About BTW
Hi! My name is Bonny MacDonald, and I am the owner of Bottle Trip Wines; here to offer you an adventurous, and welcoming hand- down into the rabbit hole of wine.
About BTW:
In addition to offering you some stellar selections to aid you on your wine journey, I offer my Sommelier and planning services for events, special occasions, corporate gifting, and consultation for beverage programs.
The mission is to help people explore their curiosity for wine, and offer direction once they are ready to move beyond what they are used to. My carefully chosen wine selections and resources will spare you from staring at “the big wall of wine” at the grocery store for 15 minutes, when you should already be at the party or starting a movie on the couch.
Bottle Trip Wines is focused on finding quality off the beaten path, with wines made by people (not machines and chemicals), and where prices aren’t inflated to pay for the fluffy lies crafted by marketers.
About Myself:
I am most passionate about the wines of Oregon, which is why I moved back to Portland after spending 11 years away between Austin, TX and New Orleans, LA.
While most of my wine studies have been on my own accord over the last 13 years, I intentionally sought out the education and certification from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, where I received my Level 3 Certificate in Wine. Additionally, I passed the Level 1 exam of the Court of Master Sommeliers.
All of that came after my first wine job, where I worked my way up to be the Wine Director for Louisiana Pizza Kitchen at the French Market in New Orleans. I brought in a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award, while managing an inventory of 500+ bottles, 100+ different types of wines.
Learning early about how to make a wine program that is progressive, we utilized preservation technology with a WineKeeper™ nitrogen-pumped bottle system. This allowed us to sell glass pours of premium selections, increase profit, and minimize product loss, long before the wonderful Coravin™ gadget came along.
In 2020, a deeper understanding of wine was cemented after working as a harvest intern for Franchere Wine Company and Hanson Vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley AVA, followed up with a second year of working for their 2021 harvest.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ever be a winemaker, but I was sure that I absolutely needed to participate in the process at least once in order to be an honest and serious wine specialist.
Alongside my wine studies and service experience, I spent a lot of time with craft cocktail bartending. It felt good being able to create something that made people excited, and it was instrumental to building my acuity with aroma and flavor.
One of the more notable local examples of my craft cocktail side, was my four years with the Machado Restaurant Group. I loved my position as Bar Manager at Altabira City Tavern (the rooftop bar above the Hotel Eastlund). This led to my role as bar consultant for their subsequent endeavor- Tanner Creek Tavern. All throughout, I also managed and planned the banquet bars for the private event rooms, and initiated a company-wide private selection barrel program with Four Roses Bourbon.
In 2019, I chose to take a step back from management so I could focus on more wine (and spend more time with my family). I joined the crew at Bar Casa Vale so I could take a deep dive into Spanish Wine; where sherry and vermouth thoroughly became my happy place at the end of my shift while working during the pandemic.
With the pandemic-future looking uncertain, I decided the smartest bet, was to bet on myself. So, in 2021, I started Bottle Trip Wines, to serve as a hub for selling my chosen wine selections, wine catering for events, and to provide consultation services. Most of all- my mission is to help people explore their curiosity for wine, and offer direction, once they are ready to move beyond what they are used to.