Seven of Hearts Wine

I am no wine connoisseur, in fact, I will embarrassingly admit that there are not many wines that I actually enjoy. That having been said, I do enjoy a good wine tasting where I can casually sip on wines with my girlfriends, and learn a good amount of history of where and how this wine came to be. I don’t know about you, but if there is a story attached to what I consume, somehow not only do I have a better appreciation for it but it ends up tasting all the better as well!
We got to try 7 different wines in the wine tasting flight at Seven of Hearts, and my two favorite were the Sauvignon Blanc and the dessert Pinot. The pours were generous and host friendly. Little known trivia: the labels on the Seven of Hearts bottles are pictures of the owners personal cats. Seven of Hearts tasting room is a must when in Carlton.

Such a great experience! You get to create your own flight (some with chocolate!) in a relaxed environment with friendly service. I’ll be recommending this place to my friends for sure!

Very good wines here at great prices. We were lucky enough to have Byron pour for us, so we got quite the education on the process of developing each of the wines. Quite the selection of wines here, and a generous number of wines in the tasting flight. We left with a half-​dozen bottles or so and will be returning here the next time we’re in town. I will say that their estate selection is a fantastic Pinot for the price. I don’t think I’ve tasted another Pinot as good for that price.

Stopped by on our drive through the Oregon winery trail. I had read about their great Unilocal reviews, and figured that the wine must be pretty special.
Once again, the Unilocal reviewers got it right! The minute we walked through the doors, the staff was very friendly and had all of the wines lined up, ready for us to try!
I can’t remember exactly which wines we bought, but I know we got several bottles. The wines were very reasonable in price, and very tasty!
The tasting room was also very clean, organized and spacious. Everything about this winery was spectacular! Highly recommended!

Great selection of wine. The pairings were very good. The servers were very knowledgeable and friendly. We spent almost 2 hours sipping and talking and learning. Recommend this to anyone visiting Carlton. A+++

oh Seven of Hearts how do I love thee?
Let me start by saying that we «discovered» Seven of hearts 4 years ago… and I haven’t been able to get them out of my mind since. Hubby and I decided to return to Oregon for our anniversary and Seven was number 1 on our list. but we were disheartened by the fact that the days we were going to be in the area they would be closed… I email Byron Dooley (winemaker extraodinare-​owner) and no unfortunately an appointment could not be made since his wife (chocolate maker extraordinare) shares the space to make her creations. But somehow my husbands italian race car driving skills came in handy… we made it by 4:30 (they close at 5) and we incredibly gracious to let us stay and taste away.
I love that Mr. Dooley knows and loves his science and of course his grapes. This is so much more than an Oregon winery, its like Europe our your back door. The European verticals are amazing! I can’t say enough about the Roussean the color is a golden straw and the aromas are delicate. once you taste the first sip its a party, well rounded mouth and a nice lingering finish. I love my dry rose… not your Mother’s rose… think of Paris in summer. hot…and yet you are not a white wine fan? go rose… Mr. Dooley has some amazing roses, I was transported to the south of France.
Wait.I almost forgot the Pinots… and the Cab Franc… yes cab franc. not many winemakers can pull off a beautiful cab franc like this. Rich, full bodies, just the right amount of tannins, to be perfect with a meal.
Emily was pouring for us and was happy to discuss any and everything wine. We loved the special attention and asked tons of questions. All were either answered by Emily or Mr. Dooley. I love that although we showed up so late in the day, they were happy to pour and talk and never rushed. We finished our tasting with joining the wine club… no we are NOT local… never were we pressured to buy or join. It was a great way to jump into our anniversary week in Oregon.

We met Byron, the winemaker, at a restaurant in McMinnville. What a great guy!
We tried his 2007 Pinot Noir at dinner and it was super awesome. Unfortunately we flew out the next am and couldn’t go by the tasting room. Next visit for sure!

This place is amazing! I love their whites, I love their blushes even, and of course I love their Pinot noirs. And I love both labels, seven of hearts and luminous hills. I love that one of my college professor’s wife traded her skill as an artist of painting portraits of cats for wine. I love that concept of trading for stuff. I love everything about this place. I also love the partnership with honest chocolates and that they do a pairing in the tasting flight and that you can buy the chocolates in-​shop right then and there (and honest chocolates just got their commercial scale license so they are permitted to sell one piece of chocolate by weight now, instead of needing to buy a half pound of the same kind! That is a super exciting update. Definitely check out honest chocolates!). And, the reason why my hubby and I even found out about this winery is that he got 2^nd place in the wine country half marathon last year and his prize was a bottle of GSM. I highly recommend the GSM, it is a great bottle of wine to drink and share. All their wines are top shelf though, so it’s hard to compare! After doing a tasting flight here, you will notice that there is something unique about this winery, there is nothing like it in the Carlton area or even in Oregon. Something about 7 of Hearts is not like the others, in a very good way. We have bought their GSM, Cab Franc, Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir.
Seven of Hearts is definitely in my top 5 favorite wineries in all time, and that is saying a lot basically the taste of the wine has a lot of weight for this place that makes it better than the rest. Because, it is just a true «tasting room» so the scenery is not as great as others as far as wineries/​vineyards go. Their wines make up for it. And, hopefully during your visit they will have an Ice Wine or two open to taste during your flight, those are both really yummy!

