The bend wine bar: a central oregon wine experience

I began my journey in wine in 2006 through cooking, and pairing great meals with wine from all over the world while living in Los Angeles, my last duty station after 11 years in the Air Force as a pilot, engineer, and program manager.  After many trips to Napa and Sonoma, I soon discovered Oregon Pinot noir.

I attended enology and viticulture school in Salem, Oregon, at the Northwest Wine Studies Center in the heart of the Willamette Valley from 2008 to 2009.  I can say that they were two of the best years of my life.  

One made wine from the very grapes one took care of.  My classmates were not only passionate about wine but were talented, intelligent, and driven individuals (doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, etc.) in their second or third careers, retired, and wanted to start their own winery and vineyard or all of the above. 

I founded the winery while in wine school in the Fall of 2008, making my first batch of Oregon Pinot noir.  And it was lovely, subtle, and nuanced.  

After wine school, I took an engineering job on the Island of Kauai to finance the business start-up and, in 2011, created the Island Mana Wines label, a line of dry Hawaiian tropical fruit wines sourced from all-natural and organic fruit.

OUR WINES

We believe in small fermentations and small batches for the highest quality wines. All of our red ferments, for example, are done in 1-ton fermenters, and we actually see a real oak barrel from the best forests and coopers in France. All of our Pinot noir-based wines come from our organic grapes at Black Dog Vineyard. Our sparkling Blanc de noir, sparkling Pinot noir rosé, still Pinot noir rosé, still Pinot noir, and Pinot noir Reserve are all made with our organic Black Dog Pinot noir fruit.

While we make delicate Pinot noirs and are known for them in Oregon, we also make Big Reds, sourcing from Southern Oregon’s Applegate Valley, the Columbia Gorge, and Washington State from Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs. These heavier reds definitely make us stand out from other wineries in the Willamette Valley, as most producers focus on Chardonnay and Pinot noir.

You’ll find a wide range of reds at our tasting room, including Barbera, Mourvèdre, Sangiovese, Grenache, Syrah, Malbec, Cabernet franc, Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, Tempranillo, Petit verdot and Zinfandel. Our red blend varies by year, either a Bordeaux or Rhone style blend, based on the other varietals we are making that vintage. Each wine comes from a single vineyard and is 100% of that varietal unless a specified blend.

join us in bend…

I opened The Portland Wine Bar and Winery Tasting Room in March 2012.  My dog, Pinot, has been with me every step of the way since opening this location. He continues to be a joy in my life and to our guests. Quite famous now, people seek him out, and he relishes the attention when we are visiting the tasting rooms.

The Winery at Manzanita is the home of our Oregon wine production in Manzanita, Oregon, on the Oregon Coast, just 15 miles south of Cannon Beach and 1.5 hours from Portland.

I added Black Dog Vineyard in Carlton to the pack in Summer 2021. It is 20 acres of organic Pinot noir set in the Coastal Foothills of Yamhill-Carlton AVA on a 50-acre property with magnificent Oregon oak trees and beautiful views. We opened the vineyard tasting room, Manzanita NW, in Portland’s Slabtown and Bend Wine Bar, all in 2022.

The wines are available exclusively in our tasting rooms in Bend, downtown and NW Portland, Manzanita and at the vineyard in Carlton.

I hope you can stop by for a tasting, flight, or glass and enjoy one of our many handcrafted PNW wines.

Cheers,
Mark

Mark Proden
Winemaker/owner
The Bend Wine Bar