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Portland Uncorked Recent Member Events
Portland Uncorked now has over 2,000 members!
THURSDAY July 8th – Champagne Bubbles & Riviera Dreams
 Jinx Lounge
232 Northwest 12th Avenue
Portland, OR
www.jinxlounge.com
5:30 - 7:30 PM
$15 online, $20 at the door
Summer is finally here, and it was time for us Portland wine lovers to relish in this thing we call the SUN! And what goes better with the sun, than a nice glass of champagne?!
Perhaps to trip to the Riviera…
Well, since we can’t feasibly take all of our members to the south of France or Italy, so we brought you there in spirit with some amazing champagne and hors d'oeuvres.
We tasted 5 champagnes from Italy and France, such as Drappier Carte D’Or Brut and Mionetto 100% Prosecco Organic D.o.c. Treviso, all complete with sumptuous nibbles that compliment each glass accordingly.
A special thanks to Jinx Lounge, the sister bar to Vault Martini in the Pearl District, and hailed at “Perfection in a glass and on a plate”.
THURS. JUNE 17th - "Bring it on! Eco-Style"
 Seven Planet
412 NW Couch, Suite 112
Portland, OR
www.sevenplanet.com
5:30 - 7:30 PM
Bring your own favorite organic or sustainable wine to share!
$5 cover
It’s the people who live here that make this city the unparalleled destination for keeping it green – and yes, weird too. We want to save the planet, make it creative, unite our social networks, and more than anything, have fun and drink wine!
Portland Uncorked and Seven Planet partnered together to host “Bring it on!” -The relaxed social eco-savvy event to kick off the summer, where you got to bring your own favorite bottle of organic or sustainable wine, nibble on some tasty locally made treats, all the while listening to the music of our very own, Ian James.
Talk about a great way to taste unique wines you may have never heard of, meet new people, and keep it clean and green.
Positive changes towards a sustainable future.
April 29th, 2010 - Spanish Wines & Hot Salsa!
 Fred Astaire Portland Dance Studio
(
located at NW 21st and Everett)
305 NW 21st Avenue Suite 201
Portland, OR
7:30pm – 9 and beyond
100 members enjoyd a creative pairing of Spanish wines, Latin food, and sensational dancing! In addition to four select wines from Spain, Argentina, and (of course) Oregon because we love to support local, there was dancing, professional exhibitions of Tango and Cha Cha, and a special ‘mini lesson’ with Fred’s right hand man!
Fred Astaire Dance Studio is heating up the night in Portland and is now open to everyone and is having their Grand Opening event on May 20th! KOIN TV and Weddings Portland Style is even doing a story on it! BUT Uncorked members got another SNEAK PREVIEW event Thursday, April 29th! Thanks to owners Alex Aillon and Jan Lampe!
Packages included the Fred Astaire Grand Opening Special of 5 lessons… 2 private, 2 group classes, and 1 practice party! ($250 value)
APRIL 15 - REBEL WITHOUT A CASK (New Date!)
 Wine Down East (NEW)
2236 NE Alberta
Portland, OR
6:00 - 8:30 pm - $20
Wine Down East is taking over Zaytoon this week and will open to everyone later this month with a Grand Opening at the end of April!
KOIN TV is even doing a story on it! BUT Uncorked members will get a SNEAK PREVIEW private event on Thurs. April 15th! Limited to first 100 people to buy tickets!
The theme is: Rebel Without A Cask – daring food and wine pairings that will not only astound your palette, but challenge your ways of thinking about food and wine. It comes down to three trifect ingredients: Fine wine, sinful sushi, and divine conversation, all for only $20. Meet new owners Stuart & Ken and hosted by new Portland Uncorked event coordinators Tyler Bel & Heidi Protto!
TUES. DEC. 15 - AN UNCOMMON TASTING at ALU WINE BAR!
 ALU Wine Bar
2831 NE MLK Jr. Blvd.
Portland, OR
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Tickets: Only $10
www.aluwinebar.com
We had a nice group of members who are interested in wines made from varietals other than your typical cabernet, merlot, chardonnay, pinot noir, and syrah grapes!
Portland Uncorked and Alu tamed up for an evening of new wine discoveries, tasting thru six different wines from around the world with ALU owner Jeff Vejr at the sexiest new wine bar in Portland. After the tasting, Alu offered each wine as a special glass pour!
SUN. NOV. 1st - SOUTHERN OREGON GRAND TASTING
 The Governor Hotel
614 SW 11th Ave.
Portland, OR
4 - 7 p.m.
Tickets: Only $35
Portland Uncorked's biggest event of the year! DFor two years now over 400 enthusiasts experienced an exciting array of Southern Oregon wines which are now finally receiving national acclaim. While you may have thought Pinot Noir is Oregon wine, that changed after you experienced this tasting! Southern Oregon is producing some outstanding wines and a wide range of varietals!
The wines and winemakers of Umpqua and Rogue River Valleys came to us in Portland, and attendees tasted the best the area has to offer including: Albarino, Viognier, Pinot Gris, Roussanne, Syrah, Tempranillo, Zinfandel, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc and some eclectic red blends - all at The Governor Hotel in Portland. At only $35 it was a fantastic deal. Tickets included light appetizers by Jake's Grill and unlimited tastings of over 100 wines from 28 wineries.
For pictures from last years event click here!
More info. on the wines of Southern Oregon at www.sorwa.org
Click on any of the winery links below to learn more
about the wineries featured at our 2009 event!
Sat. Sept. 12 - CARAVAN TO DUNDEE & BEYOND!
Leave From Portland at 10:30
Our first ever Caravan to Wine Country! Harvest was just beginning! There was no cost to participate and the below wineries were generous enough to waive their tasting room fees for Portland Uncorked members who had their membership cards! Most usually charge $10 or more!
The Caravan left downtown Portland at 10:30 am. and stopped in Sherwood, then Dundee, wound over to Newberg, and ended in Carlton!
Below was the itinerary:
Alloro Vineyard
www.allorovineyard.com
 
