Portland Wine Merchants

Great shop with an interesting selection — picked up a nice Oregon Pinot.
Staff could have been more friendly and helpful though, and that’s the reason for 3 stars. I’m not a local, but i do come to Portland often. Nice shop — it would have been nice to be noticed and asked if I needed help… (There were some people in the shop who obviously were regulars, and the owner and staff were very attentive to them.)

My favorite wine shop in Portland. As other reviewers stated very good values and I have bought some good wine as low as 5 bucks a bottle to some wines at $ 40 a bottle.
Rory is very knowledgeable and I love getting his e-​mail and newsletters every month. For me a good wine shop will make recommendations based on what taste you like. However it is also about building a good relationship and giving the wine shop owner an opportunity to learn what you like. This will involve trying different wines multiple times and pretty soon if they are astute and Rory is, you will consistently get wine that you like from there.
Don’t forget to sign up for their e-​mail list and newsletter as there have some been some outstanding finds that sold out overnight and the only way I got my hands on a few bottles was I was on the e-​mail list and subscribe to the newsletter.
Be sure to stop by and check them out. With so many wine shops around there is a reason they have been around for 20 years. They do a great job.
Cheers!

I’ve been buying wines from Rory for over 15 years. He has some amazing finds at remarkable prices, and has an excellent palate so his recommendations have always been very spot on. We have had some duds but they have been very rare and the peak values have been superb. He mostly does Euro wines which have been selected from distributors who are offloading things that they feel might not sell at top price, because they have some age or are obscure. I rarely leave with less than a mixed case and rarely drink without feeling that I wish I’d bought a full case. Highly recommended by me, and by my wino aficionados.

Still, as always, my favorite little wine shop in Portland. No pretense or making you feel dumb because you’re not an expert… just great, well priced wines from a staff who obviously love what they do. Thanks, as always.

Yes you can find it here! And if by any chance they don’t carry it they can get it for you. Come for the tastings on Fridays and experience regional wine on weekly basis. Drink great wine and chat with others. The stories being told by the owner would certainly entertain you. The staff is friendly and extremely helpful. On a budget? They have great wine for you also.

OK OK… I had a great time the at their September 9TH! South America! tasting.
Other customers brought bread, cheese and salami. How great is that? We talked of cookery science, bear crafting and of course wine. I was truly in my element. No kids, husband or dog. ha ha
I walked out with abig box of wine to take home to our makeshift seller in the basement. We had finished the last bottle a month ago.
Now the wine selection is wide and varied. The owner Rory and the staff are great. They have a good sense of taste, truthfully friendly and knowledgeable.
Now there is an occasional dud I bring home but I never buy cooking wine either. Any dud is better than any «cooking» wine from the store by far. I have enjoyed most of what we have brought home and find them to be reasonably priced.

An excellent place to find some great deals on wine. The owner will make great buys and pass them along to the consumer. Just as with any wine shop it can be hit and miss, but the intention to give great values on great wine is there — and isn’t that what we’re all looking for.
Try their tastings on Friday. Best way to find something you know you’ll like.

Odd Bins kind of thing. Not that this a bad thing… you just have to do some sifting to separate the steals from the duds. Nice folks behind the counter.

Getting #Wine #drunk. Super yummy wine tasting options! As well as the best prices on great wine!

My boyfriend and I bought a case of wine here, all bottles under $ 20. Three of the bottles turned out to be corked. Three corked bottles out of twelve is really bad, guys. Eight of them were totally boring. One was fine. I expect a wine shop to pick out better wines – even the less expensive wines should have something going for them.
On the plus side, the store swapped all the corked bottles for new ones. But I don’t trust their inventory.

Our favorite wine shop in Portland. My wife and I prefer European wines and this has a fantastic selection for some of the best prices in town. We’ve had very pleasant interactions with both the owner and the blonde woman who works there. Not snooty or pretentious, just big fans of wine. The recommendations we’ve had have been superb and very reasonably priced. Love the monthly newsletter too.

We hit two other places looking for a good wine shop in Portland before landing at the wine merchants. Good selection, knowledgeable helpful owner, and a good variety from which to choose from. One can’t live without a proper place to get good wine. You Portlandians have a nice little place here.
For it’s size it covers a lot of ground.

