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Willamette Valley AVA

Oregon


Cool and moist, the Willamette Valley wine region is Oregon’s largest AVA and contains most of Oregon’s wineries. This 100-mile long, 60-mile wide valley stretches between the Columbia River in the north, to just below Eugene in the south and the Oregon Coast Range in the west and the Cascade Mountains on the east. Home to about 400 wineries and a host of wine shops and wine bars, wine enthusiasts who visit, often come for the area’s well-known Pinot Noir.

The area, due to its cool climate, is limited in the varieties that will grow there. Within the Valley there are six sub-regions designated as AVAs in 2005 and 2006. The AVAs are: McMinnville Foothills, Dundee Hills, Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton, Eola-Amity Hills and the Chehalem Mountains. The region encompasses some 3.3 million acres with most of the grapes coming from vineyards on the hillsides in the western part of the valley. In the north the Valley includes Oregon’s largest city, Portland which many visitors use as their home base when visiting the Willamette Valley wine region.

We have had to pleasure to feature wines from this region in our Pinot Noir Wine Club.