 
August Cellars
www.augustcellars.com
 
Picnic Lunch at Crabtree Park by Erath Winery
Styring Vineyards
www.styringvineyards.com
 
Soléna and Grand Cru Estates
www.solenacellars.com
 
Troon
www.troonvineyard.com
 
 
THURS. JULY 23 - BLIND WINE TASTING
 THIRST WINE BAR & BISTRO
0315 SW Montgomery St. - Portland, OR
www.thirstwinebar.com
7:00 - 9:00 pm - $10
Our 2nd annual Blind Wine Tasting, which was outrageously popular, at the perfect place to enjoy a summer evening, Thirst Wine Bar on Portland's Waterfront. Uncorked members each brought a bottle of their favorite wine under $15 and entered it into a blind wine competition! All wines were wrapped with foil and numbered by the Uncorked team, and put into categories per varietal. The idea? Have fun trying to find wines you will love without knowing anything about them! And meet new friends who also love wine! Click here to see pictures from this event last year! We will soon post pictures from this year!
WED. JULY 29 - ZAP GRAND TASTING & BBQ!
 World Trade Center Outdoor Plaza
121 SW Salmon St
Portland, OR - $40
(Trade 2:00-5:00) / (Public 6:00-8:30)
www.zinfandel.org
ZAP returned to Portland and partnered with Portland Uncorked! ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) produces an enormously popular wine tasting event in San Francisco that annually draws thousands. This year they took the show on the road, doing a smaller version in both Seattle on July 26 and Portland at the World Trade Center's outdoor plaza on July 29th.
ZAP worked with Portland Uncorked's founder David LeClaire to produce the event, which included delicous apps by Oregon Culinary Institute for a “BBQ Cookoff Competition.” 10 future chefs were selected from the Culinary program, each firing up a grill to create and serving a delicious BBQ appetizer designed to go with Red Zinfandel. The winner of the “People’s Choice” award for what works best with Zin received a special prize from the wineries of ZAP!
The Northwest has only a few producers of Zinfandel, while this grape flourishes in California and is now being called “America's Heritage Wine.” Northwest wine enthusiasts had the rare opportunity to try over 100 Zinfandels from approximately 40 wineries, tasting a rainbow of Zinfandels from a wide variety of regions throughout California!
Uncorked members met famous winemakers from California wineries such as
  
