Oregon is synonymous with pinot noir — and one key contributor is Erath Winery. This pioneering winery was one of the first to grow pinot noir in the Willamette Valley, and they’re still a top producer of the style that made the state famous. So when I got the chance to go experience their vegan-friendly tasting room in Portland’s Pearl District, I was thrilled to leave my car in the driveway and head across the river to meet a friend for an urban wine tasting.
Walk, Roll or Ride to Wine Country in Portland
The Pearl might be Portland’s most transit-friendly neighborhood. This walkable district just north of downtown was once an industrial district called the Northwest Triangle. Today it’s filled with loft apartments, enticing boutiques and great places to grab a bite — all connected by a dense network of light rail, buses and bike lanes.
After arriving a little early, I stroll the neighborhood to admire the historic brick buildings that once housed breweries, workshops and rail depots, interspersed with shiny new apartment and office buildings. Inside, my friend and I are greeted by Brianna Gallagher, tasting room lead and wine educator, who seats us on comfy sofas beneath floor-to-ceiling windows. We order a vegan cheese plate to nibble while we peruse the menu, which includes three Erath wine flights. Gallagher explains that most of the wines are vegan, too, and many are poured from low-impact keg systems that reduce bottle waste. We settle on the Magique Collection flight, which highlights older library wines and higher-end bottlings.
Tasting Wine History
Our tasting begins with La Lumière Magique, a sparkling pinot blanc. The fruity bubbles pair beautifully with the slightly sweet caramelized-onion camembert from local vegan cheesemaker Vtopian Artisan Cheeses on our cheese board. While pinot noir is Oregon’s most famous varietal, sparkling white wines are becoming increasingly popular — and it’s easy to see why after this crowd-pleasing example.
As we savor our bubbles, Gallagher tells us a bit about the early days of Erath Winery. Oregon has always attracted people willing to take some risks. And while it seems obvious now, about two generations ago, the idea of making wine here was a pretty big risk. There was no wine industry. The Willamette Valley grew prunes and hazelnuts, not pinot noir. The thriving modern-day community of winemakers, tasting rooms, vineyards and bottle shops was nothing but a dream.
Dick Erath — the founder of Erath Winery — was one of those early Oregon wine visionaries. He sensed pinot noir’s potential in the Willamette Valley back in the 1960s, planted a vineyard in 1969 and produced the very first commercial wine from the now world-famous Dundee Hills American Viticultural Area in 1972. While Erath today makes a range of red and white wines, pinot noir is still its flagship grape — and that’s exactly where we’re headed next in our tasting flight.
Taste the Full Range of Oregon Pinot Noir
Gallagher pours us four different pinot noirs highlighting different vintages and vineyard sites, each delivered to our table in a tiny bottle so we can go back and forth between different wines as we please. Some are dark and moody with flavors like blueberry and mushroom, while others are bright and crisp and remind me of red fruit. It’s amazing to think that the same grape variety can produce wines that taste so different from one another.
Then we depart from the pinot parade and finish with a syrah made from grapes grown in The Rocks of Milton-Freewater District in Northeastern Oregon. This tiny, remote region is attracting international attention for its distinctively savory wines, and this one is no exception. It’s almost meaty — in a good way! — and a great match for the purple vegan gouda infused with Erath pinot noir from Cultured Kindness, another Portland-based vegan cheesemaker.
Gallagher explains that the syrah is a new project for Erath Winery, spearheaded by its head winemaker, Leah Adint, who studied in Australia and started at Erath in 2020. It’s a potentially risky departure from the winery’s usual style, but it ends up being one of my favorite wines of the day. As we linger over the last sips, I find myself with a renewed appreciation for Oregon risk-takers — old and new.
If You Go:
- Reservations are recommended but not required.
- Check out the tasting room event calendar for fun upcoming events like cheese-pairing classes, drag brunch and trivia night.
