About Adega Northwest Winery

In 2014, Winemaker Bradford Cowin in collaboration with his mother, Tana Mendes Bidwell decided to create a winery dedicated to hand crafted wines produced in the Pacific Northwest and influenced by the wines of Europe.  Paying homage to his grandfather and the family’s Portuguese ancestry, they named the winery Adega Northwest (Portuguese for wine cellar). 

Today, Adega Northwest is a flourishing winery in Portland, Oregon under the ownership of Bradford Cowin and business partner Darren Harris.  The grapes Adega Northwest uses are sourced from some of the finest vineyards in Washington State and Oregon.

BRADFORD COWIN
Winemaker / Founder / Managing Partner

Bradford Cowin has worked at prominent wineries in the Pacific Northwest, California, and Argentina since 2007. His winemaking style is inspired by the Bordeaux and Rhone wines of France and his pursuit has been to recreate those flavors in the Northwest. Bradford’s goal has been to make the Adega Northwest wines elegant, and not overly extracted with silky tannins, soft fruit and texture.

Bradford developed his interest in wine and food while working in the restaurant industry.  This led him to pursue and complete a wine certification from the International Sommelier Guild. He has worked as a Sommelier in fine dining restaurants in New York City, Colorado, Washington D.C., Portland, Oregon and Seattle. In New York City, he managed the wine program for the Patina Restaurant Associates Group at Rockefeller Center, including the acclaimed Sea Grill.  In Colorado, he managed the wine program and restaurants for Rock Resort’s, The Lodge at Vail.

His increasing interest and desire to focus on the art of winemaking prompted a decision in 2007 to abandon caution by placing his burgeoning food industry career on hold in order to pursue a series of internships at distinguished wineries. Starting from the ground up, he began as a cellar hand at R. Stuart & Co. in McMinnville Oregon, followed by Malbec focused vintages at Bodegas Renacer winery in Mendoza, Argentina where he was also exposed to Italian Amarone style winemaking techniques through work with renowned winemaker, Alberto Antonini.

Returning to the U.S. he secured positions at Williams Selyem (Russian River Valley), Andrew Rich at the Carlton Winemakers Studio (Willamette Valley) and Long Shadows Winery (Walla Walla, WA), gradually taking on more responsibility and knowledge with each move. 

Bradford’s work at the Long Shadows Winery proved to be a turning point in his pursuit of full-time time wine-making. In 2011, under the mentorship of Gilles Nicault, Long Shadow’s Director of Winemaking and Viticulture, Bradford purchased his first Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from the Weinbau Vineyard, in the Wahluke Slope of Washington State and was given space at Long Shadows to produce it.  From that, in partnership with three others from Portland, Oregon, his first label, Script Cellars was born.

Bradford continued to establish relationships with some of the finest vineyards in Washington State and the Colombia Valley and immediately gained recognition for his 2011 Script Cellars Exordium Cabernet Sauvignon. Exordium won the Platinum Medal and Best Red in the Northwest Food & Wine festival and received 91 points from Wine Enthusiast. Production increased from 100 cases to 500 cases within three years.

By 2013, he realized that his love for Oregon was too strong to keep him away and he made the choice to return to the first place he began studying winemaking, where he continued to make wine under the Script Cellars label.  

In 2014, Bradford was ready to try something new and created a second label in collaboration with his mother, Tana Mendes Bidwell.  Paying homage to his grandfather and the family’s Portuguese ancestry, they named the winery Adega Northwest, (Portuguese for wine cellar).

Today, Adega Northwest is a thriving winery in Portland, Oregon under the ownership of Bradford and partner Darren Harris.  The winery currently produces Alvarinho (Albarino), Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Syrah, Grenache, Mataro (Mourvedre), Tempranillo, Touriga Nacional, Souzao, and Graciano.  These wines continue to be inspired by the wines of Europe.