Chris Tietje Bruce Walker Joel Peterson
  
Jim Pedroncelli Carol Shelton Randall Johnson
JULY 8 - DOBBS & DOBBES!
2518 NE 15th Avenue
Portland, OR 97212
www.fosteranddobbs.com
20 members hung out with Charles Sisson from Dobbes Family Estate and enjoyed some delicious wines along with delightful cheeses from Foster & Dobbs, who took the group on a brief educational "cheese tour!" The names of these two well-respected businesses led to them becoming friends and are now truly a match made in heaven, the perfect combination for this intimate little happy hour!
JUNE 23 - MEET THE WINEMAKER HAPPY HOUR - SOUTHPARK
 Southpark Seafood Grill & Wine Bar
901 SW Salmon St.
Portland, OR
5:30-6:30 pm - $15
www.southparkseafood.com
Our 3rd "Winemaker Happy Hour" featured the reknowned winemaker Scott Neal of Coure de Terre Vineyards in a fun, casual setting. Scott's wines were extremely popular at the Indy Wine Fest this year as well as at the always popular Southpark.
MON. MAY 4 - MEET THE WINEMAKER HAPPY HOUR - SOUTHPARK
 Southpark Seafood Grill & Wine Bar
901 SW Salmon St.
Portland, OR
5:30-6:30 pm - $15
www.southparkseafood.com
Our 2nd "Winemaker Happy Hour" featured a reknowned winemaker in a fun, casual setting, and mingle with other Portland wine lovers at the always popular Southpark. Belle Pente Vineyards was established in 1994. It all began on the night of the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, when winemaker Brian O'Donnell and his wife Jill resolved to begin a transition out of their Silicon Valley careers to start up a small premium vineyard & winery. Belle Pente (bell-pont') means "beautiful slope" - a perfect description for their hillside vineyard site in the Yamhill-Carlton District of Oregon's Willamette Valley. Their standard practices include organic & biodynamic viticulture, meticulously hand sorting the grapes to remove all underripe or damaged fruit, and a 3-level, gravity-flow winery designed for gentle, natural winemaking in small lots, with minimal handling and manipulation.Brian poured tastes of some of his current releases and everyone nibbled on some charcuterie from Southpark.
MARCH 30 - MEET THE WINEMAKER HAPPY HOUR - SOUTHPARK
 Southpark Seafood Grill & Wine Bar
901 SW Salmon St.
Portland, OR
5:30-6:30 pm - $15 (SOLDOUT)
www.southparkseafood.com
After 13 years at Higgins and 4 years as an assistant to Brick House winemaker Doug Tunnel, John Grochau of Grochau Cellars is establishing himself as one of Oregon's rising stars and making a fun array of wines including not only Pinot, but Tempranillo, Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, and more! 50 enthusiasts joined us for our first of many "Winemaker Happy Hours!" where you can meet the winemaker is a fun, casual setting, and mingle with other Portland wine lovers at the always popular Southpark.
MARCH 1 - WINE & FOOD PAIRING CLASS
 7312 S.E. Yamhill
Portland, OR
6:00-8:30 pm - $18
Food and wine pairing can be fun for some, and to others a tricky endeavor. If you've always wanted to learn about this, we had the perfect opportunity set up for you! Together we discovered what works best with spicy, salty, sweet, and tangy foods with Sommelier David LeClaire. This class was a sensory experience, not a dinner. Instead, we had a table covered with dozens of simple food items cut into small bite size portions so you could try sips of a variety of different styles of wines with the myriad of little tastes to help you identify patterns and dsicver what works and what doesn't!
