This week during my quest for decent wines, I journeyed to Portland, OR on Friday night.  My son had received a special tip on a wine bar and offered to drive.  We arrived to find a quaint wine bar on N.W. 11th Ave. in the Pearl District.

Wine Unwind is a cozy little place with some very nice wine choices.  They open their doors around 10AM on most mornings.  It appears that it is both a retail establishment and a wine bar.  We were greeted and charmed by Justin who was both knowledgeable and pleasant.

Here’s how it works: you can either taste the wines of the day, arbitrarily chosen by the establishment, or you can buy a bottle and enjoy a glass while you relax, chat, nibble on an appetizer or examine wines!  They also have live music on most Saturday nights.

If you choose to purchase a bottle at retail price and have them pour a glass for you , you will be charged a $6 corkage fee, unless the bottle costs $20 or more.  So with that in mind, we decided to purchase a bottle of :

Ben Marco
2006
Cabernet sauvignon (85%), Malbec (15%)
From Mendoza, Argentina

It was $24 per bottle, so no corkage fee was involved.