Honeywood Winery

Cork dorks need to check their attitude at the door. This winery may focus on fruit wines and other specialty wines, but it just so happens that Honeywood Winery is the grandfather of the Oregon wine industry. With the winery’s roots reaching back to 1933, founders Ron Honeyman and John Wood did not want to call it “Honeywood.” Still, the name came naturally, and it stuck.

Honeywood’s list of fruit wines, specialty wines, and varietal wines is extensive. Nowhere else do you find such varieties of wine. Originally called Columbia Distilleries, the winery produced fruit brandies, cordials, and liqueurs. Eventually, Ron and John settled on making premium fruit wines and decided a name change was in order. That’s when it became known as Honeywood Winery.

There’s definitely a big community of fruit-wine lovers. Anything that has sugar in it is a candidate for becoming wine; those little yeast critters don’t care if the sugar is from cherry or cabernet sauvignon, they’ll convert it to alcohol. Think about pairing the following fruit wines with vanilla ice cream or pound cake: blackberry, boysenberry, black currant, red currant, cherry, loganberry, marionberry, pear, plum, raspberry, and rhubarb. These are in addition to such specialty wines as Golden Pineapple, Honeysuckle Supreme, and Tropical Sunset.

However, if you think Honeywood Winery is only about fruit and specialty wines, think again. It does offer a number of varietal grape wines, such as cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot, and pinot noir. These, together with its fruit and specialty wines, adds up to more than 40 different wines that Honeywood Winery produces for distribution throughout the United States.

The winery gift shop offers a multitude of wine-related items. From refrigerator magnets to wine stoppers, it’s easy to shop for your favorite wine-loving relative. The bottom line: Honeywood Winery offers something for everyone.