining slots filled by geeky European regions like the Jura, Loire Valley, and northern Italy. Fancy Baby will have regularly scheduled DJ’s spinning and a limited food menu intended to pair well with the wine.
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Graham Markel of Buona Notte has been producing Italian-inspired wines from the Columbia Gorge for the last 6 years and is at the forefront of Oregon’s natural wine movement. Up until now, he hasn’t had a proper tasting room but, thanks to the creation of The Appartamento, fans can now taste the wines in an ultra-special setting in SE Portland. The Appartamento is part tasting room, part wine bar, part speakeasy and part chef's counter. In a tiny - you guessed it - apartment-style hideout, Graham pours his lineup of charismatic wines while preparing you delicious and simple dishes. (His mom runs a cooking school in Tuscany and he's clearly learned a few things). And if you're craving something international, ask to see the secret 'Captain's List' which holds bottles that inspire Graham, many of them Italian.
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If you’re heading to The Appartamento, you might as well make it a double header and book a stop next door at Statera! Located just down the hallway, Statera is another darling of Oregon’s natural wine scene, helmed by winemakers and and renegade creatives Lük Wilde and Meredith Bell. One step inside and you could be in either Tokyo or an episode of Portlandia... cheerful stuffed animals cover the ceiling, neon cats 'cheers' you from the walls, and colorful bottles of not only Statera's single-vineyard Chardonnays, but also Lük’s experimental Lares cuvées (creative co-ferments of non-traditional Oregon grapes) and Meredith’s Pinot-focused EST. grace the shelves. With a goal of de-centralizing historically white wine culture, they are importing unique Korean and Japanese snacks such as black crab Cup Of Noodle (which they then add fresh crab and abalone to), congee and spiced edamame.
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Parallel opened its doors this August on NE Sandy and is a passion project from sommelier Stacey Gibson and chef Joey Gibson, both veterans of Portland's culinary scene. Stacey, former co-owner of Park Avenue Fine Wines, has curated an impressive selection of global wines, emphasizing geeky grapes and lesser-known producers. Joey, who honed his culinary skills at Olympia Provisions, crafts ‘reverse wine pairings’, with a menu that is based on not the other way around. Current dishes include Welsh rarebit, seafood canneloni and hushpuppies with uni honey butter. In addition to pouring over twenty wines by the glass, Parallel also offers sherry, local draft beer on tap, and a small selection of seasonal cocktails.
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Cheers and I hope you enjoy these spots as much as I do!
Until next week,
Kelsey
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