Wine Xing - a tast of Wine Country Right Here
I had been meaning to get to Wine Xing for months now. Several people had recommended it to me as a great business to do a focus on. I finally made it last week.
First of all, if you never get up to the North end of town other than to shop at Costco or Target, you are missing something. In the industrial complex on Canyon Creek Rd. just behind Costco, there are anumber of small businesses and even an eatery or two. Wine Xing is one of these small businesses.
Eric and Linda Bean opened up shop in November 2005. They were people who in the words of Eric, "just liked wine." They had been in an active wine tasting group for over 20 years in California.
"I really grew passionate about wine," says Eric. So, he sold his business in 2000, and traveled the globe tasting wine. And then came the decision to leave California. The Beans had been through Oregon a few times when they visited relatives here and did some wine tasting. They liked it. Initially, they tried to locate in Newberg, but in Eric’s words, "..it just didn’t work out."
After a few months of looking all over Washing and the Willamette Valley, and knowing they didn’t want to live in the big city, they tried to lease a place across the freeway from Bridgeport Mall. It didn’t work out, but the property owner was able to direct them to the location they are now at in Wilsonville.
"Wilsonville is a really nice community, " said Eric, " we’ve made friends here. That didn’t happen in Newberg. Most of our customers are local. some work here and live elsewhere, but probably 80% of our customers live within five miles of the store."
The Beans host Wine Tastings every Friday and Saturday until 7 pm. The charge is $10 to try 10 wines. Five are red, and five are white.
"I like to talk about where wines come from, why they are the way they are, and discuss the wine making process," tells Eric, "well made wines should be about a sense of place."
And information is exactly what the wine shopper will find at Wine Xing - the walls have placards near each display of wine giving all kinds of information about the bottled contents.
Wine Xing is located at 25977 SW Canyon Creek rd, Suite D and is open from 11 am - 7 pm Tuesday - Saturday.
