Williamette Valley Produces Prize-Winning Wines
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Willamette Valley is home to one of the world’s leading wine-producing regions. This is Pinot Noir country, with some 200 vintners producing a wide array of wines.
Among the leaders is Willamette Valley Vineyards. The wine producer has been named one of America’s Great Pinot Noir Producers by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.
“Our mission is to create classic, elegant Oregon wine while being good stewards of the land,” says founder Jim Bernau. “Every plant, creature and person is respected here. We use certified sustainable farming methods, bio-fuels in all of our tractors and delivery vehicles, and were the first winery in the world to use natural FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified corks in our wine bottles.”
The Willamette Valley Wineries Association offers this explanation for the success of the fertile wine-producing region: “Buffered from Pacific storms on the west by the Coast Range, the valley follows the Willamette River north to south for more than a hundred miles from the Columbia River near Portland to just south of Eugene. To the east, the Cascade Range draws the boundary between the Willamette Valley’s misty, cool climate and the drier, more extreme climate of eastern Oregon.”
Simply put, this is a perfect wine-growing region, with wet, cool winters and dry, sunny, warm summers. As a result, there are six so-called “sub-appellations” within the Valley itself – Chehalem Mountains, Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge and Yamhill Carlton – which represent remarkable diversity, as well.
Story by Verne Gay
Photo by Jeff Adkins
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