Wine Tasting Oregon – the Big Picture
So much to love about wine tasting Oregon! First, and foremost – it’s a great place for growing wine grapes! (I love the Oregon Wine Board’s spin – “If you were a wine grape, you’d want to be planted in Oregon.“) The perfect northerly latitude offers long summer days and cool nights. Between a coastal range providing a magnificently rugged westerly coast, and the Cascade Mountains extending down from Washington, lie cool hillsides and expansive valley wine regions, extending from the north to the south – Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue.
With over 700 wineries, mountain, valley and coastal vistas, spectacular gardens, waterfalls, and dramatic ocean side cliffs, wine tasting in Oregon is a special wine touring destination!
A little history
Sharing the story of the Washington wine industry, (here’s our brief overview – Wines of Washington State) that first settlement by the Hudson Bay Company in Fort Vancouver, Washington in the 1820’s (just across the Columbia River from Oregon) is credited with establishing the viability of wine growing in the Northwest (this resource has a cute little vignette of where the original planting seeds may have come from.)
The influx of pioneers following the Oregon Trail in the 1830’s brought them to the mild, fertile Willamette Valley, a perfect place for immigrants with an agricultural background! Although the first winery opened in 1855 and post-prohibition interest picked up in the 1950’s, the 1960’s are considered the beginning of the modern era of the Oregon wine industry. Credit is largely given to a dental school candidate from Utah, David Lett, who somehow caught the wine bug, went to school to study wine in California, and became convinced the hillsides of the Willamette Valley would produce outstanding pinot grapes, mostly pinot noir. Turns out, he was right!
When Wine Tasting Oregon, Pinot Noir is King!
Oregon has a wonderful micro-climates and the soils for growing many great varietals, but, no varietal is identified as strongly with wine tasting in Oregon as is pinot noir. Over 70% of all acreage in Oregon is planted in red wines, and of that, almost 90% is pinot noir. That’s nearly 2/3rds of all the state’s vineyard acreage planted in one varietal – the luscious pinot noir!
Looking for broader palate appeal? Oregon’s got your whites (and syrah and merlot and…)
You get the picture pinot noir is important, but, other varietals are prospering in Oregon too. The value per ton of varietals such as chardonnay, pinot gris, syrah and merlot are approaching the “average” Sonoma/Napa prices, and command far higher prices than neighboring Washington. Gives me a little sense of what Mr. Market says about the grapes!
You’re going to love exploring the beauty and sumptuousness of wine tasting Oregon! Particularly in Oregon, you’re truly supporting local families and economies – you’ll find most of the wineries are still small and family-owned. And when you go, we recommend picking up a wine passport – it’s smart to save some money on your tasting fees and have more in the budget for buying your new favorite wines!
Instant savings on wine tasting in Oregon, Washington and California!