The Best Wine Bars in Portland, Oregon

What was once Les Caves — NE Alberta’s intimate, subterranean wine bar — is now Bar Nina. With former co-owner Jeff Vejr stepping away to focus on other projects, co-owners Ksenija Kostic House and John House of Ovum Wines have fully taken over the joint, keeping beloved touches like the fun “mystery pour” option and the cult-favorite grilled cheese sandwich while tweaking the wine list and adding new snacky food options like Spanish sausages. Ovum’s signature and summery muscat, gewurztraminer, and riesling mash-up Big Salt and its sister wines are served outdoors, as they should be, at the seasonal Big Salt Bar in the open-air former Les Clos space. The indoor wine bar and tasting room area pours Ovum’s small-production Oregon whites, Spanish and Portuguese imports from La Luz Selections, and enticing finds across the wine-world spectrum, including Georgian oranges and French bubbles.