Ora et Labora Wine Shop

04/18/2025

Our Oregon Wine Fair is just two weeks away, and we’ve got a seriously good lineup coming together, including our very own house wines!

They’re dressed up in labels by the wildly talented Karen Farmer (swipe through for a closer look at her work)! For the occasion, we’re offering them at 4 for $100.

We’ll be pouring these alongside 18 other wines from local winemakers we love, who’ll be here in person to share their creations. Think beyond Pinot and Chardonnay—most of what we’re opening leans into the more unexpected side of Oregon wine.

$20 advance tickets are available through April 30th. $30 tickets at the door. We’d love to see you there!

04/08/2025

We’re throwing a party for Oregon Wine Month — and you’re invited! Join us Saturday, May 3 our Oregon Wine Fair & Maker’s Market.

🍷 Featuring indie Oregon winemakers pouring samples of their latest releases and crowd favorites.

🛍️ Artisans selling their goods

🍽️ Local food vendors

🕛 2–6PM at OEL

🎟️ $20 in advance / $30 at the door

This event is a wine tasting meets mini makers market, with snacks, sunshine (hopefully), and some extremely talented local folks all in one place! Whether you’re new to Oregon wine or a longtime fan, come sip, snack, shop and connect with the folks behind the bottles.

Tickets + details on our website with the link in our bio!

04/01/2025

April showers bring… a full lineup of wine tastings, classes, and events. Swipe through to see what’s coming up!

Details and tickets on our website🌷

P.S. This first photo comes straight from the one and only Dave Gregory, who is tasting his way around Piedmont and Northern Italy this week.

03/01/2025

Happy March/ Women’s History Month/Fool’s Spring!

This month we’re celebrating women winemakers who are shaping the industry.

Good people and good wines, always. ✨

02/28/2025

02/11/2025

Behind on your plans for Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day? We’ve got you covered. 🫶🏼

Galentine’s Day Trivia | Thursday, February 13th | 7-9PM

Valentine’s Day Sparkling Flight + Cheese & Chocolate Plate | Friday, February 14th | 5PM, 7PM or 9PM

Check out links in the bio for more details and tickets.🥂

02/01/2025

📣 FEBRUARY AT OEL 📣

We hope you’re ready to crawl out of your Dry January cocoons because we’ve got a bunch planned for this month! From February Furmint tastings to our first Galentine’s Day trivia night to our second Monday Night Magic Show, a veritable plethora of wine-infused good times with good people await.

Check out our bio for tickets and details!

01/02/2025

First Friday Winemaker Tasting | | Jan 3 | 5-8PM | $10 (credited toward a purchase of 2 or more bottles)

Jess Miller is a true vigneron, meaning that she does all the farming and winemaking herself. Such folks are rarities in the world of wine, but Jess is a one-woman operation. She trained in France, where she fell in love with farming, and then moved to Oregon, where she found tiny neglected vineyards and decided to fully embrace the vigneron model. Jess does all the farming for two vineyards, from pruning to canopy management to organic and biodynamic practices, and is a rockstar of a winemaker once the agricultural work is over and done.

“Little Crow” is named for the birds that eat bugs off elephants’ backs, symbolizing the “scrappy and symbiotic” relationship between the two animals, as well as the state bird of Montana, whence she comes.

Taste through a flight of Jess’s wines, with your ticket credited toward a purchase of two bottles. Free for OEL club members!

11/16/2024

GAMAY SEASON IS HERE!

We sold out our Thanksgivng 3-Packs the past two years, but this year, we're opting for a more flexible route. Our Gamay shelf features some our fav Gamays (both domestic and Beaujolais), and we're pouring other faves by the glass throughout the fall (even from weird places like Switzerland and the Vallee d'Aoste).

From the bombastic, chuggable daily drinkers to the serious stuff (including .collector one of Dave's top 5 favorite wines of all time, and a Bojo from vines planted in freakin' 1903 from ), we've got all your needs covered.

Bring it on, Thanksgiving.

10/02/2024

And we’re back! 🙌🏻

After a little hiccup with a pipe burst, OEL is open again, and we’re ready to pour you some great wine. Stop by today from 4-9PM and help us make up for lost time!

Also, we’re just a couple of days out from our First Friday free tasting! This month we’re celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with two winemakers, Sam Parra of Parra Wine Co. and Adrian Cornejo of Nueva Aventura. Sam will be showcasing his dessert wine, a hibiscus-infused wine, and two distinct styles of Tempranillo. Adrian will focus mainly on red wines with bigger flavors.

🗓️ Friday, Oct 4 | 5-8 PM

Help us get a head count by RSVPing with the link in our bio!

09/30/2024

📢 Ora et Labora Update 📢

Hey friends, we’re temporarily closed due to an unexpected pipe burst under the sidewalk outside our building! Don’t worry, we’re working on getting everything fixed and will let you know as soon as we’re back in action.

In the meantime, check out this awesome sketch of our shop exterior, created by one of our own team members!

Thanks for your patience and support. Can’t wait to pour you a glass soon! 🍷✨

09/02/2024

At Ora et Labora, we’re all about good pours and creative expression. We believe wine really is an art form — crafted with heart, full of stories, and best enjoyed slowly. With that, we wanted to put some extra effort into celebrating other forms of art.

Mark your calendar for another Williams District First Friday this week, September 6th, from 6 to 8 PM. This month, we’re hosting an art walk featuring 5 local artists and some of their favorite pieces.

