Oregon Flashcards
What’s the collective name for the alluvial soils of the Willamette Valley?
Willamette Silt - found over older volcanic and sedimentary bedrock
What are the sub-AVAs of the Willamette Valley?
Chehalem Mountains Ribbon Ridge Yamhill-Carlton Dundee Hills McMinnville Eola-Amity Hills
What are the sub-AVAs of Southern Oregon AVA?
Red Hills Douglas County Umpqua Valley Elkton Oregon Rogue Valley Applegate Valley
What is the newest AVA in Oregon?
The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater, 2015.
What AVAs does Oregon share with Washington?
Walla Walla Valley
Columbia Valley
Columbia Gorge
What AVA does Oregon share with Idaho?
Snake River Valley
What and where is Idaho’s proposed new AVA?
Lewis-Clark Valley, shared between Idaho and Washington north of Walla Walla
Oregon has higher % requirements than the national average. What are they?
Varietal wines (with some exceptions) must contain 90% of the stated varietal. AVA wines must contain a minimum of 95% of grapes from the stated appellation.
What are the exceptions to Oregon’s varietal law?
BDX varietals Rhone varietals Zinfandel Sangiovese Tempranillo Tannat
What is Oregon’s largest producer?
King Estates
Where and when was the first Pinot Noir planted in Oregon, and by whom?
1961, in Umpqua Valley by Richard Sommer, at his winery Hillcrest.
When and where was the first Pinot Noir planted in the Willamette Valley, and by whom?
1965
David Lett (Eyrie); experimental vineyard near Corvallis in 1965, replanted in Dundee Hills in 1966.
Charles Coury in Chehalem Mountains (vines are part of the David Hill Winery today)
Other Willamette Valley Pioneers (of the Modern Era)
Erath (Chehalem Mountains, 1969) Ponzi (Chehalem Mountains, 1970) Amity Vineyards (Eola-Amity Hills, 1974) Elk Cove (Chehalam Mountains, 1974) Sokol Blosser (Dundee Hills, 1977) Bethel Heights (Eola-Amity Hills, 1977)
When and where was DDO founded?
1987, Dundee Hills
Compare and contrast the climates of the Willamette Valley and Burgundy
Both run roughly along the 45th parallel, are Region 1 and have similar average growing season temperatures.
However, the Côte d’Or’s season is compressed and shorter, with higher mid-season temperatures and lower temps in the spring and fall (to illustrate, budbreak is 1 week earlier and veraison and harvest 5 days later in the Willamette than Burgundy, on average).
Willamette is wetter (avg. 40 inches of rain annually), but most falls during the winter months, and the growing season is drier than Burgundy’s, resulting in less risk of rot and hail.
Willamette Valley: pest problems
Birds
Rust mites, nematodes, phylloxera
Gophers, voles, and other diggers
What does LIVE stand for? When was it founded, and when did it begin awarding certifications?
Low Input Viticulture and Enology
Promotes an overall reduction in the number of raw materials required in the vineyard and winery.
Founded in 1997 by Ted Casteel (Bethel Heights) and Carmo Vasconcelos (OSU).
Certifications began in Oregon in 1999 and Washington in 2006.
What is the average altitude of Willamette Valley vineyards?
275ft - 900ft; due to higher rainfall, the key is to find more nutrient poor soils at higher elevation.
What are the four major soil types of the Willamette Valley?
Uplifted Marine Sediments
Volcanic Soils
Loess
Missoula Flood Deposits
Describe Willamette’s uplifted marine sediments
Nutrient poor, derived from sandstone and shale. Oldest bedrock in the valley.
Willakenzie (northerly) and Bellpine (southerly) are examples.
Describe Willamette’s volcanic soils
Created by volcanic activity in the Cascades 15-17 million years ago; depleted and weathered basalt.
Contain more clay, and therefore retain more water, than the other soils in the valley.
Jory is the most well-known example, and Oregon’s “official” soil.
Describe Willamette’s loess
Windblown sediments, often intermixed with basalt-derived soils and marine sediments.
Older than Washington’s loess - predate the last ice age (2.6 million years old).
Laurelwood, Cornelius, and Cascade are examples.
Describe Willamette’s Missoula Flood deposits
Flood-borne sediments, low-lying and deep, very fertile. Youngest in the valley.
Comprise approx 10% of the valley’s vineyards; best purposed for other agriculture.
Woodburn is the primary series.
What two major soils do not appear in the Willamette?
Limestone and Marl
Is chaptalization legal in Oregon?
Yes
Name two Oregon producers who promote whole cluster
Cristom
White Rose
What is the most densely planted region in Oregon?
Dundee Hills
Name four major Dundee Hills vineyards
Eyrie
Maresh
Abbey Ridge
Thomas
Where is Shea Vineyard?
Yamhill-Carlton
What river runs through the Chehalem Mountains AVA?
Tualatin
What AVA sits in the mouth of the Van Duzer corridor? What does this mean for viticulture?
McMinnville
The intense winds coming through the corridor off the Pacific denude vines, reduce yields, reduce berry size and thicken skins, creating denser, more tannic wines.
Most vineyards are planted on east facing slopes, to avoid as much direct impact from the wind as possible.
What is the predominant climatic element affecting Eola-Amity Hills?
The wind from the Van Duzer Corridor (the AVA sits east of McMinnville).
Major vineyards in Eola-Amity Hills
Seven Springs (Evening Land) Jerusalem Hill (Domaine Serene) Roserock (Drouhin) Bethel Heights Justice Temperance Hill Spirit Hill (Argyle)
What was the first US varietal Pinot Gris to be released with the grape on the label?
Eyrie Vineyards 1970 Pinot Gris
In addition to the Coast and Cascade ranges, what mountains will you find in Southern Oregon?
Klamath Range
What are the nested AVAs within Umpqua Valley?
Elkton Oregon
Red Hill Douglas County
What are the nested AVAs within Rogue Valley?
Applegate Valley
What is the warmest AVA in Oregon?
Rogue Valley; pushing Region II, comparable to Bordeaux in heat summation levels
What are the subregions (official and unofficial) of Rogue Valley?
Applegate Valley (very dry, with vineyards up to 2000ft; highest elevation in Oregon) Bear Creek (warmest and farthest inland, very dry) illinois Valley (cool, rainy, and coastal)