Gonzales Wine Company LLC, the small-production winery led by owner Cristina Gonzales, is heading to 1421 NE Alpha Drive in McMinnville, with an expected August opening. Gonzales confirmed to What Now Portland that she is waiting on her renewed OLCC license before opening her doors, and once that clears, she will be making wine and hosting tastings inside Ricochet Wine, a shared winery and tasting facility that hosts small wine producers. Exactly the kind of intimate, community-focused space that Gonzales was looking for.
“It’s a great space focused on small producers and family-friendly,” Gonzales told What Now.
What makes Gonzales Wine Company stand out in a region already packed with world-class wineries isn’t just the wine, it’s who she’s making it for. Gonzales plans to offer tastings conducted in Spanish, opening the door to a part of the Willamette Valley wine community that has long worked the vineyards but rarely been centered in the tasting room experience.
“Happy to host tasting for the community in Spanish,” she said.
Bringing a winery that specifically welcomes Spanish-speaking guests adds a layer of cultural representation that the Yamhill County wine scene has been slowly building toward. McMinnville sits at the heart of the Willamette Valley AVA, one of the most acclaimed Pinot Noir regions in the world, and has been quietly growing as a destination for small, independent wine producers looking to plant roots outside the more established Dundee Hills corridor.
