The brick-red tasting room of Corollary Wines in Eola-Amity Hills.

Corollary Wines' Amity tasting room.

Once upon a time, wineries needed little more than a garage or a barn, maybe an upturned barrel where you could set a few glasses for a tasting. Now, as international players flock to put their stamp on Oregon wines, there’s more competition than ever. And more creativity, too.

It’s a creativity that extends beyond the cellar. Design, says assistant architect and winemaker Ben Stalker, is at the forefront. 

Stalker is half of the husband-and-wife team at Sealionne Wines, a just-debuted winery in the Ribbon Ridge AVA, north of Newberg. Piper Underbrink, Stalker’s wife, is the winemaker behind Sealionne’s wines and the viticulturist behind its vineyard, while Stalker divides his time working to complete his architecture certification and handling Sealionne’s branding and marketing. 

From his perspective, a shift is underway in the Oregon wine landscape, one that also happened in California, where wineries are building bold spaces as they seek to differentiate themselves in a crowded industry. They’re using design as part of their signature and to level up the tasting room experience. 

“Oregon has just kind of arrived.” Stalker says. “The wine needs to be amazing, of course, but you also need a distinctive space.”

A youthful crop of Willamette Valley wineries, all day trip driving distance from Portland, are leaning into this movement, distinguishing themselves as aesthetic and architectural destinations that also make great wines. 

Ambar Estate pulls much of its aesthetic inspiration from Japanese design.

Ambar Estate, Dundee Hills

japanese-inspired simplicity

This newcomer sits in the shade of a towering redwood tree, overlooking the first regenerative organic certified vineyard in the Willamette Valley. The dispersed tasting space, designed by Juancarlos Fernandez of Signum Architecture, occupies three smaller structures connected by walkways. They frame an austere courtyard garden designed by landscape architect Hoichi Kurisu, a longtime director at the Portland Japanese Garden. The wood-paneled buildings’ low, sloped roof lines and glass walls were inspired by traditional shoji screens and the warm minimalism of Japanese design. Tastings of Ambar’s first vintages of chardonnay and pinot noir from winemakers Kate Payne Brown and Bryan Weil are available by appointment. 

The red tasting room at Corollary Wines, which features indoor-outdoor seating areas shielded from the elements.

Corollary Wines' indoor-outdoor space is meant to highlight the tasting room's surroundings in a bold, sleek way.

Corollary, Eola-Amity Hills

water-conserving design with a bold color story

Like a cardinal perched in a fir tree, Corollary Wines’ tomato-red tasting room makes a bold statement against the hills’ deep green. It’s visible from Highway 99W just south of McMinnville, a beacon promising fresh perspective from a sparkling-only winery. Winemakers Dan Diephouse and Jeanne Feldkamp launched Corollary in 2017 to make traditional-method sparkling wines using regeneratively farmed grapes, but opened their tasting room this past May. Feldkamp, who runs interior design firm Heirloom Modern, partnered with Waechter Architecture to drench the indoor-outdoor space in color. The roofline’s steep slopes divert rainwater to an onsite treatment facility, entirely supplying the tasting room’s needs.

Artist Block's minimalist exterior contrasts with the colorful contemporary art gallery inside.

Artist Block, Dundee Hills

a pop art aesthetic and a playful approach to winemaking

Contemporary artist Anna Sweet envisioned Artist Block as a destination for wine drinkers interested in the worlds of wine and art. Designed by Observation Studio, the building comprises a tasting room, contemporary art gallery, and Sweet’s working studio. The permanent collection on display includes her multimedia and sculptural “Yummy” series made of “dot-nuts” and giant “yummy bears,” motifs that repeat on the winery’s bottles. Winemaker Bree Stock’s lineup reflects a new-meets-old approach that includes skin-contact pinot gris, sparkling gamay, and Syrah in addition to the Willamette Valley’s beloved chardonnay and pinot noir. Through the fall Artist Block is offering an immersive art and wine tour in partnership with Portland experiential art gallery Hopscotch. 

The tasting room at Sequitur Wines.

Observation Studio elegantly transformed this former farm into Sequitur Wines' modern tasting space.

Sequitur Wines, Ribbon Ridge

yesterday's dairy barn, today's state-of-the-art winemaking facility

A grain silo converted into a spiral staircase and a winemaking facility reminiscent of a Scandinavian barn: that’s the aesthetic of this new project launched by longtime Beaux Frères winemaker Michael Etzel and his wife, Carey Critchlow, on an old farm along the western edge of Ribbon Ridge in the Chehalem Mountains. Etzel challenged Portland architecture firm Observation Studio to rebuild an existing dairy barn into a striking winery. Concrete fermenters now hulk where the cows once slept, and the former pasteurization shed has been converted into clever little cow-themed restrooms. Across the yard, a minimalist tasting room has black walls and plate glass windows that slide into the walls like pocket doors, creating a seamless experience between indoors and out. The production spaces are as memorable as the rooms built for the public. 

Abbott Claim's creatively designed space is built directly into the vineyard's hillside.

Abbott Claim, Yamhill-Carlton

winemaking grounded, literally, in a hillside

Visitors to Beck Family Estates’ first winery built outside of South Africa experience a processional that begins on the crush pad adjacent to the vines, winds through the winemaking facility, and ends with a reservation-only tasting in the curving, underground barrel cellar. Inside the underground wine library an oculus spills in natural light from above. Designed by Larry Ferar of Soderstrom Architects, the complex was built into the rolling hillside of the vineyard. The design team got creative in how it might conceal as many of the winery’s utilitarian aspects as possible—including fire sprinklers and electrical conduits—to create an immersive experience. 

The interiors at Troon give the space a convivial vibe, not unlike a restaurant space.

Troon, McMinnville

adaptive reuse with polished results

A leader in Oregon’s biodynamic winemaking community, Troon is based in the Applegate Valley, near Grants Pass, but its presence in the Willamette Valley dates back more than a decade. The winery hired design-build firm Branch Geary to adapt an existing retail storefront on Third Street in downtown McMinnville into a thoughtful tasting room. The space is loosely divided into zones—a relaxed front couch area, bar seating, a large table for groups, and three private tasting nooks. Waves of acoustic paneling undulate overhead; sculptural chrome lighting fixtures and comfortable seating make this place feel like a restaurant. A nice one.  

L'Angolo Estate's breezy approach to interior design reflects the winery's low-intervention approach in the vineyard.

L’Angolo Estate, Newberg

vineyard views framed by natural materials

Angular rooflines and vineyard views on three sides of the tasting room (designed by Lever Architecture and completed in 2016) set the standard for Oregon wine country modernism. The shape of the building suggests a rectangular pole barn, a stalwart structure in Willamette Valley agriculture. But the soaring Douglas fir beams framing the cantilevered roof are a sleek application of a material that could be seen as a ubiquitous resource. The open views and airy space reflect L’Angolo’s low-intervention approach towards winemaking.