During the past few years, Oregon vineyards have emerged as one of the dominant producers of wine in the industry — and wine tasting events are probably the best way to develop a discerning taste for this complex culture. What follows is an insider’s guide for discriminating palates in Eugene. Even if your idea of a fine wine is found in a box at the local 7-Eleven, this may be a good place to start.
Wine retailer Sheldon Glassberg says Eugene offers many opportunities for both the experienced and the novice wine taster. Glassberg’s store, Sheldon’s Fine Wines, located at the Gateway Market at 822 Beltline Road, offers wine tasting events every Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The selection varies depending on what parts of the world are offering the best vintages at any given time.
Evidence of the industry’s growth is in the numbers. According to the Oregon Tourism Commission, the number of wineries in the state has leapt from 78 to 195 since 1991.
With nearly 25 years of experience under his belt, Glassberg opened his establishment in 2000. He says the increase in wine drinking may be traced to a simple change in the restaurant industry during the past few decades.
“Twenty years ago, restaurants only offered wine by the bottle,” Glassberg said. “Now that people can get wine by the glass, they are much more likely to try many different kinds.”
King Estate Winery tasting room attendant Donelle Pettit agrees that wine tasting is a multi-faceted diversion.

“Wine tasting should be a fun and educational experience that hopefully broadens people’s
horizons,” said Pettit.
King Estate Winery is located at 8054 Territorial Road and offers winter wine tasting from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and during the week by appointment.
Before diving head first, however, it may be helpful to go in with a small bit of knowledge of the wine world. And what better place to start than the Professional Bartender’s Academy?
According to the organization’s handbook, it is possible that wine is older than humanity itself. When the first wild grape ripened in the sun, with the help of airborne yeast, it become wine without anyone’s help.
While wine can be made from virtually any fruit, grape wine is, of course, the dominant choice. The visual and taste difference between red and white table wines depends greatly on the role the grape skin plays in the fermentation process. If the grape is crushed and fermented with its skin, and fermentation runs its course, the wine will be red and tart. If the skin is removed prior to fermentation, the result will be a white wine with a less tart flavor. Rose or pink wines result when the skin is removed during the early stage of fermentation.
“Almost every European nation has a saying equivalent to ‘A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine,’” states the handbook.
Glassberg agrees: “A good wine complements a meal in a way that hard liquor doesn’t.”
A wine’s dry quality makes it a good companion to a meal. In wine terminology, a dry wine is one that is not very sweet and doesn’t possess a strong bouquet or aroma.
An increasing breadth of knowledge may bring a thirst for further choices, and there is no shortage of venues for the local connoisseurs-in-training.
One great way to begin a search for the perfect wine may be to make an event of it. This may be a Friday evening spent hopping from one establishment to another to taste some of the industry’s finer choices. A coincidental scheduling makes this plan easy.
You can start at Sundance Natural Foods Wine Cellars at 2470 Alder St.. The cellar offers wine tasting from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. every Friday.
From there, tasters can journey to the New Frontier Market at 200 W. Broadway, a popular haunt that offers wine tasting from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Friday.
And finally, tasters can end the evening at Cornucopia Bottle Market at 295 West 17th St. Cornucopia offers a unique setting, which includes outdoor seating, and hosts wine tasting from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Friday.
Now you can leave the boxed stuff to the amateurs.