King’s Raven Winery

The tastings were way too small. For a smaller winery in a house (!), the pours were not generous and did not inspire us to buy any bottles of wine to go, or to stay in and relax.
The service was very awkward. She was not friendly and she just wanted us out of the store. Even after telling her that we had a very special occasion after this tasting, she gave small pours and was not personable. We had to ask for more for the tastings and she acted very weird about it. Not a welcoming place.
Wine was mediocre. Don’t waste your time going here.

The new tasting room is gorgeous! I appreciate this family style vineyard and that they are one of the few Marechal Foch vineyards. The view is beautiful and I will recommend to friends for weddings.

Absolutely love the Pinot and Merchal Foch from Kings Raven. Awesome, full bodied wines that are hand crafted. Now that their wine is served at my favorite pizza joint int he world, (Mi Famiglia in dt Oregon City)… I can’t get enough. Rumour is that lots more distribution to coming fo this local winery.
Spladang!!!

I am no wine connoisseur.
And at first glance, neither is Darin Ingram, King’s Raven’s winemaker and estate events coordinator. He reminds me of my father… a quiet and humble man clad in a waterproof jacket and baseball cap. He runs his weekend wine tastings out of his garage, on a small fold-​out table with a plastic gingham-​print tablecloth.
He’s the opposite of pretentious, and it shows in his wines.
The estate is almost unnoticeable – off miles of curvy country backroads far away from the suburbs of Oregon City – marked only with a small wooden sign bearing their spread-​winged eagle crest.
It’s a muddy Sunday afternoon when we find the place, and about 15 minutes before they’re set to close tasting for the day. Several of the other wineries had closed early. Even though the grapes have not yet fully blossomed, the view is incredible. Hill after rolling hill of green, fragmented only by a few cows in a far-​off field that Darin is caring for. You can tell that it’s amazing during the summer.
And there he is… standing behind the little folding table, offering free shot-​sized samples of his favorite wines. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay… and then he really shows his expertise when he recounts the entire history of their organic Marechal Foch (a man who was pompous enough to think he could make wine better than everyone else… and he was right), the clear winner of that tasting [
. Indeed he exuded humility, but in order to create a memorable wine, you’ve got to know what you’re doing, and he definitely does.
We ended up staying several minutes after their official close, and he told us that during the summer they host events like family movie nights and weddings. He told us to come back when the weather’s nicer. He was sincere.
As we were about to leave, he began to wave goodbye, and then he quickly came to our car’s window. My cousin had purchased a bottle of the Marechal Foch, but Darin came to our car with a partially drunk corked-​up bottle of the same to tell us to take it, that we were the last of the tasters for that day, and that it was his gift to us. He reminded us to put it in the back of the car because of the open-​bottle laws.
It’s this sort of hospitality, humility, and kindness that makes you pray – even if business is slow – that people like Darin succeed.