A new winery tasting room and full-service restaurant, Willamette Valley Vineyards, is coming to the Waterfront Vancouver.
The winery will be located in The Don building, the western of the two Waterfront Vancouver buildings nearest the Grant Street Pier. It will be on the second story, near Barlow’s Public House, and offer patio dining with a view of the river.
The new location is part of a four-location expansion from Willamette Valley Vineyards, headquartered in Turner, Ore. The Winery is a publicly traded company, trading under the symbol WVVI on the NASDAQ.
“All will have full dining service to complement the tasting of our wines, providing Owners and Wine Club Members a convenient place to entertain their family and friends,” according to a company newsletter.
Other locations include Lake Oswego, Bend and Happy Valley, although the exact addresses are not yet available. The first of the four is expected to open late this year, according to a statement from the company, although it didn’t clarify which one. The winery restaurants will build on the company’s prototype in Folsom, Calif., according to the newsletter.
Mandy Morgan, marketing manager, said in about two months, the winery will have more information to share, including a target opening date and a rendering of the space, but she did not provide more details to The Columbian.
Willamette Valley Vineyards Founder and CEO Jim Bernau got into winemaking from his father, an attorney who was hired by a winemaker to secure one of the first winery licenses in Oregon “since Prohibition,” according to the winery’s website.
Bernau’s father allowed him, as a kid, to try small tastes of his clients’ wine, and it sparked an interest in the youngster. At age 10, Bernau researched fermentation in an encyclopedia and used his mother’s frozen grape juice to make his own wine, according to the website.
Bernau studied winemaking at UC Davis and Beaune, France. He founded Willamette Valley Vineyards in 1983, according to the company’s website. The winery currently has one tasting room at 8800 Enchanted Way S.E. Turner, Ore., and about 500 acres of vineyards.
The new Willamette Valley Vineyards will join the Waterfront Vancouver’s six tasting rooms currently open and another coming soon, Evoke Winery, set to be in the Kirkland Tower.
