Carlton Winemakers Studio

We have now been here twice in 3 years. Both times have been surprising In a very positive way. Every wine we tasted on both occasions we have both liked. Whites, reds or rose’s, we’ve liked them all.
Highly recommend making this a stop on any trip to the area.
Also had great time speaking with their manager Jason about their wines. Once he knew more about our preferences he was very open to our trying tastings not on the menu.
It was a win-​win for everyone. We found more wines to our liking and joined their wine club too! Can’t wait for those shipments.

Tasting room isn’t really a co-​op. They are buying the wine and reselling. Overpriced.

We were attracted to this tasting room out of many in the vicinity by the fact that there are several wineries represented whose wines can be tasted and purchased. A nice young couple runs it. I felt they were knowledgeable about the grapes, the terroir, and the small wineries they represent. The tasting fee seems high to me but they don’t own the product so I suppose this is the only source of revenue. Everyone charges these days but most rebate with purchase. None of the wines appealed to me so I didn’t purchase. The winery dog is great!

A must stop on your Willamette Valley wine tour! Stumbled upon the Studio by accident and was even more pleasantly surprised when we met one of the vineyard owners who shared her story while stopping off to check on her grapes.
The Studio brings a fresh take on wine that shakes old conventions, giving the Pinot grape the attention it deserves.

Bad attitude. Bad wine.
With limited time, we dropped into the studio to get a sampling of several wines from the region. They are basically a wine co-​op with many winemakers using the facility to make their wines. Lots of novice attempts, I didn’t have any good wine and definitely not any great.
The attitude was really bad. The guy pouring (owns the dog outside) gave teaspoon (I’m not exaggerating) pours, could not be bothered to answer any questions and was just generally very rude and dismissive.
Bad attitude, bad wine.

Welcoming wine tasting room where function and form are aligned in a cool LEED certified building that is universally accessible for all winos… ummm…oenophiles. Tasting room staff that are hands on expert in the wines they pour and who extend their passion for the artisan product. (A special nod to Carly who was our hostess.) Reasonable tasting fees (@$ 10-​$ 15) for short flights (three each) of your choice (Pinot Noir, Other Red, White) free poured (to allow enough to really assess the wines) in Riedel stemware. Places to sit at tasting bar or at standard height (hooray!!!) tables in the contemporary indoor space or, weather permitting, outside on a patio. (Where on the day of our visit we had a chance for greeting by a most enthusiastic adorable very young winery dog, Griff.)
We opted for the Other Red fight of three as one can get truly «Pinot Noired Out» in Willamette Valley tastings and our flight of three contained one PN and two others. From the flight we bought the 2009 Wahle Pinot Noir and an Andrew Rich second label blend which was mostly Syrah (one of my fav red varietals). We also purchased a 2011 Merriman Chenin Blanc since we are big fans of the «can’t get no respect» white varietal. Total bill for three bottles and including $ 10 tasting fee (not refunded with purchase) roughly $ 85.00.
This was the most enjoyable tasting experience of our afternoon in Carlton. Although big fans of Willamette Valley wines and of other winery towns in the Valley, we’ll admit we just do not «get» Carlton in general and it is virtually never on our rotation. But the Winemaker’s Studio makes a Carlton detour worth it.
THIS N THAT
1) ACCESSIBILITY: Unlike most tasting rooms in Carlton, this one is fully accessible from parking lot, through the door and throughout.
2) STUDIO CONCEPT: For those unfamiliar with a shared studio concept, this allows small producers who do not have winery production facilities to share resources and staff to make and bottle wines and represent them at the tasting room. Some folks who started out in this kind of facility have gone on to be big names in the Valley.
3) ANOTHER STUDIO: August Cellars is another independent winemaker’s studio set up. They followed the Carlton folks and borrowed ideas from them in the facility and format. If you’re in the Newberg area, August Cellars is also a fun stop.

Carlton Winemakers Studio was a great glimpse into what the Willamette Valley has to offer. Amazing green Leed Certification building. Carly helped us and was very thorough and fun. The great thing about this tasting room is that their offerings always vary and you get to try small batches from various vintners. Some of the biggest winemakers in the valley started here, such as Lynn penner-​ash, as this facility serves as an incubator for many people who are transitioning into having their own facilities. It seems that the community is so great there that some people might not even want to leave. This place is a must. Thanks Carly!

Loved this place due to the fact that you could sample many different wines. Jeff was most helpful and had much knowledge on each different winery. We learned a lot and found some new favorites to add to our list. This should be a must stop when in the Carlton area.

so much potential for this studio.
it failed me for a few reasons.
many different wines are sold here by several winemakers.
only few are showcased at a time on the tasting menu — and the tasting fees are $ 10 – 15 for 3 – 4 tastes.

I suspect there are some very good wines here because there were some professionals here with a table spread with glasses and spitoons. There are multiple tasting lists. We only tried a few reds. As is want to happen, the conversation stales a bit upon finding you are yet another visitor from the SF Bay. He made an effort, as did we, but it just didn’t come together. I guess that’s how I felt about my tastings too, but I could be conflating things.

We thought we’d like this place based on many of the reviews on this site and in travel magazines. Sadly, we did not. We can’t help but wonder if it’s the day we went. We were disappointed to find out that while there are up to 12 wineries represented there, when you have a tasting it only represented 3 on the day we went. We didn’t like any of our pours and were really disappointed. It’s one of the few wineries that we went to all weekend where we walked out without any bottle of wine. Perhaps it was that particular sampling of wineries?
The space was very modern and the tasting room was a large size to accomodate the larger weekend crowds. However, I’m not sure I’l return again. There are too many other, better tasting rooms in Carlton.

