AVAs/Apellations

Dundee Hills AVA (12,500 acres)

Volcanic soils (Jory and Nekia). Deep, moderately rich good water-holding capability. Red fruit with brightness and core of sweetness. Light spices, earth, truffles, and cola.

 

Eola-Amity Hills AVA (39,200 acres)

Volcanic soils (mainly Nekia). Shallower, rockier, well-drained soils, with good water-holding capability. Van Duzer Corridor through Coast Range cools western flank giving good night acid retention. Primarily darker fruit—black cherry, plum, blueberry, with a firmness, full body and bright acidity. Earth, mineral, spice, dried flowers.

Chehalem Mountains AVA (62,100 acres)

Geographic focus, with all three major soils present: Volcanic (Jory and Nekia); Sedimentary, ocean (Willakenzie); Sedimentary, blown glacial silt— loess (Laurelwood). Protected areas climatically. Diverse range from elegant red fruits to deep, firmly structured black fruits. Additional earthy, brown spice, mineral, white pepper, briery elements.

 

Yamhill-Carlton District (58,200 acres)

Soil focus—Willakenzie series ocean sediments. Quickly drained and shallow, giving drier, water deficit grapegrowing. In the rain shadow of the Coast Range. Red-to-black fruit of raspberry to blackberry. Dark non-fruit hints of tobacco, espresso, chocolate, wood smoke and flowers (violets, lavender, rose), with broad tannins from drier conditions.

McMinnville AVA (40,450 acres)

Geography and soil distinctions—ocean sedimentary soils on eastern and southern Coast Range foothill exposures. In the rain shadow of the Coast Range—less than 33 inches of rain annually. Black fruited and earthy wines with strong tannin and acid backbone. Highly pigmented and tannic from drier conditions.

 

Ribbon Ridge AVA (3,350 acres)

Soil focus, with very uniform uplift of Willakenzie series ocean sediments. Quickly drained soils with few irrigation waters. Black fruited wines-black cherry, blackberry, black currant, with some blueberry, huckleberry, or plum. Protected climatically by Chehalem Mountains, Coast Range, and Dundee Hills, moderating temperature and rainfall-Sub-AVA of Chehalem Mountains AVA. Range of wines elegant and silky to roughly rustic and tannin-framed. Wood spices of clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon.