MCMINNVILLE, Ore. — A new, informally organized sparkling wine party in a downtown McMinnville alley popped corks and drew an estimated 300 people on July 25, with a promise of industry-priced sparkling wine bottles, a live DJ, caviar bumps, and a party atmosphere focused on celebrating Oregon’s rise as a bubbles behemoth.
“Everyone was just completely blown away and had the best time of their life,” said co-organizer Anna Sweet, who owns Dundee’s Artist Block Wine. “Immediately people were asking, ‘When can we have the next one?'”
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The event, called DOSE, took over McMinnville’s Art Alley adjacent to The Pub at 326 NE Davis St. Admission was $25 and included a souvenir glass, with organizers encouraging attendees to share bottles rather than pay by the pour. Attendees purchased food, bottles, and experiences once in the alley.
The price, Sweet said, was intentionally approachable.
“We wanted to offer industry pricing,” she said. “We wanted to offer a moment for all those people who had worked so hard and provide a moment for everyone to not only get together and party, but to be able to taste each other’s wines in an informal way.”
Sweet said the idea for her event came together in about six weeks after she and a group attended Le Printemps des Champagnes in April, an annual champagne celebration that takes place on the streets of Épernay, France.
“There was a party that was probably the best party I’ve ever been to in my life, and it was on the street,” Sweet said. “Everyone was very in it to just enjoy this thing that they had all come together and created, and so when we got back, we had such FOMO for the Willamette Valley to have something similar.”
Sweet said she organized the event alongside seven other women, including three wine industry professionals who sourced bottles for the party: Kate Payne Brown, head winemaker at Dundee’s Argyle Winery; sommelier and owner of Arden Kelsey Glasser; and Jess Arnold, associate winemaker at Soter Vineyards. Sweet credited the involvement of established winemakers with helping the event gain traction with wineries that might otherwise have hesitated.
“Being on the Willamette Valley Marketing committee, our sole mission is to drive traffic to the valley,” Sweet said. “I feel like the biggest thing we’re missing is that international weekend blowout of events. So it made sense.”
The party ran the same day as Method Oregon’s Grand Tasting, a three-day, ticketed weekend that drew more than 50 producers to Domaine Willamette in Dayton on Highway 99W, with general admission costing $150 and an all-access pass costing $350, according to the Method Oregon website. Both events sold out.
The two parties landed on the same weekend as Oregon’s sparkling wine industry undergoes rapid growth. More than 100 Oregon wineries now produce sparkling wine, and statewide production has grown 25 to 30 percent over the past four years, according to Method Oregon.
Method Oregon, the organization behind the Grand Tasting weekend, launched in the summer of 2025 and requires member wineries to use 100 percent Oregon-grown fruit, follow the traditional méthode champenoise, and age wines at least 24 months on the yeast before release. DOSE set no such standards, welcoming any Oregon sparkling wine to pour.
“A lot of people were worried about the optics with Method Oregon,” Sweet said. “But to us, the whole goal with DOSE was to build on the weekend that already existed, and give people a reason to travel from around the nation to Willamette Valley for a weekend.”
Sweet said organizers are now discussing how to formalize the event, which she expects will grow, into a standing entity ahead of a second installment they are already planning.
“Our goal was always to take this amazing weekend that’s already on the way to replace [the International Pinot Noir Celebration, an event that has been on hiatus] and keep building on it, so that we could create international attention and have people, yeah, like I said, come from maybe another country at some point, as we do to Champagne for that week,” Sweet said.
Sweet said those wishing to attend DOSE or other events in the future should follow the Artist Block social media pages, where she announced and sold tickets to this year’s event.