The event was being held in the home of Susan Bogdan in the Mt. Tabor neighborhood. Should you be interested in hosting an Uncorked event, let us know!
FEB. 19 - CHEF IN DA HOUSE - PAELLA COOKING CLASS
 Lisa Cloyd Residence
6835 N Albina Avenue
Portland, OR 97217
6:30-9:00 pm - $50 (SOLD OUT)
If you love to cook, you should have joined us for our first “Chef in Da House” event. Our chef was Patrick Spencer, previously chef/owner of Brix Wine Bar, a Zagat rated French bistro in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts, who recently moved to Oregon and now works for Willamette Valley Vineyards. He showed 12 students how to make two different Paella’s, and when the Paella is finished, we had a feast! We served some Willamette Valley Vineyards wines as well as a selection of Spanish wines. Space was limited to 12 students for this hands-on cooking class.
FEB. 18 - UNCORKED at URBAN WINE WORKS
 Urban Wine Works/Bishop Creek Cellars
407 NW 16th Avenue
Portland, OR
www.urbanwineworks.com
6:00-8:00pm - $15
Twent five members gathered at Urban Wineworks on Wednesday, February 18th for an casual wine education experience. Together they learned about each important stage of winemaking from Vineyard Manager/Assistant Winemaker, Jeremy Saville. For $15 they tasted barrel samples from three distinctly different Pinot Noirs, light appetizers provided by Silver Spoon Catering, and a glass of Bishop Creek Cellars Pinot Gris or Pinot Noir!
FEB. 8th - PINOT ENVY AT VINO PARADISO
 Vino Paradiso Wine Bar & Bistro
417 NW Tenth Ave
Portland, OR 97209
www.vinoparadiso.com
5:00-7:30 pm - $12
Timothy Nishimoto of Vino Paradiso was our host as 25 Uncorked members brought a pinot noir from around the world, from anywhere but Oregon! We are so Oregon-centric when it comes to pinot, and we don't taste many pinots from Cali or anywhere for that matter! So they each brought a bottle of Pinot Noir from France, New Zealand, South America, British Columbia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Idaho, or if you must, California! Then we did a blind tasting of them and everyone submitted their votes for the best and the worse! The list of Pinot's follows, along with the winner and loser!
'07 Apaltagna Reserva - Chile
'05 Domaine Bouchard Pere Fils Premier Cru - France
'03 David Bruce Central Coast - California
'05 Poduri Colla Campo Romano - Italy
'06 Challenger Ridge - Washington
'07 Nick Goldschmidt "Boulder Bank" - New Zealand
'06 Dashwood - New Zealand
'06 Mayschosser Spatburger - Germany
'05 Irony - Sonoma - California (*WINNER)
'07 Hob Nob - France (*LOSER)
'08 Cono Sur - Chile
'07 La Crema - Sonoma - California
'06 Reubans - Australia
'07 Tortoise Creek - France
'07 Trapiche - Argentina
NV Rex Goliath 47 Pound Rooster - California
'06 Nobilo - New Zealand
'06 Domaine Huber Verereau - France
'08 Lindemans Bin 99 - Australia
'06 Joseph Drouhin Pinot Laforet - France (2nd worse)
'06 3 Trees - Australia
'05 Domaine Confuron Cotetidot - France
'05 Peter Schandl - Austria (2nd best)
 
 
 
