Adelsheim Vineyard

Always one of my stops in wine country. It has a beautiful setting and the extremely educated staff are always very helpful. The wine is amazing and is always a show stopper.

Every time I go to Adelsheim I look forward to a few things, the tasting room staff, the incredible view and the latest sampling of their Pinots. My first visit was a spontaneous layover in my mission to find some wineries to join and I’m very glad to have taken that unplanned fork in the road.
In my opinion, Adelsheim wines exemplify Oregon Pinot Noirs. They are light with complex flavors that evolve over time, and depending on the conditions of the year and location of the vineyards, vary from vintage to vintage. This lends to cellaring and keeping wines around to be enjoyed years from purchase.
Which leads to me another point, they offer a magnum club in addition to the typical clubs; not many wineries in the Willamette Valley have this unique offering. It give me the opportunity to feel like a bonafide collector and pretend I know something about wine.
And ultimately, great wine and excellent perks mean nothing if the staff representing the winery aren’t friendly, welcoming and open to teaching you a little about their craft and product. This is where I get to personally thank Matt for wonderful experiences at Adelsheim and imparting some wine knowledge on this plebe.

After being impressed by an ’08 Adelsheim Willamette Valley from a local wine store, we made it a point to visit the winery in the fall of 2011 and enjoyed the many single vineyard Pinot’s so much, we decided to join Club Noir. If you enjoy good Oregon Pinot Noir, this is definitely a stop that needs to be on your next wine tour list. My wife has also found that all of their wines do not affect her in regards to migraines which she finds a lot of red wines can do (double bonus).
The winery facilities are impressive and expansive while nestling into the beautiful hillside. Their tasting room is larger than average, but is designed to facilitate the large number of visitors we have seen every time we have made it out to the winery. The staff is knowledgeable and exceptionally friendly (props to Matt, Elissa and both Katherine’s!).
The prices for their wines are above average, but so are their wines. Their base wine (Willamette Valley) can be found in a lot of wine stores and is a nice invitation to try the other rungs on their varietal ladder. Elizabeth’s Reserve is the only other production you will be able to find outside the vineyard. All the single vineyard Pinot’s (Bryan Creek, Boulder Bluff, Calkins Lane, Nicholas, Ribbon Springs, Temperance Hill, Zenith, Winderlea, and Quarter Mile Lane) are only available direct from the winery, a few of which are only available via club membership.
Besides the Noir’s, they also offer Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Rose and an Auxerrois (oaks-​er-​wah), all of which are great in their own regard.
If you find that you really like Adelsheim’s wines, taking part in one of their annual barrel tastings to get a sneak peak of the upcoming vintages is highly recommended. Included is a tour of the winery along with commentaries from one of their expert vintners.
If Adelsheim fits your palate, a couple other wineries you may enjoy are Bergstrom just up the street, Panther Creek in Dundee, and Archery Summit which is a bit to the south.

We went here on the recommendation of a couple friends of ours as we were visiting from the Midwest. This place was beautiful and we thought the wine was okay. However, it seemed pretty stuffy and «formal.» Just not our style. I’m not an expert, but in my opinion they seemed more geared to an upscale client base which isn’t us.

My husband and I visited Adelsheim Vineyard last spring as part of a wine tasting weekend with another couple. It was a last minute decision to stop by, but I had passed it while riding my bike and knew the Adelsheim’s were some of the original growers in the area. We had to stop by and taste it! We had a great experience in the tasting room. The person helping us (Sean?) stayed with us through the tasting and answered lots of questions. We thought the wines were great and bought some bottles. Fast forward to Christmas Eve a couple of nights ago and we opened a bottle of the 2009 Bryan Creek and it was… breathtaking on all accounts. A stunning bottle of wine and now I can’t wait to taste the others. Thinking about joining the wine club.
Yes, wines in the Willamette can be a bit spendy, but they are also high quality, and if you like Pinots you can’t go wrong here!

