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United States

Willamette Valley

11 500 ha under vine

Soils
Red volcanic Jory on the hills, marine sediment and windblown loess below
Climate
Cool and marine — Pacific air through the coast-range gaps, dry bright autumns

On the map

Willamette Valley — 11 500 haMendoza — 150 000 haCentral Valley — 120 000 haNingxia — 40 000 haMarlborough — 29 000 haColumbia Valley — 25 000 haSonoma County — 24 000 haNapa Valley — 18 000 haPaso Robles — 16 000 haStellenbosch — 15 000 haBarossa Valley — 11 500 haMaipo Valley — 11 000 haSwartland — 10 000 haCanelones — 7 500 haMcLaren Vale — 7 000 haCasablanca Valley — 6 000 haMargaret River — 5 800 haNiagara Peninsula — 5 500 haClare Valley — 5 500 haCoonawarra — 5 700 haHawke's Bay — 5 000 haFinger Lakes — 4 000 haOkanagan Valley — 3 000 haHunter Valley — 2 500 haYarra Valley — 2 500 haTasmania — 2 000 haCentral Otago — 2 000 haConstantia — 450 haWillamette ValleyMendozaCentral ValleyNingxiaMarlboroughColumbia ValleySonoma CountyNapa ValleyPaso RoblesStellenboschBarossa ValleyMaipo ValleySwartlandCanelonesMcLaren ValeCasablanca ValleyMargaret RiverNiagara PeninsulaClare ValleyCoonawarraHawke's BayFinger LakesOkanagan ValleyHunter ValleyYarra ValleyTasmaniaCentral OtagoConstantia
Blob size ≈ vineyard area · approximate locations · coastlines from Natural Earth

The valley where the Oregon Trail ended became America's Burgundy. In 1965 David Lett planted the region's first Pinot Noir against the advice of the California experts, who judged the place too cold and too wet; at a Paris tasting in 1979 his Eyrie Vineyards pinot placed among fine Burgundies, and in 1987 the Burgundian house of Drouhin answered by buying the neighbouring hill.

The valley has kept the shape its founders gave it: family-scale estates rather than corporate ones, early and widely adopted sustainable-farming charters, and an identity built almost entirely on one grape — a pinot-first commitment unique in the United States, tempered by Pinot Gris and, increasingly, Chardonnay.

The vineyard

Indicative share of plantings

The wines

Willamette Pinot Noir Red wine

Through time

Indicative presence index, 0–100Origins & Antiquity — 0The Monastic Middle Ages — 0Exploration & the Fortified Age — 0Classifications & the Golden Age — 0Phylloxera & the World Crises — 0The Modern & New World Era — 65Antiquity0500150017001875195065
The Modern & New World Era 1950