Oregon

The Oregon Wine Board dates the first grape plantings to 1847, when Henderson Luelling brought fruit stock over the Oregon Trail, and the Northwest's first winery to Peter Britt's Valley View in Jacksonville in 1852. Oregon voters passed Prohibition in 1916, four years before it took effect nationally; Honeywood in Salem, bonded after repeal in 1933, is the oldest continuously operating winery.

Richard Sommer planted HillCrest in the Umpqua Valley in 1961. In February 1965 David Lett rooted Pinot noir cuttings near Corvallis, the first plantings in the Willamette Valley, and later moved them to The Eyrie Vineyards in the Dundee Hills. In 1973 growers mapped prime vineyard land and lobbied for its protection under Senate Bill 100. In 1977 Oregon's winemakers proposed the state's strict labelling rules. The Willamette Valley became Oregon's first AVA in 1983.

The Oregon Wine Board groups the state's AVAs under the Willamette Valley, Umpqua Valley, Rogue Valley, Columbia Gorge, Walla Walla Valley, Columbia Valley and Snake River Valley, some containing nested AVAs. The Willamette Valley is sheltered from Pacific air and rain by the Coast Range and from the dry east by the Cascades; TTB records xeric soils such as Jory, formed from Columbia River basalt, and the sedimentary Willakenzie.

In the south, the Board describes the Umpqua Valley as "the hundred valleys", formed where the Klamath Mountains, the Coast Range and the Cascades meet, and the Rogue Valley as three valleys with progressively warmer climates. The Columbia Gorge is a region of climatic extremes, and the Walla Walla Valley, between the Blue Mountains and the Columbia River, straddles the border with Washington.

The Board's variety pages tie grapes to regions. Pinot noir, Pinot gris and Chardonnay are found mainly in the Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon, while Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon are found mostly in the Columbia Valley, the Rogue Valley and the Snake River Valley. It describes Oregon Riesling as mostly dry or off-dry, floral and apple-like. The Board notes that Lett and Coury were warned that the Willamette Valley's rain would ruin their vines, and that Lett believed Burgundian varieties would grow better in Oregon than in California.

Oregon's rules go beyond the federal minimums. Under OAR 845-010-0920, a wine labelled "Oregon", with an Oregon county or with an AVA lying wholly in Oregon must be made entirely from Oregon grapes, and 95% of them must come from the named appellation. For AVAs shared with a neighbouring state, the grapes must come from the two states and the less restrictive of the two states' percentages applies. Under OAR 845-010-0915 a single variety name needs 90% of that variety, except for 18 listed varieties, among them Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Tempranillo and Zinfandel, which need 75%. The rule history begins with LCC 59, effective 1 March 1977.

Pinot noir covers 59% of Oregon's planted acres, Pinot gris 14%, Chardonnay 7%, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon 4% each, and Riesling 1%.