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 Oreg ...

. It became a sub-appellation within the larger

Southern Oregon AVA The Southern Oregon AVA is an American Viticultural Area which lies in Southern Oregon, United States. The Southern Oregon AVA was established in 2005 and was created to include the land of two smaller AVAs: the Rogue Valley AVA and the Umpqua ...

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 and the Elkton Oregon AVA. Grapes grown here include Pinot noir,

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

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, Chardonnay,

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

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 alcohol ...

estate winery in Oregon was established at HillCrest Vineyards in 1961, where the first Pinot Noir vines in Oregon were planted. In 1995 the first

vines in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

were planted at Abacela 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. Tho ...

. The first commercial

Grüner Veltliner Grüner Veltliner (Green Veltliner) ) is a white wine grape variety grown primarily in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The leaves of the grape vine are five-lobed with bunches that are long but compact, and deep green grapes ...

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