With its massive estate tasting room just south of Salem, Willamette Valley Vineyards is likely a best bet at grabbing a walk-in spot any day of the week. Depending on the weather, choose between the warm-but-spacious indoor tasting area, a large courtyard, a sprawling patio with vineyard views, pinot decks, a mezzanine, and vineyard lawns for your tasting setting. Those who walk in, however, may have a harder time nabbing a straight-up flight; the mezzanine, patio, courtyard, decks, and lawns are bottle-and-glass service only (this shouldn’t be a problem for those looking to relax with a glass of wine). Expect lots of pinot noir, from rosé to whole cluster, with some fun rare offerings like méthode champenoise sparkling and semi-sparkling muscat. Willamette Valley Vineyards also offers a full food menu with suggested pairings, like a shrimp and scallop salad meant to be eaten alongside a glass of pinot blanc or wood-fired pizzas with some pinot to wash it down. It’s open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and until 8 p.m. on Fridays.

Stangeland is an old-school wine geek’s winery — off the beaten path, making really gorgeous Eola-Amity Hills cool-weather pinots. Stangeland started planting pinot in the late 1970s, which makes its vines some of the more mature in the Willamette Valley. Visit the mid-century tasting room filled with oak barrels, surrounded by a ring of trees and mountains. Monday to Wednesday is reservation only; otherwise, walk-ins are welcome from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Dedicated solely to sparkling wine, Corollary’s singular focus on sophisticated bubbly — made with both traditional Champagne grapes like pinot noir, chardonnay, and pinot meunier, as well as pinot blanc — is already enough to turn travelers’ heads. But the winery’s Eola-Amity Hills AVA tasting room is even more of an eye-catcher: an avant-garde, fire-engine red space that sits high on a hill like a beacon. In the scenic breezeway and shaded patios, sit down to pours of effervescent sparklings like blanc de blanc made with Van Duzer Corridor old-growth chardonnay and tart, punchy rosé. Reservations are required, and, as one of the valley’s hottest new tasting spots, they’re going fast, so grab a timeslot sooner rather than later. Opening hours are daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

With doors open at 10 a.m., this pastoral estate’s tasting room is often the first stop for hardcore wine tasters out for a day in the valley. Susan Sokol and Bill Blosser planted this vineyard’s first vines in 1971, and the winery is still largely a family business: Alex Sokol Blosser, Susan and Bill’s son, runs the company, and Robin Howell, who’s been with Sokol Blosser since 2012 and was instrumental in establishing the winery as a sparkling powerhouse, heads up the winemaking side. Sokol Blosser’s wide-ranging selection of pinots is impressive, as are its fun blends and sparkling wines — not to mention the extensive food program. Sokol Blosser is another hot ticket, so it’s best to reserve or call ahead for availability. Sokol Blosser is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This Dundee Hills estate is far more than a vineyard and winery: Durant makes its own olive oil with olives grown onsite, hosts overnight visitors in its vineyard cottage, and welcomes families to stroll down its nature trail or through its gardens. However, because of Durant’s eclectic offerings and jaw-dropping hillside views with Mount Hood on the horizon, it’s a hot ticket, so reservations are recommended. For walk-ins, our best bet is to taste on a rain-free day, when the area can host more walk-ins in uncovered tasting areas. The tasting lodge is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

At this Oregon-stylish Dundee estate, visitors taste pinot noir and chardonnay grown in the Yamhill-Carlton and Dundee Hills AVAs, organically grown and made with a deft understanding of how to build structure. That’s good news for those looking to take home bottles for the wine fridge: Domaine Roy consistently makes highly acclaimed wines with real cellaring potential. Reservations are strongly encouraged; Domaine Roy is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for indoor and outdoor tasting, taking last reservations at 3:30 p.m.

Dobbes’s downtown Dundee tasting room is the ideal spot to get a good reflection of Oregon’s larger wine diversity. Beyond the fact a tasting flight may involve a Dundee pinot with serious strawberry notes and a mushroom-y Eola-Amity pinot, Dobbes sells wines from both the Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon — visitors can take home a bottle of McMinnville pinot noir, or a Rogue Valley viognier. The tasting room is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Abbey Road Farm’s wine collective is the ideal spot to taste for those looking for a well-rounded experience, complete with opportunities to hang with farm animals, practice yoga on its grassy lawn, and even spend the night inside a converted grain silo at the onsite bed and breakfast, complete with a filling breakfast spread from a celebrated chef. With pours from the Abbey Road Farm estate labels, varieties range from local staples like pinot noir to European trousseau and grüner veltliner. Reservations are recommended here; Abbey Road is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Housed in a converted grain elevator, Flâneur Wines’s Carlton tasting room pours a slate of wines from the Ribbon Ridge and Chehalem Mountains AVAs, including some welcome bubbles and whole cluster pinot. Flâneur Wines has a good handle on savory character in its pinot, with good structure for cellaring. As the indoor grain elevator tasting room is on the smaller side, it’s a good idea to grab a reservation. Flâneur is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, taking its last walk-in at 4:00 p.m.

With its 240-acre biodynamic Mineral Springs Ranch farm and vineyard near Carlton, Soter Vineyard’s connection to and reverence for the land is evident in its nuanced, thoughtful pinot noirs and traditional-method sparkling wines. This ethos is also front-and-center in the winery’s hospitality, with the ranch’s stately tasting room overlooking the grounds from its hilltop perch swaddled by trees and vineyards. But it’s not just the wines that evoke a sense of place; the farm’s regenerative spirit continues in the farm-to-table Provisions tasting menu, with nearly all ingredients grown or raised on-site, like chickens that once served as pest control and seasonal greens. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Soter requires reservations for the Provisions tasting, which includes wine pairings, as well as for the signature tasting flight.

Cana’s Feast is a welcome respite for those with pinot fatigue: This Carlton winery specializes in classic Old World varietals such as nebbiolo and grenache from Italy and the French wine regions of Bordeaux and Rhone. Then again, those who can’t imagine leaving the pinot noir world will find some pretty expressions of the varietal, sourcing grapes from high-profile vineyards like Freedom Hill. The estate is surrounded by Italian cypress, stone pine, and olive trees, with bocce ball courts and a piazza straight out of Italy. Due to popularity, reservations are recommended for weekend visits. The tasting room is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This Ribbon Ridge winery makes a number of bottles with 90+ scores from Wine Enthusiast and James Suckling, but that’s not its only calling card: it covers a wide swath of Willamette Valley wine regions and varietals, including Dundee Hills pinot and Coast Range riesling; it also serves as an art gallery for winemaker and owner James Frey. Frey’s paintings are like his wines, distinctive and nuanced. Visitors can taste indoors or out, on a covered deck overlooking the vineyard or within the gallery, with reservations recommended. It’s open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Dispensed from a gleaming silver 1971 Airstream trailer on the winery’s sunny Ribbon Ridge estate vineyard, Sealionne’s casual open-air tasting pavilion and laid-back style is a nice contrast and change of pace from more formal affairs. It fits well with the winery’s mission of making exploratory, adventurous wines through unorthodox methods like three-part aging in oak barrels, stainless steel tanks, and clay amphora. The results have caught the eye of James Suckling, with several 2022 bottles scoring over 90 points. Grab a table in the breezy tasting pavilion for pours of Willamette Valley classics like pinot noir and chardonnay along with syrah, cab franc, and rosé. Open from Thursday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., appointments are recommended but not necessary.