Byron, the winemaker/​owner is a great guy who makes sure that everyone is having a great time. Whenever I come to Carlton, I like to bring people here for a great tasting at a great price. The space is also shared with Honest Chocolates which makes for a great place to stop afterwards for some beautifully made chocolates. Seven of Hearts also goes a joint sweet wine and chocolate tasting at the end that is phenomenal. Make sure to stop by and say hi to Byron.

I love wine and wine related things. Wine tasting is one of those things I find that I can’t do too often, because why go to one winery when you can go to five. This is especially true in Oregon.
JAM and I are members at a couple of wineries in the Dundee area, so we rarely venture beyond when we are out and about. I have repeatedly heard great things about Seven of Hearts, so in a rare day off together we committed to not only wine taste, but wine taste outside of our normal box. Seven of Hearts was our first stop.
Carlton is adorable, and the amount of wine shops located on the only street in town is pretty astounding. On this particular President’s Day, many of the shops were closed which was disappointing. Thank the lawd this was not one of them. The tasting room director led us on a unique flight tour partly because we were the only ones in there, and partly because he had a lot of random open bottles leftover from the weekend. We were okay with it, and we were able to try upwards of 11 varieties of wines from both brands that were paired with some truly delicious chocolate.
I really appreciate the winemaker’s commitment to Old World winemaking and varietals, and it makes for a fun experience for your taste buds. There is some truly cool things going on in this little shop; go check them out. We ended up buying four bottles, and are going to join their wine club in the next few months. Their club is completely different than any other I’ve seen because they let you choose which bottles you want in your shipment. So cool.

What a great little place to pop into on a day in wine country.
I really appreciated each of the wines we sampled, particularly the pinot. The winemaker was friendly and informative and obviously loved talking about his wine! After our stop, I’ve loved seeing bottles of Seven of Hearts in local Portland restaurants as well. We walked away with one of their white wines that was extremely crisp and dry (which I’m always looking for in a pinot gris).
AND BONUS: They have a chocolatier in the corner of the room. Hint: buy and chomp the spicy peanut butter cup. It’s absolutely amazing.

A fun tasting room. Wines are from Oregon and Washington, so you get a full blend. The Pinot Port was quite nice and a good surprise. The host knew the wines inside and out, and even served chocolates paired with the desert wine.
But, the chocolate shop, included in the tasting space, is only open certain days of the week. When we were there during a weekday, we could sample one of the chocolates, but could not purchase. The business model is unusual and probably needs rethinking. (Especially since we were looking at the display cases, full of chocolate, yet covered with sheets, yet closed.)

As I got out of the car, I turned to husband and said «I have no idea where we are right now». He said «Um, Seven of Hearts, remember?» Me: «Yeah, but where ARE we?!». I don’t know that I ever would have found myself in Carlton for any other reason, but Seven of Hearts is worth the trek!
I’ll cut to the chase: wine and chocolate pairings. Affordable. Quality wine. That’s all you need to know.
There were 3 choices of tastings when we visited. Husband and I both did the Seven Flight — 7 wines for $ 10, with the last wine paired with a smokey ganache made by Honest Chocolates. Seven samples for $ 10? Wow. After that, as if I hadn’t had enough, I did the dessert tasting, which was two sweet wines each paired with a different chocolate for $ 5. Hooooooly wine and chocolate. It was fabulous. Flight fees are waived with bottle purchase, and if you’re afraid of that many wines at once, never fear: you can share. I meant to ask, but I think the owner was the one giving our tasting. He was wonderful. It was our 7^th wedding anniversary (hence why we picked Seven of Hearts!), and he made it a very special visit. It was also Labor Day weekend, so it got very busy, but the staff handled it so well. They were knowledgeable and took care of every guest.
Their wines were delicious, it was very hard to narrow down to my favorite! In the end, we left with a bottle 2011 Chatte d’Avignon GSM and 2012 Ice Princess Sauvignon Blanc Sweet Wine. I also left with $ 14 worth of chocolate :)
I will most definitely come visit again, and you should too!

