The Pines 1852

Best, best, best wine in Hood River and the NW! We’re Copper Club Members for good reason. They story of the Pines 1852 is amazing and we’ve yet to have a bad bottle! The Winemakee/​Vintner is an amazing guy who enjoys telling you fun stories about the Pines 1952 journey. You haven’t drank wine until you’ve drank the Pines 1852. If we lived closer we’d be there weekly.

The Pines was one of the stops on our wine tasting tour, but we had a tough time enjoying the place and the wine because we were so distracted by the hoards of fruit flies attacking us! It literally felt like there were thousands of them milling around. They were getting in our faces, dive bombing our wine, and just being a nuisance. We tried moving tables to no avail, and ended up using plastic maps as fans to keep the annoying buggers away. The poor piddly little fruit fly wings were no match against the winds we were creating!
Unfortunately, the fruit flies killed the vibe, and I don’t remember much about the wine (other than the tasting pours were generous), because I was too busy keeping them away from my face.

We stopped by here to see what offerings they had. Since it was a super hot day, we decided to taste some whites and get a glass and relax.
The white blend was refreshing, light, crisp with a hint of pears and apples. Not too minerally and great on a hot day.
The Chardonnay was very smooth, just slightly oaky, and had a nice buttery finish.
We also had a taste of the Viognier which I wasn’t too fond of. It had a mineral after taste and not a smooth finish.
I did have a slight qualm with the lady that was pouring. I had tasted the Viognier and let her know that it wasn’t for me and that I was going to have a glass of the Chardonnay. She ended up pouring the chardonnay into the glass with the Viognier in it still. I let her know this, and she was dismissive about it and said «there was just a little in there. I will just give you a little more of the chardonnay to drown it out». Humm… my husband and I have done a lot of wine tastings, and I really did not like how she just dismissed my statement.
Oh well, I let it go and drank the chardonnay anyway. It did turn me off into tasting more or even buying a bottle of wine.

The Pines 1852 is a nice quiet place to enjoy a glass or two of some exceptional wine.

Great wines and the friendly and knowledgeable. Great selection of whites and reds. They have a menu of wines from various regions which gives many different variations to their list.

Excellent, knowledgable and entertaining hostess. Their wines are fantastic and reasonably priced. A lot of bang for the buck here. They will credit back your tasting fee if you purchase a bottle. We bought the Zin, the Cab and the Viognier. Can’t go wrong with any of their wines.

Love love love these wines and this tasting room! What a super fun visit with knowledgable staff and incredible wines. Can’t wait to go back!

Good wines. My husband loved it so much that he became a member.

Happy hour 4−6pm thurs and fri
The Pines has great wines. We had odd service — not worth explaining. They have a private tasting room as well. If you want a more private experience and learn more about the wine you can get a group together and also get some more exclusive tastings.
Bring your wallet!

Best wines in The Columbia Valley. Central location to of the Hood River eats. Try the Old Vine. Buy a case (or two) of the Pinot Gris…

Out of their well-​run and comfortable tasting room in Hood River, The Pines serves an impressive range of wines. Quality is good to very good overall, with the Old Vine Zinfandel being a particular standout.

My husband’s friend Jimmy, who owns a restaurant in the area, introduced me to The Pines. Their Big Red was the first one I tasted and I loved it, that was three years ago. I’ve been coming to the tasting room a few times since then. I am sad to see they are moving to a smaller space. RIght now they are in a big area, where they have a gallery and they host bands on Thursdays and Fridays. As of next week, they are going to just focus on the wine tasting, which I thing is fair for them. The wines are really great. I ended up getting a bottle of their Pinot Gris and of their Syrah. I had no more space for another bottle of Big Red, next year I guess.

This place is known for its Old Vine Zinfandel, apparently planted by an Italian immigrant, and found overgrown and untended by proprietor Lonnie Wright. Mr Wright nursed the vines back into good condition, and makes stellar wines with them now. The tasting room, housed in an art gallery in downtown Hood River is well done. It’s nice to be able to walk around and enjoy the art by locals. Great events, and stand up comedy nights on weeknights. Love that!

the Old Vine Zin is the best wine I’ve had in my trips to Hood River. yes, it’s a bit more expensive but life is too short to drink cheap bad wine.

