RAM Cellars

Here at RAM Cellars, it’s our pleasure and honor to bring hand crafted wines to you and yours. We seek to make small batch lots of wines that are reflective of both the season they were grown and the varietal characteristics of the grapes they contain. We do this through native yeast ferments on all wines, zero fining or filtration, minimal sulfite levels, and meticulous treatment of our wines throughout their lifecycle in the cellar.

We work with some of the under-hyped Bordeaux varietals, like Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot, as well as Tempranillo, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, and Grüner Veltliner. Utilizing neutral french oak or stainless steel aging to accentuate the true varietal characteristics of the grapes, we work to develop balanced, approachable wines that exhibit good acidity and aromatics. We pick fruit earlier than some other wineries in order to ensure that our wines are acid forward, and we typically produce dryer whites, rosés, and red wines that are authentic and straightforward!

So, why the name RAM Cellars? The idea started as a combination of the honoring of family initials and the search for a meaningful brand icon for the winery. Our winemaker Vivianne’s late grandfather, one of her biggest supporters, had the initials R A M. Simply put, our name pays homage to family and those who came before us.

The launch of RAM Cellars was the culmination of years of studies and work by winemaker Vivianne Kennedy. An interest in wine turned into a love of wine, which turned into an intense curiosity about everything that goes into the production of premium wines. After the ‘aha’ moment at a barrel tasting at Washington State’s Kiona winery many years ago, Vivianne took up studies through Washington State University’s extension campus in Prosser, WA on both viticulture and enology, the science of wine winemaking.

Volunteer time at Davenlore Winery (Prosser, WA) through the Wazzu programs spread out over several years, as well as a short stint at Montinore Estate (Forest Grove, OR) during the 2012 harvest season were precursors to a harvest internship at Enso Winery (Portland, Oregon) in 2013. That harvest internship turned into a position as cellars master and assistant winemaker that lasted through the end of 2018. Learning from excellent winemakers along the way has made a major contribution to Vivianne’s winemaking philosophy.

From 2014 to 2019, RAM Cellars was just Vivianne (she / her), with occasional spot help for a few bigger events and a spare set of hands here and there during harvests. Viv launched the winery in 2014 and released the first RAM Cellars wines in early 2016. Pouring the wine somewhere nearly weekly, Viv created a market for the wines, bottle by bottle, at wine shops, New Seasons & Green Zebra Grocery stores, and restaurants in Oregon and Washington. In 2018, Vivianne made the decision that saved her life and came out as a transgender woman. In the spring of 2019, she launched the first wines under a new label, dubbed “VIV.” VIV label wines raise money for organizations that provide support to queer and transgender people through a $5 donation for the sale of every bottle. Although the name of this label is the shorthand of our winemaker’s full first name, it was actually chosen because “viv” is the French root word that means “to live, to be alive.” As Viv will tell you, making the choice to come into the light and live fully as herself meant that she, too, gets to live, and be alive, for a long time to come. With that extra life comes extra responsibility to do good, meaningful things for members of communities she is a part of, which led to the birth of the new label. Partners whom the Viv label has raised money for include the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (in support of their Name Change Project), Portland’s Q Center, and most recently the Trans Lifeline!

In August of 2019, Rebecca ‘Bex’ Fry (she / they) joined team RAM Cellars as our assistant winemaker. The 2019 harvest was a collaboration between Viv and Bex that yielded some truly beautiful wines in our VIV label Pinot Noir Blanc and Pinot Noir Rosé. Rebecca then took the lead on our beautiful 2020 Le Belier Orange and was an instrumental part of increased production during our 2021 harvest. In early 2022, Bex moved on from team RAM Cellars to focus fully on her work as street outreach coordinator for a Portland area nonprofit whose work focuses on providing a pathway from houselessness to permanent housing through wrap-around, supportive services. Bex will always be a part of the RAM Cellars team and we consider them to be one of our “winemakers in absentia.”

Gizmo the dog joined the winery team around the same time as Bex, in early August of 2019. He has no winemaking skills to speak of but is very cuddly and fluffy. He can do the circus dance and does the best Pom stare this side of the galaxy.

Then, in May of 2020, our communications and social media director, Aidan Kennedy (they / them), joined the team. Aidan also joined Viv and Bex as part of the winemaking team during the harvest of 2020, taking the lead on the Rosé of Tempranillo! Aidan has continued to help support the winery in a variety of ways, both through helping to manage our social media and communications and through production and event support since 2020!

Viv had this to say about Aidan and Bex’s contributions to the 2020 harvest:

”I love making wine. With every fiber of my being. And I want to see more queer and trans people doing it, having access to making wine and being able to successfully learn how to do it and be a part of our industry. To that end, for harvest 2020, I was overjoyed to see wine through a new perspective and support Aidan and Rebecca through the process of being the lead winemaker on their chosen projects, doing what I can to empower other queer folks to craft beautiful wines, starting with the queer folks closest to me. I hope that I’m able to continue to do this - and am thankful for the time that I have, doing what I love: making wine, and imparting that knowledge to others while I’m at it.”

In 2022, our largest harvest to date at 18.6 tons, our winery team included some new faces, with Keagan Cross (they / them) and Allison Riley (she / her) joining Viv and Aidan as our harvest interns that October. 2022 was the realization of our goal to continue to open our doors and team to other transgender folks interested in wine production, and Keagan and Allison were incredible additions to our team. They were part of our “all transgender winemaking team” in 2022!

Keagan’s time with the winery ended in January of 2023 when they relocated to Virginia with their partner, but their impact on the 2022 wines (they managed to talk Viv into making our first Pet Nat at RAM Cellars, a monumental feat in it’s own right) was a big one. Like Bex, although they are no longer here, they’ll always be a part of our winery team and we consider them another “winemaker in absentia.”

Allison has stayed on as our assistant winemaker and has been an integral part of our efforts so far in 2023 to tend to the 2022 wines and help us get the first rounds into bottle. You can regularly find Viv and Allison working together in the cellar, talking about the nuts and bolts and the science behind our winemaking choices as we work to bring the 2022 wines to your glasses, release-by-release!

Viv had this to say about Keagan and Allison’s contributions to our 2022 harvest, and our realization of our goals to create well-paid harvest internship opportunities for other trans folks in wine:

“2022 was an incredibly special vintage for us here at RAM Cellars for so many reasons. We increased our production to more than 1,000 cases per year in order to meet growing demand, both in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, but more importantly, we finally realized our goal to create and offer well paid harvest internship roles for other transgender folks looking to get their start in wine production. Allison and Keagan were both integral parts of our 2022 harvest and their hard work and ability to learn on the fly are reflected in the 2022 wines as they reach the marketplace. I am forever grateful for their help and consider it an honor to have been able to impart some of my wine knowledge to them and make wine side by side with them in 2022!”

Our wines are produced in SE Portland, utilizing space rented from our friends at Hip Chicks Do Wine. Our eventual goal is to open a tasting room in Portland, but, in the meantime, you can find our wines on the shelf at retailers and restaurants in Portland and the surrounding area, as well as in Astoria, OR, Vancouver, WA, and Pullman, WA. We are typically pouring somewhere 3 to 4 weekends a month! If you'd like to see our wines in your area or at your establishment, please reach out to vivianne@ramcellars.com to let us know!