If you’ve spent any time exploring Portland’s urban wine scene, you’ve probably heard the name Hip Chicks do Wine. Founded by Laurie Lewis and her wife Renee, Hip Chicks is not only Portland’s oldest urban winery — it may be one of the oldest urban wineries in the United States, and it all started in the back of a pickup truck.
Laurie and Renee were barely a year into their relationship when they found themselves sitting in the bed of a pickup truck at Duck Pond Winery in Dundee, having a picnic, sipping wine and looking out over the rolling hills of the Willamette Valley.
“One of us said, ‘you know, this looks like a lot of fun,'” Laurie recalled. “And the other one said, ‘it can’t be that hard — because men do it all the time.'”
From that picnic, the two embarked on a mission to visit every winery in Oregon, spending their Sundays hitting two to four tasting rooms at a time. They started making wine at home — first five gallons of pineapple wine, then Pinot Noir in the basement — and enrolled in some of the very first viticulture and enology classes offered at Chemeketa Community College in Salem.
Laurie knew early on she wasn’t cut out for farming. “I am not a farmer,” she laughed. “I can’t keep a succulent alive.” She also knew she wanted to stay in Portland and raise her future family in the city. So an urban winery it was.
Building Something From Nothing
Hip Chicks do Wine opened its tasting room in 2001 — the same year their son Tiernan was born. In those early days, Laurie and Renee were essentially doing everything themselves, with Renee working a 5am–10am shift at Starbucks, picking up Tiernan, then opening the tasting room at 1pm. Laurie was still working full-time. Eventually they both quit their jobs, cashed out their 401(k)s, ran up their credit cards and took out a mortgage to keep the business going.
“We’ve literally put everything we ever had into staying open,” Laurie said.
A lucky break helped them survive those early years: a Willamette Valley grower who had more grapes than buyers called Laurie after reading an article about the winery. His offer — pick all the grapes, make half into wine for him, keep the other half as payment — kept Hip Chicks afloat for two to three critical years.
What Makes Hip Chicks do Wine Different
Walk into Hip Chicks do Wine and you’ll quickly notice it’s not a Pinot Noir house. While Pinot dominates the Portland winery scene, Laurie deliberately crafts a wide range — anywhere from 12 to 16 different wines each year, despite producing only 1,200 to 1,500 cases annually.
“I have more people coming in asking for other stuff and getting excited that we have something besides Pinot,” she said.
A few wines worth seeking out:
Drop Dead Red — a smooth, low-ABV Cabernet-Merlot blend, sometimes with a third grape like Cab Franc, priced around $27.
Wine Bunny Rouge — a spicy, zippy blend that changes every vintage, typically built from four to seven grapes — all sourced from Oregon and Washington within a 4.5-hour radius of Portland.
Belly Button Wine — French for “wine of the navel,” this Riesling-based blend sits at about 2.5% residual sugar. “Not too sweet, not too dry — right in the middle, just like your belly button,” Laurie said. Refreshing, crisp, and approachable, it’s become a cult favorite among sweet wine lovers.
Tiernan Connor Cellars — a second label named after their son, reserved for wines Laurie considers especially special. These are the reserve tier of the Hip Chicks portfolio.
Founding the PDX Urban Winery Association
Back in 2010, Laurie started hearing rumors that several new wineries were planning to open in Portland. She tracked down their email addresses and invited them all to Hip Chicks. Seven people showed up. Six of them decided to form what would become the PDX Urban Winery Association, which Laurie has led ever since.
“I founded it because I wanted us to work together,” she said. “I believe really strongly in community over competition.”
Today the association has 20 members, hosts the annual PDX Urban Wine Experience every May during Oregon Wine Month, and collaborates with the Oregon Wine Board and regional associations across the state. Laurie estimates there are now somewhere between 29 and 35 urban wineries operating inside Portland city limits.
Being Queer and a Woman in the Wine Industry
Twenty-five years ago, Laurie and Renee were essentially alone in their corner of the wine world. When Hip Chicks first opened, a national article about the winery could only find three or four queer winemakers in the entire country willing to be publicly out.
“It’s been a big change over the last 26 years,” Laurie said.
The road wasn’t always smooth. Early on, distributors didn’t take two women seriously. Delivery drivers would show up and ask if there was “a guy” who could help unload. Wine shop buyers dismissed the Hip Chicks label as “too whimsical” — a frustration Laurie still feels today, because her customers have always loved it.
Still Going, Still Pouring
Tiernan — born the year the tasting room opened — now works in the tasting room and cellar every weekend. The playroom next to Laurie’s upstairs office still has a DVD player and Legos. Some things don’t change.
What has changed is the scale of what Laurie and Renee built: from a pickup truck picnic in Dundee to one of Portland’s most beloved urban wineries, a thriving wine club, a second label, and a community association that helped put Portland’s urban wine scene on the map.
If you haven’t visited Hip Chicks do Wine yet, it’s one Portland winery experience you won’t want to miss.
Elaine Schoch is an award-winning travel writer, wine judge, American Wine Specialist and certified by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET III). At Carpe Travel she shares wine travel destination guides for ALL WINE LOVERS – from novices to experienced pros – to help them plan their wine adventures, arming them with insider tips, must-visit spots, and things to see and do beyond the vines.