Celebrate Oregon Wine Month, May 2024

May is Oregon Wine Month, thirty-one days dedicated to enjoying Oregon wine, fine dining, boosting our local economy, and getting a healthy dose of dopamine.

What’s So Special about Oregon Wine?

Oregon took the world by surprise in the 1970’s when a few brave wine pioneers took a chance on growing the finicky Pinot Noir grapes in the Willamette Valley, and discovered amazing results. Fast forward a few decades and we’re turning out bottles of Pinot Noir that compete, and often place high, on the world stage.

In addition to producing excellent Pinot Noir, many Oregon growers are having great success with Pinot Gris, and, more recently, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Melon De Bourgogne, Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, Tempranillo and Gamay Noir, among other rare varietals.

So Many Regions, So Many Tastes

To taste the wine is to taste the place, and with seven major growing areas and more than 37,399 acres of grapes, Oregon tastes wonderful. Two-thirds of Oregon’s 908 wineries are located in the fertile land of the Willamette Valley between the Coast Range Mountains to the west and the Cascade Range to the east.

With so many wine growing regions in Oregon, it’s no wonder this timeless vino has become fundamental to our local economy — which is all the more reason to celebrate. Here are some ideas and events to fill your May 2024 calendar.

Check Out “Sip Local” from Market of Choice

We’re taking the guesswork out of choosing an amazing local wine. Just look for the “Sip Local” endcaps near the Beer & Wine department of any Market of Choice location throughout May to get a highlight of a new local wine to try each week. Explore great vintages from makers like Teutonic Wines in Portland, Quady North Winery in Jacksonville, and more fantastic wineries that work hard to produce fine wine and keep Oregon dollars in Oregon.

Visit a Tasting Room

Willamette Valley wineries run from Portland down to Eugene, so there’s no shortage of tasting rooms to experience throughout the valley. Not to mention, a scenic drive through Oregon’s breathtaking wine country is a day or weekend well-spent.

Plan an Oregon Wine Country Tour

Oregon has so many adventurous stories to tell, from Douglas fir-lined trails, to cozy cafes and piney IPAs. Then there are the stories you only get when you take a tour through Oregon wine country. Every wine growing region comes with its own unique experience, so you can explore one or all nine regions and never run out of stories to tell.

Learn How to Pair Wine and Cheese

Pairing takes a little know-how but once you learn a few key points, it’s fun and easy. Get a few quick tips on pairing red wine and cheese from our expert wine steward by watching this video: How to Pair Wine and Cheese. Or, stop by your local Market Cheese Shop and ask our Monger for perfect pairing ideas. We’re always here to help our customers get the most from their wine and cheese pairing experience.

Host a Wine Tasting Party

Once you get a sense for how to pair wine and cheese, plan a tasting party with friends to share your knowledge and enjoy new wines together. Here are a few tips for choosing wines to get you started. For more ideas, just stop by your local Market Wine & Beer shop and talk to one of our expert wine stewards.

• Variety: Choose a wine variety and sample it from different regions. For example, compare Pinot Noirs from Oregon, France, Burgundy and New Zealand.
• Region: Taste wines from one specific region. The variety in quality and taste among wines of the same region may surprise you.
• Style: You may choose to pick a style of wine to broaden your tasting theme.
• Vintage: Choose a wine you like and look for it in different vintages. This approach may be slightly more difficult when it comes to sourcing wines. But it is fascinating to experience how a wine’s vintage can impact the flavor.

Try Community Cellars Wines

Have you tried our private release wines? Community Cellars is a collection of high quality, reasonably priced wines that are expressive of their region, made in Oregon by our hand-selected partners, and sold exclusively at Market of Choice. Every final blending is a collaboration between our wine team and our dynamic wine maker community to ensure every bottle meets our expectations for quality and flavor.

The first member of our Community Cellars partnership is John Grochau of Grochau Cellars. John strives to craft wines that are balanced, textured, expressive of place and always good with fine food.

Come out and join your community in celebrating all that is special about Oregon wine. From learning and tasting, to exploring wine country, there are plenty of phenomenal ways to enjoy Oregon wine month this May.