History of Oregon wine
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The history of Oregon wine production stretches back to before the state was incorporated. Settlers to the Oregon Territory planted grapes as early as the 1840s, however the production of
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
has only been a significant industry 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 ...
since the 1960s. Oregon wines first achieved significant critical notice in the late 1970s; in 2005, the industry sold 1.6 million cases of Oregon vintages with a retail value of US$184.7 million. In 2015, there were 702 wineries and 28,034 acres of vitis vinifera planted.


From settlement to Prohibition

Grapes were first planted in the Oregon Territory in 1847 by
Henderson Luelling Henderson William Luelling (April 23, 1809 – December 28, 1878) was an American horticulturist, Quaker, abolitionist and early Oakland, California settler. He introduced varietal fruits to the Pacific coast, first to Oregon and later to Californ ...
, a horticulturist who traveled to the territory on the
Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what ...
. The first recorded winery, Valley View Vineyard, was established in Jacksonville (in what is now the
Rogue Valley AVA The Rogue Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in southern Oregon. The federal government approved this appellation in 1991. It is entirely contained within the larger Southern Oregon AVA and includes the drainage basin of the Rog ...
) in the 1850s by Peter Britt, several years before the state was founded in 1859. The earliest large vineyards in the Willamette Valley was probably cultivated by French immigrant Jean Mathiot in Butteville where he settled in 1853. He planted grapes in 1858 and according to the Oregon Statesman Journal had the largest vineyard in the State in 1859.Oregon Statesman Journal, August 18, 1859 In the first Oregon census in 1860, wine production was listed at 11,800 liters (2,600 gallons), though it is certain that not all of this came from grapes. In the 1880s, numerous immigrants to Southern Oregon experimented with various varietals, including
Zinfandel Zinfandel (also known as Primitivo) is a variety of black-skinned wine grape. The variety is grown in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA analysis has revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštel ...
, Riesling, and an unknown variety of Sauvignon. By 1899, Oregon vineyards yielded 2,694 tons of grapes. Five years later, a
Forest Grove A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
winemaker, Ernest Reuter, won a silver medal at the
1904 St. Louis World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 milli ...
The vineyard on which the grapes were grown was located on David Hill west of
Forest Grove A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
.


Middle twentieth century

Wine production in Oregon, like elsewhere in the United States, shut down during the Prohibition era, but resumed in 1933. The Oregon wine industry remained small for several decades, and was dominated by fruit wines (including wines based on grapes other than ''
Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curre ...
''). By that time the California wine industry, with its warmer climate, had come to dominate wine production in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Only two Oregon wineries produced wine using ''V. vinifera'' through the middle of the century, both on a rather small scale.


Rebirth of an industry: The 1960s and 1970s

The Oregon wine industry started to rebuild in the 1960s.
Hillcrest Vineyard Hillcrest may refer to: Places Australia * Hillcrest, Queensland, a suburb of Logan City *Hillcrest, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide *Hillcrest, Tasmania, suburb of Burnie Canada * Hillcrest, Alberta, also known as Hillcrest Mines *Hillcrest ...
, established by
UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
graduate Richard Sommer, opened near Roseburg in 1961 (in what is now the
Umpqua Valley AVA The Umpqua Valley AVA is one of the first American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Oregon and located entirely within Douglas County, Oregon. It became a sub-appellation within the larger Southern Oregon AVA when it was established in 2004. Its bound ...
), with the first vintage appearing for sale in 1964. Among the first varieties planted by Sommer in 1961 was the first
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.' ...
in Oregon that was also the first commercially available Oregon Pinot noir with the 1967 vintage. Also in the 1960s, several winemakers started planting
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.' ...
grapes in the
Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...
, including
David Lett David Lett (1939 – October 9, 2008) was the founder and winemaker for The Eyrie Vineyards in the U.S. state of Oregon. He was a pioneer in the Oregon wine industry. Lett grew up on a farm in Holladay, Utah earned a degree in philosophy and pre ...
and Charles Coury. In 1966, Lett planted a vineyard in the hills outside of
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(
Eyrie Vineyards The Eyrie Vineyards is an American winery in Oregon that consists of in five different vineyards in the Dundee Hills AVA of the Willamette Valley. In 1965, against the advice of his viticultural professors at the University of California, Davis, ...
). By 1970, the state had five bonded wineries, with in production.Chemeketa Community College: Northwest Viticultural Center: Oregon Wine Historical Milestones
Many out-of-state winemakers, the bulk of them from California, began migrating to the state, including Dick Erath, Dick and Nancy Ponzi,
Susan Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...
and Bill Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser Winery, David and Ginny Adelsheim, Pat and Joe Campbell, Jerry and Ann Preston, and Myron Redford. In 1973, Oregon passed its landmark land-use law, which imposed strict separation between agricultural and urban uses of land via such mechanisms as the Urban Growth Boundary and Exclusive Farm Use Zones. This prevented many hillsides, deemed inappropriate for other crops which are easier to grow on flat fields, from being converted to housing. Also in the 1970s, the winemakers of the region began to organize to promote their vintages. In 1977, the first coffee table book about Northwest wines, entitled ''Winemakers of the Pacific Northwest'', was printed; the following year, a joint marketing brochure entitled "Discover Oregon Wines" was published. But it was events of 1979 that put the Oregon wine industry on the map. Eyrie Vineyards' 1975 South Block Pinot noir placed in the top 10 at the Gault-Millau French Wine Olympiades, and was rated the top Pinot noir, one of several non-European vintages to outplace
French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and America ...
s in the competition. Not only did the competition establish Oregon as a region capable of producing top-quality wines, it also established that premium winemaking was not the exclusive province of
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,
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in particular. French winemaker Robert Drouhin arranged for a rematch, pitting the Eyrie Pinot noir against a group of French wines considered to be finer than those in the Wine Olympics. The winner was Joseph Drouhin's 1959 Chambolle-Musigny; the Eyrie came in a very close second.


