The Holiday Gift Guide Is Here!

Tis the season for shopping for all the people you love! Lucky for you, we’ve got the gift guide you need to give the perfect gift set for all the wine lovers in your life.

For The Trendy One

The New Vintage Bundle

This gift set is perfect for the trend-setter in your life. We just released our 2018 Chardonnay, 2018 Pinot Noir and the fan favorite 2019 Rosé. The 2018 Chardonnay is tropical and bright, while the 2018 Pinot Noir is a classic example of how beautiful Willamette Valley Pinot Noir can truly be. Our 2019 Rosé is what we lovingly call our Winter Rosé, filled with a delicious holiday spice flavor profile that pairs perfectly with a warm fire.

For The White Wine Lover

The White Wine Bundle

Move aside everything you thought you knew about white wine. Each of these wines brings a unique flavor to the party. The 2018 Chardonnay isn’t like your classic oaky, butter bomb of chardonnay. This wine is fleshy, bright, and punchy with tropical fruits that settle into a flavor like a fruity cheesecake. Our 2015 Viognier is made from Viognier grown on our Estate. This wine is dry, but comforting with flavors of apricot, nectarine and some honeyed hazelnut. Even the 2015 Muscat Canelli isn’t what you expect. It’s off-dry, so it does have some subtle sweetness that lends itself to a honey flavor, lychee with white blossoms.

For The Extravagant One

The Luxury Bundle

This is an impressive gift for anyone who enjoys the finer things in life. Two of the most extravagant wines Rizzo Winery has ever made, both of these wines are rich with flavor, and texture. Though the name Cuvee means blend, this wine is made entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon, from two different vineyards. Flavors of coconut soufflé, light vanilla and a depth of blackberry. Our 2012 Petit Verdot is silky and sultry. Both of these wines are made from grapes grown out of ancient ash that settled in Oregon’s Columbia Valley from when Mt. Mazuma exploded and created Crater Lake.

For The Bold & Beautiful

The Bold Red Wine Bundle

All three of these wines are bold, spicy, sultry, and demand attention. Do you have someone in your life like that? If you do, these are the perfect wines for them! Our 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon has a beautiful combination of black cherry, black pepper, and mint that will make your mouth water in delight. It recently won a gold medal at Sip’s Best of Northwest awards. Another gold medal winner is our 2013 Tempranillo, a perfect wine for the Thanksgiving table, a wine with flavors similar to cranberry sauce in the most delicious way. To round off this perfect trio is our 2013 Syrah, a wine with subtle vanilla, spiced walnut and subtle sage.

We have so much more to offer in our Tasting Room! Come visit us every weekend 11-5 PM.

Chardonnay: Zesty & Sharp

Our 2017 Chardonnay is nothing like you’ve ever had before, made entirely from glass, the flavors of oak and cream though classic for Chardonnay are unfound in this one! High in acid, thirst quenching and delicious.

Rizzo’s 2017 Chardonnay

Not your typical Chardonnay, this wine was made entirely in glass, hidden from the light to ensure the potency of flavors would shine. There is an inviting pale lemon hue to remind you of a classic Summer day. On the nose you’ll find a hint of tropical fruit, banana with a cream coating like a candy. You’ll find a sharpness on the nose, inviting you to taste the refreshing fresh squeezed lime juice qualities of the wine’s body. In the glass, you’ll also find granny smith apple, some delicate honeysuckle, and a creamy finish.

Come Visit Us!

Can’t you see yourself here? Sipping glasses of cold chardonnay while you chat with your friends and soak in our country view. We are open for Summer Fridays until August 30th, come start your weekend right on Fridays from 4-7 PM and Saturday & Sunday from 11-4 PM!

Reservations are encouraged, but not required. You can make one here

Originally $20 a bottle

this Chardonnay is our Monthly Tasting Room special

Now Only $16.50

That means if you’re a Platinum Club Member your price is $11.55

Summer Is Here!

To celebrate the season we’ve got a special flight and new hours!

To us, Summer means getting off early and hitting the happy hour! At Rizzo, happy hours are here all summer long on Fridays from 3 to 7 PM. Reservations are encouraged as we have a small space, but they’re not required. We understand that some things are spontaneous, and we hope you spontaneously decide to visit our Estate Tasting Room!

