We make small batch, premium wines with love in Portland, Oregon

Who we are and what we do:

Hi friends, new and old, and welcome to our home on the web!

We’re RAM Cellars, and we produce small lots of premium, low intervention wines in SE Portland. It’s our honor and pleasure to share our work, our passion, and our dreams with you with every bottle. We’re also committed to using the platform we have through the winery to give back to communities we’re a part of! We do this through a $3 donation made from the sale of every bottle of our VIV label wines to one of our partner non-profit organizations, Portland’s Q Center, the Trans Lifeline, and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, as part of our commitment to supporting and uplifting other queer and transgender folks.

Thanks for dropping by… we hope you’ll stay awhile!

Got Questions? Check out our FAQ!

Looking for our wines? Check out our online store!

Want to taste with us in person? Come see us at Community Wine Bar?

Want to find out more about us? Read our history!

Did you know that we offer free local delivery or pickup in and around the greater Portland area?

Since 2020, we’ve been offering free local delivery in and around the greater Portland metro area - from Hillsboro to Washougal, Battleground to Boring… we’ve got you covered. You can shop our online store at the link below, and when you put in an Oregon or Washington address, free delivery is an available option as is free local pickup at our new wine bar and combined tasting room location (a joint partnership with Gonzales Wine Company), Community Wine Bar in Southwest Portland at 614 SW Dakota Street, Portland, OR, 97239. Once you order, Viv or Aidan will reach out to coordinate your delivery or local pickup. We’re happy to share our wines with you and can’t wait to deliver your wine to your doorstep or have it ready for pickup at Community Wine Bar at your convenience!

Our Wine

As a proud member of the Portland Urban Winery Association, we produce small lots of premium wines in Portland, Oregon. We work with sustainably managed grapes from vineyard sites in Oregon and Washington to craft our artisanal wines. We're passionate about what we do and strive to craft wines that highlight each varietal and vintage. We produce natural wines - native yeast ferments, minimal inputs, meticulous care in the cellar, and zero fining or filtration before bottling - and of course we limit our use of sulfites to the lowest level necessary to protect the wines for aging and shelf stability. We like to work with varietals and styles that are slightly off the beaten path - think single varietal Cabernet Franc, Orange Gewurztraminer and Riesling, Rosé of Tempranillo, etc. Wines in our current lineup include Riesling, Chardonnay, Roussanne, multiple Orange Wines, Tempranillo Rosé, Malbec, Cab Franc, Counoise, Tempranillo, a handful of sparkling wines and Pinot Noir.

The sale of every bottle of wine from our VIV label raises funds ($3 per bottle sold) for partner organizations who provide direct support to queer and transgender communities. Our current partners are the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund - in support of their Name Change Project initiative - Portland’s Q Center, and the Trans Lifeline! Consider enjoying this great wine knowing the incredibly important - and incredibly personal to us - cause that it supports! It's our pleasure and honor to share our wines with you, and we're grateful for the support and the opportunity to share our passion with you!

Taste our wines!

We’re excited to offer multiple options for tasting our wines via our new joint tasting room project with our dear friend Cristina at Gonzales Wine Company called Community Wine Bar, at 614 SW Dakota Street in SW Portland, Oregon AND via our quarterly tasting club.

Community Wine Bar is open every week Thursday through Sunday with open hours on Thursdays and Sundays from 1pm-6pm and Fridays and Saturdays from 1pm-8pm. See the Community Wine Bar website here for more information, but we offer 3 and 6 wine tasting flights that feature wines from both RAM Cellars and Gonzales Wine Company as well as 3 and 6 wine flights dedicated to wines from each of the partner wineries. Most days you can find Viv behind the bar, waiting to share a laugh and tasting flight, glass, or bottle of wine with you! We can’t wait to welcome you in soon!

And, if you can’t make it in to Community Wine Bar, we came up with a way to connect with you and share our wines in real time in a format that is affordable, safe, and fun - our Quarterly Tasting Club! Even with the launch of Community Wine Bar, we’ve kept Tasting Club going for those who prefer to share wines with us virtually for any number of reasons - distance from Portland, accessibility, or just plain ease!

If you’re interested in tasting our wines with us virtually, consider signing up! The next round of our tasting club will be happening after our 2024 Harvest season (sometime in November or December of 2024)! As part of our tasting club events, you’ll get three 250ml bottles of wines with tasting notes and access to a 1.5-hour Zoom session with us and the other Tasting Club members to taste through the wines and connect. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Viv, via e-mail, at vivianne@ramcellars.com!

Featured Wines, Summer 2024

2023 Grüner Veltliner

Bosc pear, fresh plantain, fresh brioche, lime blossom and a hint of petrichor are evident at first sniff.  Pear, nectarine, lime zest, honeydew melon, fresh snow, lemon lime soda and a light herbaceousness dance above polished river rocks in glass en route to a dazzling finish.  Light and bright, our 2023 Grüner Veltliner tastes like summer.

This wine pairs well with pan fried trout, grilled veggies, soft cheeses, asparagus dishes,, and sunny days and good times with the ones you love!

Wheatland Vineyard
Willamette Valley, OR
41 cases produced

2023 SParkle Pony Pét Nat Rosé

We’re excited to share the 2023 vintage of our Sparkle Pony Pét Nat Rosé of Cinsault!  Pétillant Naturel (which translates to ‘naturally sparkling’ in French) style wines are made by bottling wine before fermentation is completely finished. This imbues the finished wine with CO2, which is released as the fermentation of the remaining sugars finishes in-bottle.

Our 2023 Sparkle Pony Pét Nat Rosé of Cinsault greets the nose with aromas of raspberry hard candy, brioche, rhubarb, grapefruit, and ocean breeze, while flavors of cherry Starburst, pomegranate, blood orange, Pink Lady apple, fresh croissant, slate stone, and a hint of salinity await in glass!

Bosma Estate Vineyard
Rattlesnake Hills AVA, Columbia Valley, WA
ONLY 19 cases produced

2023 VIV label ‘Almost Red’

Viv, a French root word which means “to live / to be alive” also happens to be shorthand for our founder and head winemaker’s name. In her own words, she has this to say about the project:

“Having the courage to follow my truth and be myself means that I’ll be around for a long time to come. To be alive, indeed. And that I’ll be around for a long time means there’s more time to do good, meaningful things. $3 from the sale of every bottle of this wine will be donated to the Trans Lifeline, a grassroots hotline and microgrants 501(c)(3) non-profit organization offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis – for the trans community, by the trans community. – a cause both incredibly personal and incredibly important to me - in an effort to provide support to other queer and trans folks.”

-Vivianne Stardust Kennedy, Winemaker

Our 2023 ‘Almost Red’ is a field blend co-ferment of 50% Marsanne, 40% Syrah & 10% Counoise. Named for its blend of equal parts red & white wine grapes, it surprises & delights with aromas akin to red wines but flavors in glass more closely resembling a white wine. Cranberry, brioche, apricot, fresh roses, cinnamon & nutmeg greet the nose while lemon hard candy, lilacs, melon rind, cherry blossom, lychee & a hint of limestone await in glass. Pairs well with quality time with the ones you love!

Bosma Estate Vineyard
Columbia Valley, Washington State
108 Cases Produced