Global recognition: The 1980s

Oregon winemakers continued to win awards in the 1980s. In 1980, there thirty-four bonded Oregon wineries, and 115 growers with planted. The 1980 vintage was greatly affected by the
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive eru ...
, and two wines from that vintage won gold medals in the 1982 International Wine Competition in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Ponzi Vineyards (then of Beaverton, now
Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland *Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district from ...
) was favorably covered by the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
in 1981. In 1984, noted wine critic
Robert M. Parker, Jr. Robert McDowell Parker Jr. (born July 23, 1947) is a retired U.S. wine critic. His wine ratings on a 100-point scale and his newsletter ''The Wine Advocate'' are influential in American wine buying and are therefore a major factor in setting th ...
visited Oregon and was highly impressed with the Pinots he encountered. Oregon Pinots won further acclaim in the 1985 Burgundy Challenge, wherein wine experts could not distinguish between Oregon and
Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
Pinot noirs in a blind taste test; in the rankings, the Oregon wines were rated ahead of the Burgundy entrants. Also in 1985, the Oregon wine industry received its first mention in ''
Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertain ...
''. The 1980s also saw continued efforts at marketing the Oregon wine industry. The Oregon Wine Advisory Board was established in 1983, and in 1984 the Willamette Valley AVA,
Umpqua Valley AVA The Umpqua Valley AVA is one of the first American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Oregon and located entirely within Douglas County, Oregon. It became a sub-appellation within the larger Southern Oregon AVA when it was established in 2004. Its bound ...
,
Columbia Valley AVA The Columbia Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area which lies in the Columbia River Plateau, through much of central and southern Washington State, with a small section crossing into the neighboring state of Oregon. The AVA includes the d ...
, and
Walla Walla Valley AVA The Walla Walla Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located within Washington state and extending partly into the northeastern corner of Oregon. The wine region is entirely included within the larger Columbia Valley AVA. In addition to ...
s were established. In 1986, the
International Pinot Noir Celebration International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
was started at
Linfield College Linfield University is a private university with campuses in McMinnville, and Portland, Oregon. Linfield Wildcats athletics participates in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. Linfield reported a combined 1,755 students after the fall ...
in McMinnville, and in 1989, Willamette Valley Vineyards became the first publicly traded winery in the state. Greater ties between Oregon and Burgundy were established in the 1980s. Close ties were forged between horticulturalists at
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...
and notable French wine cultivation experts, such as Raymond Bernard at ONIVINS; this relationship gave Oregon vintners access to clones that California growers were not able to acquire. In 1987, the Drouhin family of Burgundy, one of France's highly regarded winemaking families, purchased in the North Willamette Valley, founding the
Domaine Drouhin Oregon Maison Joseph Drouhin is a French wine producer based in Burgundy that was founded in 1880. The estate owns vineyards in Chablis, the Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune and Côte Chalonnaise, as well as in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Drouhin i ...
winery. In 1988, then-governor Neil Goldschmidt made an official visit to Burgundy.