JAN. 27 - UNCORKED AT HAIR M!
 818 SW 1st Avenue
Portland, OR
www.hairmgrooming.com
7:00-9:00 pm - $15
This fun event was open to all women and men! Portland Uncorked's members and Hair M's clients gathered for a fun party at this swanky "spa for men" end enjoyed an array of Northwest wines, met some fun people, and checked out where men love to go to get their groomin! Complimentary services were offered for the first hour (Chair massages, hand massages, neck trims). Pictures to come soon!
Featured wineries were:
Kathken Vineyards
www.kathkenvineyards.com
Oak Knoll Winery
www.oakknollwinery.com
Olsen Family Vineyards/Viridian Wines
www.viridianwineblog.com
Big Smooth
www.bigsmoothwine.com
Jacob Williams Winery
www.JacobWilliamsWinery.com
Zanzibar Cellars
www.zanzibarcellars.com
JAN. 15 - OLD WINE NEW YEAR
 306 SE Ash St
Portland, OR
www.portlandwine.com
6:30-9:00 pm - $10
Why not bring out something old to start the new year?! 35 members brought a bottle of red wine - something at least 5 years old, to share with other enthusiasts at Portland's only climate controlled wine storage facility!
Portland Wine Storage provides climate control in a cave-like atmosphere. Their private cellar rooms and personal wine storage lockers are ideal for individual bottle racking as well as case storage for any size collection!
Nov. 9 - SOUTHERN OREGON GRAND TASTING
GENERAL PUBLIC TASTING
The Governor Hotel
614 SW 11th Ave., Portland, OR
4 - 7 p.m.
Tickets: $35
400 Enthusiasts experienced an exciting array of Southern Oregon wines which are now finally receiving national acclaim. Everyone typically thinks of Pinot Noir when they think about Oregon wines. That is starting to change as Southern Oregon is producing some outstanding wines and a wide range of varietals! The wines and winemakers of Umpqua and Rogue River Valleys came to us in Portland, and hundreds of Uncorked members saved the gas money from driving down south and checked out the best the area has to offer including: Albarino, Viognier, Pinot Gris, Roussanne, Syrah, Tempranillo, Zinfandel, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc and some eclectic red blends - all at The Governor Hotel in Portland. At only $35 it was a fantastic deal. Tickets included light appetizers by Jake's Grill and unlimited tastings of over 100 wines from 28 wineries. Bottle sales were also available at the event!
For pictures and more info on this event click here!
This is a Portland Uncorked Event, and you can get your membership cards at the event.
OCT. 8 - VINO VIXENS UNCORKED!
Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar
2929 SE Powell Blvd
- Portland, OR
www.portlandwinecellar.com
6:30-8:30 pm (SOLD OUT)
Our second event was a great opportunity to meet new friends and enjoy a delicious Australian wine flight at the very sexy Vino Vixens Wine Shop & Bar! Those who attended were given 10 tickets for tastes of seven Australian wines. Also included were cheeses trays and sample tastes of Brownies From Heaven and Lulu's Dark Chocolates for $15.
This fun, warm, eclectic space with cozy couches and funky old lighting from the 50’s also had a room with a big screen playing "Sideways" and another side room with free pool, foose ball, and darts! The event was limited to 75 Uncorked members.
Click here to see all of the pictures from this event!
 
 
 
SEPT. 18 - BLIND WINE TASTING
THIRST WINE BAR & BISTRO
0315 SW Montgomery St. - Portland, OR
www.thirstwinebar.com
6:30-8:30 pm (SOLD OUT)
Uncorked members brought a bottle of their favorite wine under $15 and entered it into a blind wine competition! All wines were wrapped with foil and numbered, and put into categories per varietal. The idea? Have fun trying to find wines you will love without knowing anything about them! And meet new friends who also love wine!
Thirst Wine Bar on Portland's Waterfront was a very sexy location for our first event, and provided a selection of artisan cheeses for members to enjoy! This event sold out in 3 days.
Click here to see more pictures from this event!
 
 
Stay tuned for photo galleries as we create many more great wine events in Portland!
Our sister wine club, Seattle
Uncorked was launched in January 2008 and already has over 5.000
members. There have been several great events over the past six
months, take a look at the gallery of recent
Seattle events.
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