FUN experience, you must go to Carlton and visit the amazing tasting rooms, especially this one. Rachel was our tasting hostess, and we also met the wine maker. She was so much fun, and knew a lot about the wines. We did both the regular tasting, and the dessert tasting with the chocolates. The wines are beautiful, the tasting room is beautiful, it was a great time. We were sad to leave, but other wine tasting rooms needed out love, too.

awesome tasting room with great wines and great staff!
many varieties are low production and they have quite a few they sample.
buy any bottle and the tasting fee is waived too!

GO HERE! What a hidden gem!!! We had never heard of this shop until our wine tour guide suggested it when we told her we were going to stop in Carlton to hit tasting rooms. It could be easy to be overwhelmed visiting Carlton because there are so many tasting rooms and so little time. So, if you do have time make sure you stop here.
We loved all the wines we tasted. Lena, who helped pour our wines, was so knowledgeable, friendly and gregarious. Her personality really makes the visit so welcoming. You can absolutely tell that she loves what she does and working for this winery.
One of the best parts is the chocolate pairings at the end. They are made by his wife, owner of Honest Chocolates, in the back of the tasting room. We ended up buying chocolate because they were irristible and paired so well with the wines.
We walked out with 6 bottles! I don’t think we bought that much wine at any other winery and all were priced reasonably. The GSM was one of our favorite wines and one of the most unique wines we tasted all weekend.

I freaking LOVE this winery. Byron Dooley is one of the most prolific winemakers I’ve been fortunate enough to meet. He makes over 10 different types of wines, and to my delight, about 4 – 5 different Pinot Noirs.
His pinot ranges from refined and elegant to big and bold (cali style) depending on vineyard and vintage.
He’s the first winemaker to show me that there really isn’t a correlation between wine color and depth of flavor, as his wines are almost see through, yet full in flavor.
Try his tasting flight, which comes with chocolates made by his wife of Honest Chocolates… you’ll have a great time, learn a lot about wine while drinking some of Oregon’s best.
Tell him I sent you and maybe he’ll pull out a bottle of some secret side project he’s been working on!

Pinot pinot pinot.
Oh and Donno — bumped into Don B. of all places!
Turns out these folks were just turning out some new wine this day. Got lucky there!
The owner was just so patient, knowledgeable, and customer service focused.
He cooks up a good batch of grapes too.
They’ve got chocolate in the corner of the shop and it smells divine. I could move in.

You truly can get chocolate wasted here!
Seven of Hearts offers an unprecedented 10 course wine flight that includes 2 flights of chocolate (they share the space with Honest Chocolates) for only $ 10. You also have the option of $ 1 per taste. The price coupled with a staggering 10 flights is unheard of here, Napa, Sonoma… anywhere! If you have been tasting all day, I recommend that you split the massive flight with your significant other.
We were lucky enough to be served by the winemaker, Byron. He was so nice as he described the wine and which parts of his vineyard that the grapes were grown. His profession for the craft that he loves is infectious. We were having such a great time, our 10 flight tasting spiraled out of control to 13.
As any top notch winery should do, Seven of Hearts waives their absurdly affordable tasting fee with ANY purchase. No minimums like the other desperate wineries. Byron wants you to love his wine waiving and the tasting fee is proof positive. I always support the no minimum purchase taste waiving policy. I bought two wines, a dessert Pinot for the wife and a bottle of Roussanne (in limited supply) for me.
Carlton’s Main Street is overflowing with wine tasting rooms. Seven of Hearts stands above the rest in value, offering, friendliness, and chocolate.

Seven of Hearts/​Luminous Hills has been one of this year’s awesome big wine finds for me. I was directed to their booth at Indie Wine Fest earlier in the year, and at the time I was very impressed. I was also a few sheets to the wind and my palate was wrecked. So I was crazy excited to randomly run across their tasting room in downtown Carlton while out tasting in the valley. So stoked, in fact, that I ditched the rest of my party (who were on their way to get some food) to do a tasting here.
And you know what? Regardless of how shot my palate may have been by the end of Indie, I found that I remembered every nuance of these fantastic wines (in my now much more sober state) and confirmed that I liked them just as much. They’re a little out of my price range to be buying multiple bottles (the Lux and Astra from Luminous Hills run in the $ 35 range) but the French line — Seven of Hearts — provides a slightly more affordable set of options in the Syrah/​Granache mix as well as the individual varietal components.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way questioning the value of these wines, but I don’t make enough to be drinking a large quantity of $ 35/​bottle vin.
Price aside, the Seven of Hearts all contain a nice mix of flavors you’d be likely to find in a nice set of French offerings. Pepper, leather, tobacco, minerals, and some decent tannins. The Luminous Hills, in contrast, offer up a sexy, sultry pinot that is flush with minerality. Seriously tasty.
As far as the tasting experience itself, you’ll get plenty of bang for your buck — with almost more wines than you’ll want to taste through — with numerous options. These guys are making so many different wines it’s not even funny. And some of the tastings can be paired with chocolate.
This is a must stop when you’re in the Carlton area.