Oregon
Wine industry faces decreasing demand across Oregon
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – It is peak harvest season for vineyards in the Willamette Valley but the wine industry is facing many challenges this year, including wine sales being down across the board. Now, some wineries are making adjustments.
According to the Oregon Wine Board, vineyards planted more than 2,000 more acres of grapes than they did in the previous year. But they also pointed out wine sales have consistently gone down since 2019. Now wineries have had to get creative on how they make money.
“It’s hard,” Kim Kolb the director of operations at Oak Knoll Winery said, “it’s really hard to try and get people to come out, I mean there were only two people who have been in here today.”
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While some days have been slower than others at the Oak Knoll Winery in Hillsboro, Kolb says they have started taking different approaches in attracting folks to their tasting room.
“We do a lot of things here at the winery, we do events, we are doing anything we can to bring people in the door and do wine sales,” Kolb said.
Oak Knoll is one of Oregon’s oldest wineries, opening back in 1970. Kolb said over the years the way people enjoy wine has changed and they are trying to keep up.
“When we do events we sell out, when we do concerts we sell out, we do bingo and wine, we sell out, so people are coming to the events. It’s more the wine tastings they are not doing anymore. They are just looking for something fun to do,” Kolb said.
Even by adding concerts and bingo nights to bring in more customers, they have had to make some major cuts in production.
“This year we cut our pinot gris, we’ve cut our Niagara production, we are looking to continue to cut that we have cut production way back,” Kolb explained, “That Niagara production is going to have to go down because we are not selling 34,000 cases a year now we are down to like 10,000.”
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Kolb says their whole sale is what has gone down the most and that could be due to the market being over-saturated.
“It’s hard to get the wine in the market because there are so many wineries out there, so everyone is feeling it. So wine sales are not as good anymore so we try to get people out here and even that is a little bit down as well so we would like to see more.” Kolb said.
Just 20 years ago there were only 215 wineries in the state, now there are more than 1,200. So now with lower sales and tasting rooms not being as busy, Kolb has also had to cut back on staff.
“During summer we usually have 2 or 3 people working the tasting room. But, we have been doing one person and a half shift this summer.” Kolb said. “I think all tasting rooms are feeling it, they are just not busy like they used to be which is hurting.”
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The good times keep on rolling for the Oregon Ducks in the recruiting world. Dan Lanning and the Ducks scored a massive commitment from five-star quarterback Will Mencl out of Chandler, Arizona.
Oregon had been rumored to be leading the race for Mencl’s services for months, but the No. 1 quarterback in the country, per Rivals, cleared the air and committed to the Ducks on Wednesday evening. Mencl chose the Ducks over Auburn and Penn State, both of which battled hard for him down the stretch.
However, Mencl has been connected to Oregon for a long time. While he was offered last fall before breaking out in his junior season, Mencl has been a fan of the program long before he popped up on the Ducks’ recruiting radar. In a post shared by Rivals recruiting expert Steve Wiltfong, Mencl was announced as a quarterback for the Ducks when he was a kid at the 2019 NFL Draft fan experience in 2019.
Now, Mencl is ready to don the green and yellow for real and make his childhood dreams come true. The Ducks have made a point to get Mencl on campus as often as possible and as recently as last week. The continued connection between both sides is ultimately what made the decision easy for the nation’s top passer. Mencl said he told Lanning and the Oregon staff about his decision on Sunday.
“The biggest thing was the relationship with the staff,” Mencl said after committing. “I feel like that continued to grow over time, especially when I first got there last spring. Being able to sit down with Coach Koa, really being an underlooked guy at that time, and kind of blowing up my junior season. And then, the path to the NFL. You can’t deny what they do with quarterbacks and the type of scheme they run. I felt like that was the best fit for me and my family to get to the next level.”
Koa Ka’ai, Oregon’s new quarterback coach, made waves earlier in the offseason after his recruiting test about ice cream flavors went viral, but that doesn’t appear to have scared Mencl off. In fact, the two have a close connection that Oregon hopes will translate to success on the field in the near future.
“My relationship with Coach Koa, I feel like that is super, super strong,” Mencl told Rivals. “I’ve had a lot of discussions with Coach Lanning about the culture there and how they’re going to continue to sustain greatness throughout the program.”
Mencl exploded onto the national recruiting scene with a massive junior season for Chandler. He completed more than 70% of his passes for 3,815 yards and 33 touchdowns against five interceptions in his junior season, leading Chandler to a state title berth. He also rushed for 741 yards and an additional 17 touchdowns.
The Ducks expect to have some competition for Mencl to compete with when he joins the team for the 2027 season, with Dylan Raiola and Akili Smith Jr. already on the roster and competing for a role as the backup. Oregon has gone to the transfer portal as well in recent seasons, finding success with Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and now Dante Moore.
Oregon has recruited well at quarterback in the past, establishing an NFL pedigree that attracted Mencl. Maybe he will be the one to buck the trend and give the Ducks a true, homegrown product under center.
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‘Pour in the largest glass you can find while slow dancing in your socks,’ a Wine Enthusiast contributor said of an Oregon wine
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Wine Enthusiast released a list of the top 40 sparkling wines around the world in 2026 – highlighting two bottles of bubbly from Oregon.
“While it can seem like you need a fortune to enjoy high quality sparkling wine, you honestly don’t. Excellent affordable bubbles are being produced around the world, often in places you might not expect. Each of the selections on our inaugural Top 40 Sparkling Wines list delivers personality, freshness, and celebration for under $75,” Wine Enthusiast wrote.
Wine Enthusiast divided its list into separate sparkling categories including, Champagne, Italian Bollicine, American sparkling and bottles $25 and under.
Snagging a spot on the American sparkling list: Corollary Wines in McMinnville.
Corollarly’s 2021 Momtazi Carbonic Rosé Pinot Noir scored 96 points from Wine Enthusiast.
“This is a Peter Max print of a wine, with vivid aromas and flavors to match the wine’s electric Kool-Aid color. It is filled to the brim with aromas and flavors of macerated strawberries, candied rose petals, apricots, and a bitter note similar to watermelon rind. Pour in the largest glass you can find while slow dancing in your socks,” wrote Wine Enthusiast contributor Michael Alberty.
The second Oregon winery to earn a spot on the list: Lytle-Barnett in Dundee.
Wine Enthusiast also gave Lytle-Barnett’s 2018 Brut Rosé Pinot Noir Chardonnay 96 points.
“Bubbles as persistent as an eight-year-old with a question deliver aromas of dried rose petals, macerated strawberries, and a touch of fresh hay and talc. This 70/30 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blend is packed with flavors of lemon zest, Honeycrisp apple slices drizzled in caramel, and a dollop of raspberry,” Alberty wrote.
The nods to Corollary and Lytle-Barnett come as the wineries recently helped launch Method Oregon, a nonprofit made up of 50 Oregon wineries aiming to turn Oregon into a global sparkling wine destination.
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