While tasting through our Summer Breeze flight you’ll feel as free as that bird of prey hunting the sky in the photo above. It begins with our bright 2017 Chardonnay, made entirely in glass. This keeps the flavors fresh and authentic to Chardonnay itself. To continue keeping your cool through the flight is our delicious 2015 Viognier made from grapes on our estate! A heavier, creamy mouthfeel with this white wine gives us a different perspective from the Chardonnay before and gives us the best of both worlds. Our 2019 Pinot Noir Rosé is darker than most rosé’s, a little more time with the skins increases the color in the wine, but also the flavor complexity! This wine is perfect if you want to bridge the gap between rosé and red wine, or to convert your red wine loving friend to the rosé side. To finish off the flight we have our 2014 Carménère, a silky and spicy red wine that pairs perfectly with vegetables right off the BBQ!

Our Estate Tasting Room is Open

Friday 3-7 PM, Saturday and Sunday 11-4 PM

Our Tasting Room Is Open!

Finally, it seems, the day has come and Rizzo Winery’s gates have opened, the wines have been flowing and you can taste them while breathing in the fresh air of our wonderful country view.

Currently, we are open Saturday and Sundays from 11 AM to 4 PM. Since there is limited seating, due to the current pandemic restrictions and our smaller space, reservations are highly encouraged. We have both indoor and outdoor space, since our indoor space is severely limited, and our outdoor space is uncovered, the reservations are subject to cancellation due to inclement weather.

Our menu has two different flights available to choose from. Our Winemaster Flight is a mix of white wine, rosé, and red wines, whereas our Bold & Beautiful flight is all red wines. If you’d prefer to sip on one wine the whole time, we have glass pour options as well. To snack on while you bask in your wonderful company, we have a marketplace where you’ll find essential charcuterie items à la carte for your custom picnic needs.

Meet Mali, the woman behind the inner workings of our beloved Tasting Room! With her WSET* Level 3 Award in Wines, she has tons of knowledge she’d love to share as you taste through the beautiful wines of Rizzo’s Wine Cellar. From studying in Italy, to pouring you wine and all her personal projects, Mali has been in the wine industry for a few years now. The only thing she loves more than wine is her sweet dog Moose.

*WSET stands for Wine & Spirit Educational Trust and is an international school for wine and spirit professionals.

Tasting Room Menu!

Rizzo Winery’s Estate Tasting Room opened the first weekend in April 2021, below is our current Tasting Room menu.

Rizzo's Spotlight: Viognier

It is somewhat unusual to find Viognier vines planted on the slopes of Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley. This is exactly why we planted them, we wanted to challenge our climate and make wines that no one else was. We may be biased, but if you tasted this wine, we’re fairly certain you’d agree that this wine is a drop everything, purchase right now, must-have.

Viognier in the sky

Viognier has its origins, like most other ancient grapes. Originating in present day Croatia and then taken to the Rhône Valley in what is now France during the Roman Empire. The Rhône is where Viognier found it’s light alongside Syrah. Viognier can have trouble ripening which is why we have it planted at the top of our slope, to ensure it gets the maximum amount of sunlight possible.

What is debatably most delicious about Viognier is that in the glass you’ll receive intense floral aromas and flavors like Riesling or Muscat, yet we ferment our Viognier wines completely dry. This grape can also develop really beautiful texture, which gives those Chardonnay drinkers something they’ve been looking for minus the intense flavors of oak and butter. This wine exudes sunshine, and is a perfect pairing for those early days in spring when the sun is out but the weather has a fresh crispness to it.

Viognier on the beach

Rosé For Winter? Groundbreaking.

Most people when thinking of Rosé think of the beautiful of shades of pink this wonderful wine comes in, they think of it chilled to perfection and drank in the summer sun. Yes, when bodies of water call out to you, many exercise the “Rosé all day” state of mind. At Rizzo, we did something a little different. We made a Rosé that will invoke that same mindset, with no sunshine involved at all.

Meet the 2019 Pinot Noir Rosé. Made from the dry-farmed Pinot Noir vines that live on our Estate, this Rosé is both fresh and complex. The hue of this wine may be a bit darker than you’re used to, but it’s always in season to dabble with the dark side.

