Valley Wine Merchants

Andrew Turner came to wine through kitchens. He cooked at Fleur de Lys in San Francisco, Patina in Los Angeles, and Bouley in New York, then became a chef at Robert Sinskey Vineyards in Napa. He spent the following decade managing the Ponzi Wine Bar in Dundee before opening his own shop in Newberg in 2014.

He set up in a restored 1940s building on College Street — warm wood, floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with bottles instead of books, a beautiful old bar with a story he’ll tell you if you ask, and a tucked-away patio out back.

The inventory is the reason people make this their first stop in wine country. More than 200 small-lot Oregon Pinot Noirs, the largest selection anywhere in the Willamette Valley, much of it available nowhere else. Alongside that: Champagne, Burgundy, Italy, Napa, Sonoma, and an unusually deep wall of half bottles — over 100 — which is rare and genuinely useful. There’s an onsite cellar of aged and rare wine for sale, and bottles open for tasting most days.

But the selection isn’t really the point. Andrew’s first question is what you normally drink, and if you can’t answer, that’s fine too. He asks until he understands your palate and your budget, then points you at things you’ll actually like. Customers describe buying six bottles on his recommendation and loving all six. Ask how many of the wines in the shop he’s tasted and the answer is all of them.

He runs two wine clubs — a custom one built around each member’s preferences and region of interest, and a newer everyday club aimed at locals. Both ship nationwide.

Friday evening pop-up tastings often bring the winemakers in with them.

Wine & Spirits magazine has recognized the shop. So has essentially everyone who’s walked into it.