Ken Wright Cellars

It appears Ken Wright is trading on their past reputation and not current quality. Pretentious and overpriced are the words I would use to describe the atmosphere and wine.

Don’t believe the bad reviews. I’ve been buying from Ken for 17 years. He is a pioneer in the area and the reason why Carlton is such a pretty town. 2 decades ago it was a backwater logging town. Ken loves the community and is very approachable. He will gladly recommend other great producers in the area and is a gracious host. He is a key reason the Willamette Valley has 6 sub-​AVAs and will be the first to admit that he is just expressing the place where his grapes grow.

Wife and I stopped by on 12−6−14. Not impressed. The place is very nice, the wine pourer were great, the other guests seemed enjoyable. That said, the wine was not very good and the cheese and crackers were stale. $ 20 for 5 bottle flight tasting!!! ridiculous. …
We decided to have a glass each. The gal that was pouring said $ 8 for my wife’s white and never said for my red… well it turned out to be $ 10 for the white and $ 15 for red. Could have bought a bottle for that. We will never go back to Ken Wright.

When you pour a 2007 that is past it’s prime in a tasting then you probably don’t know what you are doing. Worst stop of our entire trip. We were huge Ken Wright fans prior to this tasting and now will never buy another bottle. The employee conducting the tasting was not knowledgable, not personable and could careless if we enjoyed ourselves. Please don’t waste your time there are too many other choices that are outstanding.

We had a great experience here, recommended by our new friend at Noble Pig. The woman who served us was very knowledgeable about wine, and we enjoyed our time with her immensely. The grounds are beautiful (an old train station), and the inside is nicely appointed. Most of the wines you have to buy in futures, and while we are oenophiles, we are not yet into buying futures. But it’s always so much fun to taste exquisite wines that you would not otherwise get to. We did leave with two bottles of Tyre Evans, one of the brands he sells directly in bottles. A nice experience overall.

My wife and I discovered Ken Wright Cellars 2009 Pinot Noir on our honeymoon and, since then, we have been buying bottles, half cases and full cases every chance we get. Wonderful wines every time.
Their tasting room is in the small Yamhill County town of Carlton and is a good hour or more (depending on traffic) from Portland. Tasting is $ 20, which is steep, so maybe you should hit New Seasons or another store that sells Ken Wright wines and sink the tasting fee into a bottle of their wine instead.
Another option is purchasing online, which is a little cumbersome, but at least it is available.

Ken Wright is a force of winemaking in the Willamette. I’ve had several Ken Wrights that are superb.
That having been said … the woman who helped us here was beyond pretentious. She described every single one of the vineyard-​designated bottles EXACTLY the same way. $ 20 for a tasting? Are you joking?
What’s even funnier (sadder) is that the two vintages that were rated the highest were sold out. The other four were being poured here. They were all rather austere and tightly wound. The woman who was pouring described them as tannic.
Sorry, love, I don’t mind a bit of tannin in my cabs but in a pinot?
The last straw was hearing that the minimum purchase of the vineyard-​designated bottles was six. Six? You sell out of the two highly rated vintages and you try to stick it to your wine loving public by trying to «move» the designations that aren’t moving?
Puhlease. Never. Be. Back. There are so many other great places here that a) don’t have the attitude, b) don’t have the clear lack of knowledge to be pouring in the first place and c) don’t require a six bottle minimum.
Go check out Soter, White Rose or others that exude the Willamette aesthetic.
This place is more like some of the places that think very highly of themselves in Napa.

Although the wine was lovely — it did not warrant a $ 20 tasting fee and pretentious staff.
The entire time we were in here I wanted to leave, but spending $ 40 for the two of us made sure I stuck around!
The single vineyard Pinots were pleasurable, but forget about purchasing any — you can only purchase them by the ½ case. Additionally, they offer no benefits for ‘industry people’ as they apparently have an industry day at the winery.
My personal opinion? They are living off past accolades. There are so many other fantastic wineries in this area with warm staff & lovely wines. Don’t waste your time.