This wine has flavors of black pepper and watermelon, with whispers of strawberry Jell-O on the nose. This wine is bordering Beaujolais-style or a bottle of red wine with the ability to drink well chilled, but it’s that zing of acidity that reminds us that this is indeed a Rosé. Rizzo’s Rosé is perfect for those in-between Winter days, where it’s sunny but blisteringly cold, and pairs perfectly with a crackling fire.

Rizzo's Spotlight: 2011 Estate Pinot Noir

If you read our last blog post, you’d understand a little better why we love cellaring and aging our wine for you, releasing the wines for sale when we feel they’re truly ready. We cellar our wines with patience and love, so you can skip straight to the fun part, drinking it! There is a unique flavor experience we are able to achieve with this extra time that goes a long way, this is especially the case with our 2011 Estate Pinot Noir.

A candid photo of our 2011 Estate Pinot Noir in the wild

A Cold Vintage Gave Way To Uncertainty

The harvest of 2011 was exceptionally cool in comparison to the years surrounding it. This gave the fruit much more acid development than our palates were used to for Oregon Pinot Noir, resulting in what many classified as a “lean” year. You could find 2011’s dumped, put on sale, and forgotten about. Written off as something unnoteworthy. Something that makes wine age-worthy is a harmony between the acid, fruit, and tannin. Without that harmony, it weighs the scale too far in one direction and won’t create something profound over time. Though many felt like the 2011 vintage was exactly that, the acid outweighing all and tipping the scale in a wholly wrong direction for the typical high-quality wines we were seeing come out of the Willamette Valley, something only a few producers gave in to was trust.

We trusted the fruit that wanted to shine underneath all of the powerful acidity. Those brilliant flavors were there but were currently being overshadowed. Knowing that we made a high-quality wine from the get-go, we wanted to give the 2011 Estate Pinot Noir a fighting chance to show us what it was all about. This meant laying it down to rest for almost a decade.

All of Oregon’s beauty in one photograph, nature in the scenery and Oregon’s bounty in the bottle.

A Decade Of Time Gave Us Decadence

They say patience is a virtue, and when it comes to our 2011 Estate Pinot Noir, they are definitely right. All that time spent in the bottle did not go to waste. Throughout the years the acidity began to settle down and take backstage, while new flavors were being thrust into the spotlight. With an initial aroma of caramelized sugar, like the top of a freshly roasted crème brûlée the warmth that’s developed envelops you. The acid still shows in aromas of ripe cherry. Flavors of raspberries, clove, and rose petals delight the palate. With silky tannins and a delicate acidity on the finish. The depth of flavor in this wine feel like a tale as old as time.

Print this image out and impress your friends with your vintage knowledge as you sip our beautiful wine.

Rizzo's Wine Cellar

At Rizzo Winery, we handcraft every bottle of wine with the utmost care. Many of our current vintages, don’t seem so current, since they’re often over 5 years old. Many of you must wonder, why age them for so long?

A little wine library, full of books and wines of age & potential

Of course, there are many opinions and advice on how long wines can age, but we have a deep understanding of our wines (we did make them, after all). What we have found, is that the main factor for a wine’s ability to age is the harmony between the different flavor components right off the bat. If there’s a good tannic structure, high acidity, and budding flavors when they’re young, then leaving the wine to age in the bottle allows for the marriage of these components. Over time the tannins will soften and the high acidity will mellow but will still allow the wine to taste fresh and filled with youth when you pull out the cork many years later. One of the main reasons we allow our wines to age is their flavors mature, gaining complexity and depth. Ripe and juicy fruit flavors can become earthy, opulent, and taste sweeter with time in the bottle.

The simple answer to why we age them before we offer them to you all is that we prefer them this way. We are experts in temptation and we think you deserve cellar wines without the hassle of aging them yourself.

We Reflect On 2020

This year has been incredibly difficult for many, with many lives lost due to the coronavirus pandemic, wonderful restaurants and bars permanently shutting their doors after feeding hungry mouths for decades, and the wine industry shifting to new heights in an attempt to survive. At Rizzo Winery, we try to be thankful whenever we can and remember that there is always a rainbow at the end of a storm.

The Rainbow of 2021 here to save our sanity.

