Oregon

Located in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, Oregon is undoubtably one of the world’s newest and most exciting wine regions. It was as recent as 1961 that the modern Oregon wine industry got going, when Richard Sommer, of Hillcrest Vineyard, planted Oregon’s first vinifera grapes in Umpqua Valley. The first plantings of Pinot Noir in Willamette Valley were made in 1965 by the legendary David Lett, who championed the use of Burgundy varieties owing to the cool climate. Following Lett, David Adelsheim fought to have the Dijon clone of Pinot Noir approved for use, believing them — correctly— to be superior to the Davis clones in use at that time, winning the battle in 1984. The 1980s would prove fundamental to Oregon’s recognition as a quality wine region. Oregon, like California, was firmly placed on the international podium by a blind tasting held in New York in 1985. They tasted Oregon Pinot Noir against Burgundies costing twice as much and the top 3 chosen were from Oregon. And so kicked off the Burgundian interest in the region, led by Burgundy-born Véronique Drouhin travelled to Oregon in 1988 to work the vintage in Willamette Valley and created the Domaine Drouhin Oregon label further pushing Oregon into the international spotlight. Unfortunately, just as Oregon was blossoming the dreaded vine-root louse, phylloxera hit the Willamette Valley in 1990 forcing vineyard owners to rip out vines and replant on grafted phylloxera-resistant rootstock.

Oregon has a reputation for being rainy but even in the wettest areas, precipitation is concentrated into winter months and the growing season is typically dry. The Coast Range, Siskiyou Mountains and the Cascade Range help further by creating rain shadows in Oregon’s winegrowing regions. Oregon boasts on average fifteen hours of daylight during growing season and with the Pacific Ocean, loads of rivers and mountain ranges providing cool air flows in the summer and frost protection in spring helping to further extend the growing season. Such variety in the complexion of the vineyards are key to the breadth of character the region’s wines possess. The soil profiles are another reason why the wine are such high quality. Oregon’s unique soils are a result of its location in the ring of fire. An area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean that is home to 75% of the world’s volcanoes and 90% of the world’s earthquakes.

Oregon now has 19 approved winegrowing regions and more than 790 wineries producing almost 100 different varieties of grapes. It is blessed with some of the most diverse and beautiful wine-growing landscapes in the world, from the bench lands soaring above the Columbia River Gorge to Willamette Valley’s green, rolling hills and finally the deep valleys of Southern Oregon. The Expansion of Oregon’s wineries has been fast and furious growing from only 139 in 2000 up to 793 in 2018. However, winegrowing is concentrated in the northern Willamette valley, accounting for 68% of vineyards, where Chehalem Mountains, Dundee Hills and Yamhill-Carlton some of the best AVAs. Southern Oregon coming in second with 25% of production, focussed on Umpqua Valley, Appelgate Valley and Red Hill Douglas County. The other Four regions—Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Gorge, Columbia Valley, and the urban wineries of Portland—combined account for a mere 7%, although they are in growth. In total there are 14,555Ha planted to vines in Oregon. The focus remains on small artisanal production with multiple producers in California and Washington producing more wine than all of the wineries in Oregon combined.