First: Adelsheim makes great wine that is very honest for the region: no over extraction in the Pinot or over Malo in the Chardonay. This review is not about the consistently excellent wine.
I do agree with the reviewers that find the tasting fee excessive (though not as excessive as the complete rip-​off up the road that is Ponzi). If the point of a winery tasting is to introduce customers to what is special about the wines, why not make it more accessible (this is particularly important in larger groups because folks can discuss and compare)? Why not consider these sorts of tastings a bit of a loss-​leader?
How about $ 10 per person that is refundable with any purchase, period? (like, I might add, the nearby Trisaetum)

This place has the best pinot in the Willamette Valley. Yes, it may be more pricey than other places for tastings, but you can split tastings, they’ll let you retry any wine on the tasting list, and it gets waived when you buy a certain amount in product, which I think is about $ 50 — that’s less than the price of one bottle of pinot — a bottle you can save for a special occasion. The pinots are medium-​full bodied and have such a complex taste. Elizabeth’s and Ribbon Springs were my faves (they are almost out of Ribbon Springs, so hurry fast and get it). Do I have the money to be buying $ 50+ bottles of wine all the time? No, I’m a student — but I appreciate good wine and will save bottles that I loved. If you want cheaper places (watered down pinot) — there are plenty of other places nearby. But you know what? Many of those places are $ 15+ for tasting fees with $ 40+ bottles.
Brought our out-​of-​town friends (our former Napa/​Sonoma wine tasting buddies when we lived in the Bay) here about a month ago and we tried this place for our first time. We were all blown away, and each bought a bottle (us couples split tastings so we paid no tasting fee). Fast forward to last weekend when we brought my fiancé’s parents, they were so blown away they joined the wine club!
Also, their chardonnay here is fantastic. I detest buttery chardonnay and cringe at the thought of it, and if you do too, try this chardonnay. Not one bit buttery.
If you appreciate quality, complex wine and are not afraid to buy a bottle when tasting (in order to have tasting fees waived), then come here. You will NOT regret it. I can’t wait to come again and see how their 2011s are doing. OH, and they were the only place we went to last weekend in the valley still pouring mainly 2010s — every other place we went to already had only their 2011s out. There’s another plus right there!
And in regards to the outdoor tasting area — we found out at our first visit it’s for wine club members only to do tastings out there, but they definitely don’t mind you going out there to take pictures.

I concur with others here: the wines are very good to excellent, and the staff (at least the guy we got) was nice enough.
But the pours are minuscule (truly, as in two sips; I have never seen such a small pour before), the atmosphere is wanting, the tasting fee is very high, and the bottle prices are insane; in my view 30% more than what I would be comfortable with based on the tasting. Their lower end, near $ 50 (!), does not justify its cost for what you get. Their high end, which is excellent and considered purchasing, is also over $ 100. I collect wine, so while I will spend that occasionally on a nice Barolo or Burgundy or Cote Rotie or whatever, that’s also what I’m comparing it too in terms of value, and it doesn’t quite get there.
So overall I’m glad that we got to experience their high end. That was interesting. But was that entire experience worth it? I don’t know. If I had more money, yes. But I don’t. So.

We visited the tasting room at Adelsheim as part of a day of Willamette Valley tastings, and although the tasting room was in quite a pretty setting, and the service friendly, we were disappointed by the tasting as we don’t drink red, and there were only two whites on to taste. I know Oregon is known for its pinot noir, which limited our winery options, so I chose where to visit carefully on the basis of their having enough whites, rosés and dessert wines on current release to make a visit worth our while. Adelsheim has six on its website, which I thought was plenty, but the person pouring told me they only do tastings of their more expensive, non-​supermarket wines, of which there are only two. The Caitlin’s Reserve Chardonnay was excellent, but beyond our price range, so we sadly left with nothing.

Wine tasting over Memorial weekend landed us here…
I drive by this winery everyday to and from work and finally stopped in here. Living in Oregon’s wine country is very nice, but I rarely get the opportunity to wine taste on weekends! Memorial weekend and Thanksgiving weekend are the 2 biggest tasting weekends out here… and they were busy for sure!
We were greeted right when you walk in the door and was handed our glass for tastings. We were escorted over to the Rose to start with, then off to the long bar in the tasting room for whites and reds. The staff is very informative on their wines, they know what they are selling for sure!
The tasting room could have a warmer feel to it. It’s very spacious with a beautiful wood bar, but almost to big. It kind of gives that sterile feel with the white walls and ceiling. The views are gorgeous though, and they do have a large deck, but there was not any seating out, maybe it was closed?
The tasting is priced high at $ 20 per person, but keep in mind this is high end wine with most wines in the $ 40-​$ 60 range. I probably would not buy their wine on a regular basis for this reason, but for special occasions, yes!

Hi Catherine D. -
Thanks for the follow up. I like seeing more business owners respond to Unilocal reviews.
I don’t have any concerns. You make nice wines. I don’t like posting negative reviews online and don’t very often. This one is all about value at your tasting room.
Your pricing structure when I visited was $ 120 for six of us to taste relatively tiny pours of five wines, with the fees not waived when I bought three bottles.
You’re on the highest of the high end of tasting fees of anywhere I’ve been in the world… only at very high end Napa wineries and once at a winery in Burgundy have I paid $ 100+ for a group of us to taste wines, and in each case the winery experience and quantity of wine being tasted justified the cost. Not so at Adelsheim.

