Stem Wine Bar

Two hundred wines by the glass. Let that land for a second. Stem doesn't hand you a laminated sheet with eight options — it hands you a project. The room feels like a French café that wandered north on Mississippi Ave and decided to stay, complete with a patio and live music that somehow doesn't make the whole thing feel like a tourist trap.

The list is anchored in France and Oregon, which is exactly the right pairing for Portland — old-world discipline, new-world terroir, and a natural wine thread woven through both. Oregon heavyweights like Domaine Drouhin, Eyrie Vineyards, and Cristom share real estate with French producers, giving the list genuine range rather than the usual Willamette Valley monoculture you find at half the wine spots in this city. There are gaps in the research — South America and Spain aren't exactly the focus here — but that's not a criticism when the depth in the core regions is this strong. The natural wine presence keeps things interesting and signals that whoever is curating this list has an actual point of view.

Two hundred by-the-glass options is either a dream or a paralysis event depending on your personality — we'd argue dream. The price range of roughly $12–$25 a glass is honest for Portland and refreshingly un-greedy for a list this size. There's a wine club and regular tasting events, which suggests the glass program rotates with intention rather than coasting on the same twelve pours all year.