For about a year now I have been going out on just about every Friday evening to wine tastings at the various wine shops around Portland. I believe I’ve hit them all just about.

I always have the best time at Portland Wine Merchants.
First off, Rory (the owner) selects 6 wines to taste as opposed to the usual 5 at other places. Secondly his tastings are always a reasonable $ 10 or $ 15 and you get to taste wines of various price points all the way up to $ 50/​bottle. In addition his pours are hands down the most generous of all the wine shops in town. Most pour about 40 – 50 mL per taste whereas Rory’s are easily 60−80mL.
Rory is always eager to talk wine and it’s always very non-​pretentious in there. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, versed or ignorant, he’s willing to talk shop with anyone. The atmosphere is always festive and welcoming.
I don’t think I have ever left one of his «6-​wine» tasting without actually trying at least 7 if not 8 or 9 different wines. Rory loves to come around with that extra bottle or two he just can’t wait to tell you about and let you try. Again, always super generous.
As for the wine shop itself — it’s a really interesting selection in there because the way he procures wine is different than every other shop in town. I don’t think he deals with a distributor at all… All his wines are special closeout finds he sourced out on his own. Some of em are so-​so but every once in a while you find something in there that just blows your mind. I once found a 14 year old Pomerol Bordeaux for $ 20. Unheard of! He goes and sources these deals out and passes the savings on to you. Just about every wine has a write up sheet attached to it so you know what to expect and he has a very thorough and informative monthly newsletter that lets you know what his favorite and best bargain wines in the shop are at the moment.
Do yourself a favor and join in the Friday fun at PWM! I think the tastings run from about 5:00 to 8:00 or so.

Nice shop with lots of variety, you can find things here you cannot find anywhere else. They’ve got some kind of secret wine handshake, allowing them to snatch up cases of vino that may be otherwise left to cellars in far away places.
Bigger than it looks from the outside (just off of Hawthorne), they also have tastings every Friday and other events periodically.
I scored a FINE bottle of Cava for around $ 12 and some Pinot G for $ 8, yesterday, and this is my go-​to shop for fancier wine for gifts, too. Staff are there to help if you need it… but don’t bug ya if you’re just browsing. Definitely speak up, though, if you need some help or have questions, they are super happy to talk shop.
My favorite part about this store are the funny, well-​written description blurbs that hang in front of every few bottles. Total crack up if you’ve got time to read a few. See you soon, wine people.

This place was a pretty decent wine shop. I should mention that I didn’t go in for a tasting (sadly) so I can’t rate them on that. But they have a lot of choices in the ten dollar range that are laid out fairly well, so that was much appreciated. Also appreciated was the description on each bottle. A lot of places will tell you about a few of their bottles (that they’re trying to sell) but will leave you guessing for the most part. That kills me. How the hell am I supposed to know what it tastes like by looking at the pretty picture on the bottle? The lady working there wasn’t overly helpful but she did help me decide between two bottles and she seemed pretty knowledgeable. So overall, I’d go back if I were in the area but not a place I’d drive 15 miles out of my way to get to. Oh… um…right…Portland…not a place I’d walk more than 20 minutes to get to… and since I’ve thoroughly blown my cover as *not a local*…if you do drive, this place is on a side street so it’s easier to find parking. I found a spot on the street right in front.

i always look forward to friday for PWM’s tastings; such fantastic people and great wines! the newsletter and monthly «sampler packs» are perfect for anyone interested in viticulture (like me!). i could spend all my discretionary income at PWM.

We went into this wine shop, which we’d been into several times before, and they were doing a wine tasting. Because no prices were posted, we assumed the wine tasting was free or at least a reasonable price. We tasted a variety of wines, one which actually tasted and smelled like poop. We left our wine glasses half empty and then found good-​sounding wines to purchase. When purchasing our wines we then discovered our disgusting tasting was $ 15 a person. The guy even replied «welcome to being 21» when we asked about the cost, in the most snarky of tones. When we called later to complain the owner was completely rude. Sadly we will not be back.
Edit — Delete