Friday Find, September 21

Each Friday we highlight a wine from the Northwest that we think is a real "find." By find we might mean that it's a steal, as all of these wines we'll feature weekly are at or under $20. We might also mean "Hey, you really need to go find this" and it might be a wine that we feel not enough people know about. In any case, with the weekend pending we're hoping to help you "find" a wine to kickoff the weekend right. We'll tell you a little bit about the wine and try to help you track it down here in the Northwest.

Call it laziness, (I prefer opportunistic) but the increasing number of urban winemakers, wineries, and tasting rooms is really working for my life right now, which is generally played out within the city limits. Don’t get me wrong, it is a total treat to make a daytrip out of visiting good ‘ole wine country, you know, fresh air and livestock and all that, but the PDX urban wine scene is something completely different and an altogether impressive, growing collection of great wines and good people.

The urban wine scene in Portland is a departure from the usual wine-tasting experience and has a connectedness made difficult outside of the city by the acreage and tradition in classic wine country. The community urban winemakers are working toward is truly coming together in Portland with networks such as PDX Urban Wineries and with more physical spots like the imminent SE Wine Collective, where several urban wineries will soon pour their wines in the shared space.  The urban wineries offer laidback, comfortable, and casual environments; they are your new neighborhood hangout, come as you are.

Enso Winery is owned and operated by Ryan Sharp and centrally located in NE Portland, just across from downtown via the Morrison Bridge. The name “Enso” is derived from the Japanese word for “circle” – the kind of circle made with a brush stroke, the kind of circle that is never the same, subtly altered each time around. This concept is deeply rooted in Ryan’s general winemaking philosophy, where he seeks to produce wines with slight, unique differences year-to-year.

Our Friday Find this week is for those of you clinging to the final days of summer - Enso’s Resonate White #4. I didn’t even have to take my first sip to know I was in total love with this one, no turning back. I want my house, my car and overall life to smell like Resonate #4, and it is a wine I will be sure to have on hand for parties or otherwise ordinary weeknight dinners. It is a completely approachable wine, regular wine-drinker or not, with a hint of sweet and a bright, crisp finish. At just $15 a bottle it is quite the steal, and for those of us in Portlandia, quite simply acquired. Resonate #4 and other Enso wines can be purchased from Enso’s Winery & Tasting Lounge on SE Stark between 14^th & 15^th Avenue. For those of you outside the Portland-area, you can purchase your Resonate White #4 online here.  

Note: Stock up Tuesday – Sunday! Enso is closed for business on Mondays.

Posted in: Enso Resonate White wine,Enso Winery,pdx urban wineries,Portland urban wine,Resonate #4,Ryan Sharp,SE Wine Collective