Modern Oregon wine industry: 1990s and beyond

By 1990, there were 70 bonded Oregon wineries and 320 growers, with vineyard planted. The Oregon wine industry received a stern challenge from nature, when the ''
Phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs ...
'' root louse was discovered in Oregon. This necessitated the use of ''Phylloxera''-resistant rootstocks, many vineyards took this as an opportunity to select different varieties of grapes more suited to their particular location. The
Rogue Valley AVA The Rogue Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in southern Oregon. The federal government approved this appellation in 1991. It is entirely contained within the larger Southern Oregon AVA and includes the drainage basin of the Rog ...
was established; three years later, the Oregon Wine Marketing Coalition was founded. In 1995, the Oregon Legislature enacted several new laws which were beneficial to winemakers. Direct in-state wine shipments from wineries to customers were legalized, allowing Oregon winemakers to partially bypass wine wholesalers. In-store wine tasting was also legalized, as were certain off-site special events hosted by wineries.
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...
established a professorship in fermentation science. In 1998, the wine industry contributed US$120 million to the Oregon economy. A further legal change occurred in 1999, when legislation (HB 3429) was passed allowing multiple winery licensees on a single premise. This led to new winemaking arrangements, such as the Carlton Winemakers Studio and the SE Wine Collective. The 21st century has seen an emphasis on "green" wine production in Oregon. LIVE, an Oregon non-profit, certifies wineries for meeting certain environmental standards; over 320 vineyards and 41 wineries are now so certified. In 2002, Oregon became a leader in green winemaking with the Sokol-Blossor barrel room and the Carlton Winemakers Studio being
LEED-certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
by the
U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...
. In 2006, the Stoller Vineyards winery was also LEED-certified. The
Applegate Valley AVA The Applegate Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in southern Oregon. It is entirely contained within the Rogue Valley AVA, which is itself included within the larger Southern Oregon AVA. The region is named for the Applegate Ri ...
was established in 2000; Yamhill-Carlton District AVA in 2004; Southern Oregon AVA in 2004;
Columbia Gorge AVA The Columbia Gorge AVA is an American Viticultural Area which includes land surrounding the Columbia River Gorge, straddling the border between Oregon and Washington. Due to the significant gradations of climate and geography found in the gor ...
in 2004; Dundee Hills AVA in 2005;
McMinnville AVA The McMinnville AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Yamhill County, Oregon. It is entirely contained within the Willamette Valley AVA, roughly running from McMinnville, Oregon, McMinnville to Sheridan, Oregon, Sheridan. The AVA was ...
in 2005;
Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon 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 ...
in 2005;
Ribbon Ridge AVA The Ribbon Ridge AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Yamhill County, Oregon. It is the smallest AVA in Oregon and is entirely contained within the Chehalem Mountains AVA, which in turn is entirely contained within the larger Willamette ...
in 2005; Eola-Amita Hills AVA in 2006;
Chehalem Mountains AVA The Chehalem Mountains AVA is an American Viticultural Area {AVA) located in the Yamhill and Washington counties of northwestern Oregon. It contains two sub-regions, Laurelwood District AVA and Ribbon Ridge AVA. History The petition process fo ...
in 2006;
Snake River Valley AVA The Snake River Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area that encompasses an area in Southwestern Idaho and two counties in eastern Oregon. The Idaho Grape Growers and Wine Producers Commission and the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor f ...
in 2007; in 2003 the Oregon Wine Advisory Board (under the state
Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
) was replaced with the
Oregon Wine Board The Oregon Wine Board (OWB) is a semi-independent agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon that promotes development of the wine industry within the state, and coordinates both domestic and export marketing efforts for the industry. The ...
, a semi-independent state agency. The Oregon Wine History Project began in 2010 at
Linfield College Linfield University is a private university with campuses in McMinnville, and Portland, Oregon. Linfield Wildcats athletics participates in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. Linfield reported a combined 1,755 students after the fall ...
in McMinnville, Oregon, under the auspices of the Linfield Center for the Northwest. The project maintains an extensive Oregon wine history archive. In 2012, Oregon Public Broadcasting aired the documentary Oregon Wine: Grapes of Place about the history of wine in Oregon produced in partnership with the
Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preser ...
. Funding was provided by James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, Robert D. & Marcia H. Randall Fund for Lifelong Learning,
Oregon Cultural Trust Oregon Cultural Trust is a cultural promotion and preservation organization in the U.S. state of Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northe ...
and Roundhouse Foundation. By 2015, Oregon had 702 wineries and 1052 vineyards with planted.


References

{{Oregon wine History of Oregon Oregon wine