To top it off, we will also welcome family-owned winery (more on them later!), who will be pouring samples and selling bottles of their low intervention estate wines that highlight Tempranillo. This tasting *and* the art walk will be free!

07/16/2024

If you’re a fan of cellar-aged red wines, read on!

A number of years ago, we stumbled into a little tasting room during our first visit to Walla Walla. This winery only had one Google review at the time, and we were absolutely blown away by the wines of Kendall Mix. When we opened Ora et Labora, we asked Kendall if we could carry his wines, and he was gracious enough to obtain a license from the OLCC. We’re currently the only bottle shop in Portland to carry his wine!

Here’s a bit of Kendall’s story: originally from Canada, Kendall’s parents Lawrence and Elinor (hence “Lawr-elin”) encouraged him to move to California to attend UC Davis’s school of oenology and viticulture. Kendall moved to Washington to make wine from Red Mountain AVA, but for a few reasons didn’t sell what he made for a decade, as he made juice for other wineries.

Here’s what makes Kendall’s red wines so unique: he cellars them for a decade before releasing them, and they are remarkably well priced. Each year, Kendall makes tiny quantities (mostly in 50-100 case allotments) of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon from the appellations surrounding Walla Walla, and relatively recently began crafting white and rosé wine.

We’re thrilled that Kendall is making a rare trip to Portland to pour his wines for us, and get ready for a lineup ranging the spectrum of Kendall’s styles, with a focus his aged Cab Sauv, Syrah, and Rhone-style GSM blend.

Link for tickets in bio.

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05/05/2024

Finding wines that are perfect for you begins with learning to articulate the characteristics that appeal to you most.

Wine can (and should!) be mysterious, but we’re going to provide you with a firm foundation to understand—and thereby better enjoy—the wines you drink.

Before exploring the various areas of aroma and flavor profiles, we’ll talk about the key structural elements that compose a glass: sweetness, alcohol, acidity, and tannin. Alongside a little bit of science and a dose of psychology, we’ll provide tips and tricks to navigate the choreography and mechanics of tasting.

This class is so much more than a typical wine tasting! And it’s perfect for someone new to wine, or those looking to expand their knowledge.

Wednesday, May 8 | 6-8PM
Tickets: $25 | $20 for club members
Enjoy a tasting of six wines, plus discounted bottles for home

04/27/2024

May is Oregon Wine Month! To celebrate, we’ll be nerding out about the world-class Pinots and Chardonnays of Oregon. 🤓🍷

You’ve likely heard about the various sub-regions of the Willamette Valley if you’ve consumed these wines: Eola-Amity Hills, Dundee Hills, the Van Duzer Corridor, and so on. Yes, they’re delicious, but what exactly merits so many distinct AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) in a relatively small region? Is it possible to really smell and taste the difference between these places? How did these appellations come to exist?!

We’ll be getting into some of the best wines (truly) that Oregon has to offer while learning about the Valley’s ancient and more recent histories. More so, this class will focus on the Valley’s soils and microclimates, and how they distinctly affect the flavors and structures of the final juices.

Some of these bottles come from very established producers, and some are from acclaimed new kids on the block. Each bottle is indicative of its respective terroir, and most are from historic vineyards of great significance for the Willamette Valley. Expect a couple bonus pours that Dave is bringing from his own cabinet of curiosities. Swipe through to see the lineup!

This Wednesday, May 1, 6PM. Grab your tickets with the link in our bio!

04/24/2024

Planning an event over the next month or so (Mother’s Day wine brunch, anyone?)? We’re offering discounted rates on private rentals of The Vinum Lounge! Swipe to see some gorgeous pictures from our recent styled shoot, and message us for booking details. 🥂✨

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🧀 tower: .and.spread
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Styling:

04/02/2024

This Thursday, we're thrilled to be participating in a First Thursday artwalk, highlighting some of our friend Amah Dokyi's () paintings, two of which have been hanging on our walls for some time.

Blest Weter, the manager, will be leading an artwalk up and down Williams starting at 6:30pm from , taking folks to a number of businesses featuring local artists, whose work will be on display and for sale.

We hope you get to come by to meet Amah and see some of her amazing work and meet other artists and businesses that make our community so vibrant! Swipe to meet Amah and some of her paintings. Here's some information about Amah, in her own words:

"Portland-based abstract artist Amah Dokyi has been honing and exploring her skills in abstract art. Originally from upstate NY, she discovered her talent during the pandemic and has tuned that into a passion for 3 years now. With her heritage from Ghana, West Africa, Amah uses her culture to create an interplay of colors, textures, and emotions that reflect Ghanian culture, nature, music, etc. Amah paints with acrylics, tools, and other mediums, and her artworks are large, bold, and eye-catching, brightening and making a space feel whole."

Participating Williams District businesses:




Ben Cox Law

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02/24/2024

In case you're wondering where Dave and Sarah are, we haven't disappeared. We're just fresh out of the hospital with a newborn!

Audrey Day (named after Dave's great aunt, and the socialist-anarchist foundress of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day [long story]) might make appearances at OEL in the weeks ahead. Defecating potatoes are frequently of little interest to anyone but the parental units; we're just excited to show her around, ya know?

In between taking care of blowouts and napping in two hour stretches, we'll be posting new classes for the coming months and writing our club letters for next weekend. Gerrett, Tanya, Kari, and Mary will be holding down the fort until parental leave is over! See y'all soon!