The Umpqua Valley AVA is one of the first American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Oregon and located entirely within

Douglas County, Oregon Douglas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 111,201. The county seat is Roseburg. The county is named after Stephen A. Douglas, an American politician who supported Orego ...

. It became a sub-appellation within the larger Southern Oregon AVA when it was established in 2004. Its boundaries are detailed in Code of Federal Regulations, Title 27 Chapter I Part 9 section 89(C). Umpqua Valley includes two sub-appellations, the

Red Hill Douglas County AVA The Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Douglas County, Oregon, near the town of Yoncalla. It is entirely contained within the Umpqua Valley AVA, which is itself included within the larger Southern O ...

and the

Elkton Oregon AVA The Elkton Oregon AVA is an American Viticultural Area that was established in 2013 in and around the town of Elkton, Oregon. The AVA encompasses . It is 17th AVA in Oregon and resides completely inside the greater Umpqua Valley AVA and huge So ...

. Grapes grown here include

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

, Pinot gris,

Tempranillo Tempranillo (also known as Ull de Llebre, Cencibel, Tinto Fino and Tinta del Pais in Spain, Aragonez or Tinta Roriz in Portugal, and several other synonyms elsewhere) is a black grape variety widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its ...

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

, Riesling and more. The first post-

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

estate winery in Oregon was established at

HillCrest Vineyards HillCrest Vineyard is the oldest continually operating post-prohibition estate winery in the state of Oregon. Established in 1961 by Richard Sommer, who planted the first Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ' ...

in 1961, where the first Pinot Noir vines in Oregon were planted. In 1995 the first

vines in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

were planted at

Abacela Abacela is an American winery estate owned by Earl and Hilda Jones that is located in the Umpqua Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). It was the first winery to commercially grow and produce wine from Spain's Noble Tempranillo grape in Ameri ...

resulting in the first 100% varietal

wines in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. The first commercial Grüner Veltliner in the U.S. was produced in the Umpqua Valley AVA by Reustle Prayer Rock Vineyards.

References

{{Coord, 43.27055, -123.49750, display=title
American Viticultural Areas Oregon wine Geography of Douglas County, Oregon 1984 establishments in Oregon