We visited this tasting room as part of a day of Willamette Valley tastings, and it was the most disappointing of our trip. We chose it because we had had a lovely glass of an Andrew Rich wine in a wine bar, and this is where you can taste his wines. Unfortunately, they only had a tiny selection of wines on to taste, from across their various producers, for a flat fee which was very high compared to pretty much everywhere else I visited (I think it was $ 15 for the four whites I tasted), the wines were not impressive, and the person pouring didn’t pay us any attention at all or tell us anything about the wines. The whole experience left me irritated and unimpressed.

This is one of those «hidden gems» of wine country you only hope to find. Based on a friend’s recommendation, we added this to our list of «must-​sees» on our Oregon wine tour this summer — and I’m thrilled we did.
The tasting room at CWS offers bottles from a number of very small wineries (when we were there, they represented 12 wineries), and tastings featuring even fewer sources. In this one stop, we tasted eight wines, including the expected Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Chardonnay, but also a Roussane, which was a nice departure from the other stops on our tour.
Of course, your mileage may vary; the advertised tasting flights ($ 10 – 15) offer three to four wines each. But I don’t think we did a tasting at any point along our tour that stuck to the advertised flight.
As an added bonus, the hostess served our tasting outdoors on the patio, taking advantage of a glorious, low-​80s, sunny summer day.
This is absolutely a place I will return to. No where else I’ve found in the area provides this kind of one-​stop variety and access to one-​of-​a-​kind small producers.

I have to take exception with a previoius review that gave CWS a one-​star review. My wife and I visited over the labor Day weekend and were served by the young lady described in said review and we found her both pleasant and knowledgeable. I should also point out that we are regular wine tasters and I have yet to visit a tasting room where they change glasses with every pour. that just wouldn’t be practicle. so I have to suggest that when you read Unilocal reviews, you try to consider the perspective of the poster.
That said, this is a great place if you’re looking for a variety of high quality «boutique» wines. The price range is good and the selection is great because there are wines that you probably will never see anywhere else. Instead of getting a lot of variety under one label, you get even more variety with equally divierse brands.
We are part time residents of the area and I can assure you that we’ll be making return visits… and we look forward to picking up shipments from this wine club and subsequent visits. I think we may have even already picked out a wine for Christmas dinner.
I would highly recommend Carlton Winemakers Studio to anyone who’s genuinely interested in wines and is looking for variety and hard-​to-​find gems.
Thanks Catherine!

The Studio winebar is one of our favorite hidden spots in the area with friendly staff and beautiful setting, yet its really just a little bit off the main street in Carleton. The Studio’s winemakers are an all-​star cast and they produce some great wines.
The building and tasting room are beautiful and modern, and the business model is fascinating. This is the first green cooperative winemaking facility, and many different winemakers use the facility for processing, allowing small producers to make high quality wines without intensive capital investment on equipment. As a result, you get to taste and purchase some lovely wines made by wine start-​ups in a friendly, modern setting.
There are many talented «graduates» of the Winemaker’s Studio that have gone on to open their own larger production facilities and tasting rooms: Penner– Ash, Soter Vineyards, etc. so this is an opportunity to taste innovative winemaking at the ground floor.

We had a great time at the Carlton Winemakers’ Studio. Sampled some great pinots, talked with the friendly staff… and of course went home with 1.5 cases of great Andrew Rich wine!

One of my favorite wineries in Oregon.
Beautiful drive out there from my house.
Pretty good service.
Decent prices.
And they have my Favorite wine there. :)

I noticed that many of the reviews are slightly older for the Studio, so, thought I’d add mine while I’m in a reviewing mood!
I’ve been going to the Carlton Winemaker’s Studio off and on since moving to Oregon in 2006, however, it wasn’t until this past year (2010) that I went several times throughout the year. For some reason driving down to wine country was the thing to do every 3 – 4 weeks from Spring 2010-​Winter 2010! Go figure ;).
I would guess that I have been to the Studio 5 – 6 times in the past 12 months – including to their wonderful tasting event on Thanksgiving weekend. I find many of the wines spectacular, and, the staff uniformly welcoming and enthusiastic.
Not only is the Studio winebar one of my favorites in the Carlton area, but the wines are outstanding. I’d say that the Retour, Brittan, and Ayoub Pinots are amazingly good. The Studio’s winemakers also produce some alluring whites as well.
The building and tasting room are modern, «green,» and pleasant. Parking and space are expansive. The Studio has recently (?) started crafting a few wines labeled with its own label – we tried the Red Blend – and they are good values and delicious.
If you are in the Carlton area tasting wine; don’t miss the studio.

I’ll admit up front that I’m biased. Particularly towards Domaine Meriwether wines… and while they are in the Carlton Winemakers Studio (they will move by harvest next year), I’m gonna give this place the full 5.0.
I get treated wonderfully there… the facilities are fun to tour, there are good wines there, and the people are pretty darn nice. Of course, top niceness award goes to Buzz, acting owner of DM — very generous, very kind, and very knowledgeable. I’ve learned more about sparkling wine from him than any other source. They make their sparkling in the Champage-​style — it takes 5 years for them to make their entry-​level sparkling… which is one of the best out there for the price (called Discovery — you can find it in most stores around Central OR). And they only get better from there (and of course, more pricey)…
Anyway, if you haven’t been to this place, you best get over there. Not too many places allow you to taste through so many good wines all in one location. Can’t complain about that!

This is a collective that is home to about 10 or so wineries that don’t have their own tasting room, for whatever reason. Andrew Rich Wines, former employee of the famous Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz, and Domaine Meriwether. who make some nice sparkling wine. Just to name a couple.
Although I wasn’t completely captivated by all of the wines I tasted, I really liked being able to try so many under one roof. I think they are providing a great service and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Easy to get to and open most of the year, as well.