Who We Are

Avalon Wine was founded in 1987 in Corvallis, Oregon and quickly evolved into a retail store specializing in Oregon and Washington wines. We launched our award-winning website, Northwest-wine.com, in 1999 featuring articles, interviews, columns, wine reviews, and an e-commerce site. 

In 2013, longtime Avalon employees Marcus Looze and Andy Osterhaus took over and moved to The Bindery in Portland, an eclectic urban space with a winery in the basement. We completely redesigned our website and have been rocking the whole time!

Our expertise is small production Oregon and Washington wines, coupled with hand-selected Italian wines. Wineries seek us out to taste and review their new releases, and we're often the first to write about up-and-coming producers. 

Our physical store is more of a tasting room, where we can host a small group wine tasting featuring our favorite wines. 

The Wine Guys

Marcus Looze

Marcus joined Avalon in 2004 and spent most of his time as Vice President, writing tasting notes, marketing emails, selecting wine club wines and occasionally sweeping the floor. He moved to Oregon in 2004 from Madison, Wisconsin, where he directed clean air and energy policy for a non-profit environmental organization. An avid cook and totally food obsessed, he often wakes up thinking about what to cook that night and of course, which wine to drink. He's been drumming for more than 30 years and has one of the coolest dogs on earth.

Andy Osterhaus

Andy became Avalon's Customer Service Manager in 2009 where he answered roughly three billion phone calls and emails while steering customers towards the perfect wine. He moved to Oregon in 2008 from Iowa City, Iowa, where he helped open and manage the wine bar and cafe at the famed Prairie Lights bookstore. He's been an appreciator and student of wine for as long as he's been legally able to admit. When not tasting or shipping wine he enjoys sharing meals with friends and family, cheering on the Iowa Hawkeyes, and suffering with the Chicago Cubs.