Willamette Valley
7/13/2024Willamette Valley, in western Oregon, is one of the United States' most important non-Californian AVAs. From the city of Portland, it stretches southwards for 120 miles (190km) down the eponymous river valley, covering some 3.4 million acres (1.3 million ha) of land.
Last updated 21-Feb-2024
The entrance to Willamette Valley Vineyards | © Wikimedia/WillametteValleyVineyards1983
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Pinot Noir is by far the most popular and top-performing variety here. The best Oregon Pinot Noirs are regularly compared to their significantly more expensive counterparts from Burgundy. Approximately 70-percent of the vineyards here are planted to the variety with Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Syrah and Riesling also found in quantity.
History
The fertile Willamette Valley has been the most densely populated area of Oregon since pioneers began to settle in the early 19th Century. Viticulture began in earnest here in the late 1960s, when students from the University of California's Davis campus looked north for inspiration, finding the climate in California unsuitable for Pinot Noir.
In 1979, a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir beat a host of wines from Burgundy to take a place in the top three at the Gault-Millau French Wine Olympiads. This made the world take notice of Oregon and the Willamette Valley; vineyard plantings and international interest have increased steadily ever since.
Sub-appellations of Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley became an AVA in 1984. In 2002, a group of producers banded together to mark out and petition for the creation of six new AVAs within the Willamette Valley to celebrate the diversity of the terroirs here. As a result, the following initial sub-AVAs were established between 2004 and 2006.
In late 2018, the Van Duzer Corridor, which was granted official AVA status. The topography of the area funnels coastal winds, creating conditions considered specific enough to warrant its own appellation. Van Duzer Vineyards is the dominant producer here.
Willamette Valley welcomed two new sub-AVAs in 2020. The Tualatin Hills AVA is tucked into the northwestern corner of the valley where a rainshadow is created by the highest peaks of the Coast Range creating a lower annual rainfall. It was officially established in May.
Laurelwood District follows in June. The sub region is distinct by its unique soils and high elevation, reaching up to 1633 feet (497 meters). It is encapsulated within the greater Chehalem Mountains AVA and currently has 25 wineries operating.
Terroir
The valley follows the path of the Willamette River, a tributary of the larger Columbia River that marks Oregon's northern border with Washington. The Cascade mountain range forms the valley's eastern border and the Oregon Coast Range on the western edge runs between the Willamette and the Pacific Ocean. Wine is produced throughout the valley, but the greatest concentration of vineyards is in the hills just south-west of Portland.
Climate
Although much of the Pacific's influence is blocked by the Coast Range, the climate in the Willamette Valley can be considered as maritime, with ocean breezes seeping in through a series of gaps in the mountains. Rain falls mostly in the winter, and long, dry summers with ample sunshine and cooler evenings provide an excellent ripening situation for the vines.
The threat of rain in autumn means that longer-ripening grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc have not thrived in the climate here, which is better suited to the earlier-ripening Pinot Noir. In fact, these rains and the general changeability of the climate can play havoc with the crop, and vintages in the Willamette Valley can be as variable in quality as those in Burgundy.
Soil Types
Most of the region's vineyards can be found on the many hills in the valley, where the soils are less fertile and there is less risk of frost. These hills are the result of tectonic shift and ancient lava flows and are characterized by their red, iron-rich soils known as Jory, a type so distinctive to the Willamette Valley that it has become Oregon's official state soil.
Other viticultural parts of the valley benefit from ancient sedimentary soils, and the valley floor is covered in fertile silt, the result of massive Ice Age floods that swept through Washington's Columbia Valley before settling in the Willamette Valley. This fertile soil is not suitable for viticulture, but supports Oregon's other important crops: hazelnuts, Christmas trees and hops for the production of beer.