Touring Oregon Wine Country. N atural boundaries and the Willamette River create the mile long, mile wide Willamette Valley, home to more than of Oregon's wineries and many more wine shops and wine bars. Coolest of Oregon's wine regions, this elongated, "V"-shaped Valley is bordered to the north by the Columbia River, to the south by the Calapooya Mountains south of Eugene , to the east by the Cascade Mountain foothills, and to the west by Oregon's Coast Range.
C onsidered to be a cool, marginal wine-growing region, the Willamette Valley's climate is suited to a narrower range of wine grape varieties than many other American wine regions. The Willamette Valley's climate is particularly well matched to the early-ripening Pinot noir grape for which Oregon wineries are strongly identified.
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When the Willamette Valley AVA was first authorized , its geographic description included some 3. Marine sedimentary soil—ancient seafloor—is the oldest of the soils, dating back million years.
Tectonic movement and volcanoes covered some of the land with basalt million years ago. Within the past , years, wind blew silt from the floodplains around the valley, creating a soil type called loess. The prevalence of these three soils, the way in which they are layered, their depth, and the degree to which they are decomposed differ from one zone, or vineyard, to another and give the wines unique signatures. The Willamette Valley has a cool, maritime climate.
The Willamette Valley climate is dramatically affected by the Pacific Ocean, roughly 50 miles to the west, but the Coast Range of mountains blocks some of the cold air and precipitation.
There is also substantial variance in weather from one year to the next, which leads to great differences in the wines from vintage to vintage. The Willamette Valley has four distinct seasons with long, hot summer days, but a short growing season. The Willamette Valley is a relatively young wine region.
Even then, growth was slow in the industry until the early s. Pinot Noir is the dominant variety. It accounts for nearly 16, acres, more than three-quarters of all vineyard land. The next-most planted variety is Pinot Gris with 3, acres, then Chardonnay [1,] and Riesling [].
Generally speaking though, they are red fruited and savory. In most vintages, the wines are best with a few years of bottle age. Map: Willamette Valley Wineries Association. Note that many Willamette Valley wineries make wine from a multiple vineyards, not all of which are in the same nested AVA as the winery. Wine formerly NorCalWine. Willamette Valley Wineries Winegrowers Association. Ribbon Ridge Map Winegrowers Association. McMinnville Map Winegrowers Association.
South Willamette Valley Map. Umpqua Valley Map Winegrowers Association. Columbia Gorge Map Winegrowers Association. It is often said that Pinot noir wine, perhaps more so than any other varietal, is "all about place". The French call it "terroir", loosely translated "sense of place". In the world of wine it specifically denotes the idea that the land where the grapes are grown imparts unique characteristics to the wine.
Appellation designations for wines around the world generally follow this model, although the specifics can vary widely from country to country. In the U. Soil is an important component of terroir. The traditional definition of a superior Pinot noir is one that expresses the uniqueness of the soil where the grapes were grown. Below is a table of soil types in the Willamette Valley associated with vineyards planted in Pinot noir.
For detailed information on soil types and characteristics see Oregon Soil Survey Data. While "type of Pinot noir grape" or "clone" is not a component of terroir, it is integral to the manifestation of terroir in wine.
Different Pinot noir clones impart unique qualities to wine.
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