“People don’t often realize that we actually make wine in here,” says ENSO Winery’s owner and winemaker Ryan Sharp of his artfully industrial space that serves as both a chic wine bar and a full-production winemaking facility. And if you were just stopping by what you thought was a casual enoteca to sample one of ENSO’s dozen or so wines (or one from another featured local winemaker), you probably wouldn’t expect it either—unless you took some time to snoop around the rear barrel room. That’s where, during harvest season, you can find a wine-stained Sharp blending varietals and discovering the ensō (the Japanese word for circle which signifies an “expression of the moment”) within each one of his wines. And while the wine production may happen within the city, Sharp sources grapes from West Coast vineyards in three states and aims to make European-style wines that exhibit an individual ensō for every wine, expressing the growing place, climate and true varietal character of each grape. Producing “a lively balance of fruit, earth, acid, spice and texture,” according to Sharp, this moment is also captured on the exterior of the bottle where a singular representation of the traditional Japanese calligraphy symbol also lives on every vintage—ENSO’s analogous circular wine stains uniquely mark every expression contained within. “Let each wine be it's own expression of the moment... it's own ‘enso,’” Sharp says.
Laurie Lewis of Hip Chicks Do Wine was instrumental in organizing the PDX Urban Wineries association, which represents a range of winemakers making a variety of wines all right here within the city's limits. And now, the burgeoning number of urban wineries involved in the collaborative coalition has created the perfect way for you to tour their facilities and taste their wines. The PDX Urban Wineries Passport grants you a free tasting at wineries around town—including Hip Chicks, ENSO, Alchemy Wine Productions, and Seven Bridges as well as three different winemakers in the shared space of the Southeast Wine Collective (which features Helioterra Wines, Vincent Wine Company and Division Winemaking Company) and the appointment-only, garage-based operation of Jan-Marc Wine Cellars—plus discounts at local wine-oriented bars and restaurants. Want to get a group together and arrange your own tour? The passport also provides deals on transportation options like the Portland Short Bus and PDX Pedicab. So, buy your own passport ($20) and organize a tasting trip. Then, present your passport for complimentary sips and swirl, sniff and swallow—or spit, if you must. Like what you tried? Receive 10 percent off any bottle purchased that day. Then, repeat this process at your next urban winery stop.