This year was a year of big changes for our little winery. We revamped our website and got with the times, getting an easier to navigate online shop just in time for that to be the only way to purchase our wines when the world shut its doors. We decided that you all needed to see the beauty that we are fortunately graced with every day at our estate, even when you couldn’t visit, and made an Instagram account to post these photos to. We started sending you all emails, some educational, some showcasing specific wines, and some all about the deals & discounts. Overall, this year we decided to take flight and connect with you all as best we could.

A very literal representation of us about to take flight.

We wanted to be there for you this year because the world turned upside down and we realized we all needed more from each other. Restructuring our wine club allowed us to give back to those who are there for us as our biggest fans. We gave our members more benefits, more complimentary wine tastings, and access to fun events when the fun can be had again. We reflected on where we had been lacking and decided to fully dedicate ourselves to improve. We invested in our tasting room and made it into a beautiful space where you’d want to spend the cold afternoon inside, or the warm afternoon outside, either way admiring our beautiful views when the world sees a bit of normality again. We believe in hospitality, and soon we will be able to host you all with open arms, glasses of wine, and charcuterie galore.

Our Wine Club Shipments ready for pick-up with their cute new sticker name tags and logo’d sides.

Overall, we’d like to say thank you. Thank you for making it through this year with us, we toast to you, as you are what allows us to keep making our delicious wines that are meant to be shared.

Until we can share again, cheers!

Team Rizzo

Celebrate The Seasonal Change

It’s still quite warm in Oregon, so we’re holding on to every last drop of summer we can. This recipe for Summer Bruschetta helps us deny that summer is coming to an end. Whip up a batch of our Summer Bruschetta, chill a bottle of our Muscat Canelli, and soak up some September sunshine!

Yum! We love enjoying fresh, local produce.

Print these out, or read ahead of time to impress your friends with all your flavor profile knowledge!

Rizzo Winery's 2008 Pinot Noir

The 2008 vintage was a knockout for the Willamette Valley. It had everything vintners love, naturally lower yields, a bit of rain towards harvest that didn’t dilute the grapes but hydrated them instead, and a range of temperatures that allow for interesting acidity and flavors to develop all summer long. A vintage that swept the valley and sold out to be stored in wine cellars all over the world. Luckily for you all, we love sharing and have brought this bottled beauty out of our cellar for you to enjoy the luxury of drinking perfectly aged Pinot Noir.

A stunning appearance of our 2008 Pinot Noir.

The luxury of a well aged Pinot Noir, tasting incredible right from the cellar.

An outstanding vintage, a pretty much sold out everywhere vintage, that we have for you!

Rizzo Winery's 2011 Pinot Noir Rosé

The world has come a long way from the days of White Zinfandel in the 1980’s, since then we’ve seen a resurgence of Rosé wines. Now, it seems, there is a Rosé for every occasion, with every flavor profile, and in every pink hue imaginable. Yes, normally Rosé is from the newest vintage filled with youth and optimism, but 2011 was an interesting vintage here in the Willamette Valley. We found that with all of the greatest things in life there is patience that lies beneath the surface. Pinot Noir across the valley are tasting the best they’ve ever been from 2011 and even the Rosé’s needed this time to develop what would become delicious signature flavors.

A soft salmon hue of beauty in our 2011 Pinot Noir Rosé.

A printable tasting note to read as you sip and swirl your beautiful rosé.

Learn all about weather from the 2011 vintage and the journey of the grape to make the wine!

Rizzo Winery's 2006 Pinot Noir

There is a common misconception about aging Pinot Noir that exists in society, and we’re here to tell you that the age limits that exist are guidelines, not hard fast rules. Aging wine, in any sense is fully dependent on the quality of the wine you’re trying to age. Our wines are of incredible quality, we have cellared these wines because we believed in them, and now we’re drinking the benefits of that. This 2006 Pinot Noir is a delicious and true testament to this belief. Buy a bottle or two, grab a glass and enjoy the luxury of aged Pinot Noir.

Our 2006 Pinot Noir, just as beautiful as ever

Printable tasting note for the 2006 Pinot Noir, read as you sip!

Vintage notes for 2006, a little insight in the grapes journey from bud burst to the bottle you’re drinking from!