Terrible place, they try to charge you $ 20 for a wine tasting! I asked about sitting out on the patio and they said you must buy a bottle and drink it there. Prices are absurd per bottle, about double to triple what you can find other wine for in the area. I walked out, what a waste of time!
Wayne Gorsek

A group of us went for a birthday gathering, over a dozen of us, flights all around, at $ 20 a pop, I bought 3 bottles, we brought the empty ones home making out bottle purchases at 15 bottles… we were not just loitering.
the staff was rude, unhelpful, overwhelmed, and RUDE! One woman working there must have forgotten her manners with her hairbrush… I was ashamed for her and her brash caddyness and lack of respect for herself and the group…
The wines were all overpriced for the level of acidity in them… Helvatia vinyard up 26 is farther out but MUCH better wine and service.
Again, I was VERY unhappy with the staff. I will overlook their wines on the shelf due to sour taste left in my mouth, pun intended.
they do have a beautiful vineyard though…

I’ve been a fan of Adelsheim Vineyard’s Pinot Noirs (and even 2^nd label, Wallace Brook) for a while, but it was fun to see their facility and taste Pinots not available in the market. Tasted four wines– Rose, Elizabeth’s Reserve PN, Temperance Hill and Bryan’s Creek. Everything I want out of Pinot Noirs! Just wish the tasting flight could have been longer. Went home with their Auxerroius for something new to taste and pronounce.

My first trip to Adelsheim was a nice experience. I wanted to take my friend out to some of the wineries along North Valley Road because there are a lot there that I have never been to. We were both impressed with the facility as we pulled into the parking lot. The tasting room was just as beautiful as the outside.
We started out with the ’09 Caitlin’s Reserve chardonnay. I don’t normally care for oaked chardonnays, but I’m starting to realize that many of Oregon’s winemakers can oak chardonnays tastefully — they don’t go overboard and make you think you’re drinking butter. I enjoyed this one so much I picked up a bottle to bring home.
Next on the flight was the newly released ’10 Willamette Valley Rose of Pinot Noir. It had only been bottled the weekend before. I think for me this one was just a bit too dry and acidic. Not sure if there was some bottle shock going on or if it’s just a different style than I’m used to. Or maybe it was the cool gray weather that put me off. I’ll have to give it another try this summer on a nicer day.
The flight ended with three ’08 pinots: Temperance Hill, Elizabeth’s Reserve, and Bryan Creek. All three were nice though a bit pricey for my budget right now.
I think it would be lovely to come back in the summer and enjoy a picnic on the patio overlooking the vineyard.

The higher end Pinots on the tasting list are absolutely fabulous, go straight to those wines if you are truly there to taste. The staff is wonderful, and very well educated on their wines.

This is a relatively big tasting room that appears to have been recently constructed. I’m not a fan of large tasting rooms with five or so people, but I’m a fan of their wines especially as a go-​to, lower priced everyday type of pinot. Anyway, yes the tasting is a bit expensive, and you need to buy an awful lot to get your fee waived, however the view outside is fantastic and our pourer not only made up a red-​only tasting for us, but really knew what he was talking about in regards to the wines and the Oregon wine history.

Beautiful tasting room with amazing wines and gracious staff. Just started pouring their 08 Pinots! They are beautiful with great concentration of fruit matched tannins and graceful acidity! Can’t wait to revisit these wines with a few more years of bottle aging! Time-​Bombs!!!

I really enjoyed this winery. There were 4 of us, and we shared two tastings. Started out with the pinot gris, which is crisp, with good acidity. The first pinot noir was a little light for my tastes, but the rest were delicious. They have a bunch of single estate pinots, each with unique characteristics. It’s one of the oldest wineries in Oregon, with some of the vines up to almost 50 years old. I would recommend a visit!
It’s not on the tasting menu, but ask to try the Auxerrois-it’s a white varietal that is native to Alsace, France. It’s aromatic and crisp-​delicious with cheese! We also tried the dessert wine, made from pinot noir grapes, and loved that too.

I tried all their reds but I find it a waste of my time to review them all, they all basically fall flat, with too much alcohol, too much acidity and bitterness. No love in this wine. I would not want a bottle, but I also have had a lot worse.