With over a dozen LGBTQ+-owned wineries, Oregon is vying for the title of the top queer wine destination in the United States. In the last few years, the queer wine scene has been growing across the state, most notably in Willamette Valley. Oregon’s wine country in The Willamette Valley was one of TIME’s The World’s Greatest Places of 2023 and is one of Bloomberg’s Places to Go in 2024.

Many of the queer winemakers operate out of McMinnville, Oregon, one of Time Out’s best LGBTQ+ friendly small towns in the USA. McMinnville has a queer mayor who is also a winemaker — Remy Drabkin. In 2020, Remy co-founded Wine Country Pride, a nonprofit organization to bring visible allyship and representation of the LGBTQ+ community to the wine industry. Drabkin and other queer Oregonian winemakers joined forces again in 2022 to launch the world’s first wine festival focusing on wines made by LGBTQIA+ winemakers. The Queer Wine Fest is held annually in June.

You can enjoy wines from queer winemakers in Oregon year-round in the state’s most famous city, Portland, and in the wine country. Portland is just under an hour away from the wine country. Base yourself there at The Duniway Hotel or The Nines so you can experience the queer wine scene in Portland. Then go for a day trip to visit some of Oregon’s best queer-owned wineries.

LGBTQ+-owned wineries in McMinnville, Oregon

Remy Wines is helmed by Drabkin who founded her name-sake winery in 2006. She’s dedicated to honoring ancestral Italian winemaking traditions and primarily uses Oregon fruit to make her wines. Make a reservation to taste her wines including Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Auxerrois, Dolcetto, and Chardonnay in the 1900s farmhouse tasting room available on Monday and Tuesday.

The LGBTQ+-owned Westrey Wine Company is a small working winery that welcomes guests to visit its wine cellar by appointment to see the winemaking operation. For over 25 years, Westrey’s winemakers have been offering premium Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and fruit-driven Burgundian-style Chardonnay created with organic grapes grown in Oregon.

LGBTQ+-owned wineries in Portland, Oregon

Back in the city, the LGBTQ+-owned RAM Cellars small batch premium wines can be tasted at Community Wine Bar Thursday through Sunday. The artisanal natural wines are made with sustainably managed grapes from vineyard sites in Oregon and Washington. RAM Cellars produces unique wines including Orange Gewurztraminer and Riesling and Tempranillo Rosé. For each bottle of the VIV label sold, $3 is donated to LGBTQ+ organizations including Portland’s Q Center, the Trans Lifeline, and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The urban Hooray for You Wine Co. winery in Portland was born out of co-owner + winemakers Christopher Sky’s and Gregory Cantu’s desire to make Rosé and now Chardonnay made in 500-liter neutral French oak puncheons is the winery’s best seller. At the LGBTQ+-owned urban winery, you can taste some of their Rosé wines as well as Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and more. Cantu is a core part of the Oregon queer wine scene as he founded Portland’s first queer wine festival Made With Pride.