I haven’t been to the Pines in years because I remember not liking their wines at all the last time I went tasting there. Glad I gave it a second chance. I ended up liking two of the reds they poured and left with one bottle. The lady there was super nice and friendly. The only reason it’s 3 stars is because of the atmosphere. The art gallery seems out of place and not very inviting. Also, other tasters brought their kids who were running around like crazy heathens. Not exactly a pleasant experience.

The Pines 1852 owner and vintner, Lonnie Wright, first came to The Pines vineyard in 1982 for the Old Vine Zinfandel. At that time, this century old vineyard was abandoned 20 years previously and struggling for survival. These vines had a long journey ahead to bear a crop. Since then, Wright started his own vineyard management company and continued expanding The Pines Estate Vineyard by adding another zinfandel block with starts off the old vine zin. Later, he added merlot and syrah.
Their tasting room seems to be a combination tasting room/​art gallery. The wine bar itself has great seating, and the tasting ($ 5), ranging from pinot gris to a 100-​year Old Vine Zinfandel.
The man working the counter was super friendly and eager to talk about the wines. The wines were very tasty, and we went home with a bottle of their big red.
Highly recommended.

On our way out of town, we decided to stop for a glass of wine before heading back to Portland. We were actually on our way to another place when we walked by the Pines and decided to stop in.
This seems to be a combination tasting room/​dance studio/​gallery. An interesting combo to say the least. At first we were focused on getting a few glasses as my friend was seeking out an Oregon Pinot Noir. Unfortunately the Pines was not pouring one of those on this day. She had a glass of the Zinfandel and I had their «Big Red» which was a combination (I’m sensing a theme here) of a few of their other reds.
We grabbed a table and enjoyed the wine. Slowly. I was driving home mind you. We took our time with these glasses. After a bit we decided to walk around and look at some of the art. This is a rather large space and it seemed like there was art on the second floor as well, but we didn’t end up walking up there. We concentrated on the main floor. You kind of feel like you are in a museum here, but if you were you probably wouldn’t be carrying around a glass of wine.
The space here also has a dance floor and there were a few people taking lessons. There is also a stage at the front of the space and I imagine there is live music here on certain nights.
All in all a nice way to end our day in Hood River.

I gave this place only two stars b/​c I just didn’t care for the wines. Way too fruity and one demensional for my tastes. But that is subjective.
I had first had their pinot gris in a restaurant in McMinnville in the Willamette valley SE of Portland. It was great and had wonderful acidity that went very well with my fish dish. I’ve been able to procure a few other bottles since that first time and the wine had always been great. This is how I discovered the Columbia Gorge AVA.
That was my main motivation for going to the tasting room. But when I tasted the pinot gris, I found that they had changed it to a sweeter, fruitier style which although not bad, was not what I was looking for. And all the other wines were just too over extracted for me.
But the tasting bar was nice but the rest of the room was very new and unimpressive. The server was very friendly although perhaps not all that knowlegable about wine. He did help me find some other places in town. For some reason they had a beer on tap that we could try as part of the $ 5 tasting fee. That beer, the name of which I forget, was awesome.
When I was there, there was a cajun band practising for that night’s mardi gras party. I bet that was fun.

What a fun winery! My friends and I were taking a wine-​tasting tour of Hood River and this was our first stop at about noon. The place feels Enormous, as it is also a sizeable art gallery and what appears to be a place you can rent for events, complete with stage. The wine bar itself has great seating, and the tasting ($ 5) is a long flight of about seven different wines, ranging from pinot gris to a 100-​year Old Vine Zinfandel.
The man working the counter was So friendly and eager to talk about the wines. He also was great about keeping the pours going, as there were about 10 of us, and all inquisitive. The wines were very tasty, and we went home with a bottle of their pinot gris, about $ 15. If you buy wine here, your tasting fee is waived. Awesome. This was a great first stop on our tour, and when I find myself in Hood River again I’ll be sure to stop by for a taste and another bottle. Highly recommended.

Good wine tasting for $ 5. Hood River is beautiful, and the setting, although sparse, is very nice. The guy that poured our wine tasting was friendly and knowledgeable!