Willamette Week
December 2, 2022
The spinoff is the company’s third metro-area location.
Willamette Valley Vineyards Happy Valley Photo courtesy of Willamette Valley Vineyards.
Nearly a year and a half after Willamette Valley Vineyards announced it would be making a big push to expand into the Portland metro area, the Turner-based business has opened its third outpost in Happy Valley.
The Tasting Room & Restaurant, located in Happy Valley Crossroads East at 13220 SE 172nd Ave., began serving customers Dec. 1.
In addition to Willamette Valley Vineyards’ wines, you can expect a rotating food pairing menu. Initial dishes include a Carmen Ranch beef short rib with braising jus and pommes purée, mushroom risotto, wild salmon in a choron sauce and a polenta succotash with winter herbs and vegetables. You can also request a pairings experience, which takes all of the guesswork out of it for anyone coming in as a wine novice. Willamette Valley Vineyards’ staff will bring a customized flight tailored to whatever food you order.
Like the company’s other restaurants, this one is decorated with warm wood paneling
and features booths made of wine barrels. There is also a carved granite boulder fire pit.
In addition to the Happy Valley location, Willamette Valley Vineyards opened restaurants in Vancouver, Wash., in August and Lake Oswego last April. Up next: a Bend site in late summer 2023.
“We’re grateful to our stockholders who have supported Willamette Valley Vineyards
and this year’s push to take the Oregon wine story to new neighborhoods,” founder and CEO Jim Bernau stated in a press release. “Many of these wine enthusiasts live in the communities where we’re expanding and are excited to see Willamette move closer to their homes.”
The Happy Valley business is open 11 am to 8 pm Wednesday through Sunday.
By: Andi Prewitt