History of Oregon wine
The earliest large vineyards in the Willamette Valley was probably cultivated by French immigrant Jean Mathiot in Butteville where he settled in 1853.
[2] In the 1880s, numerous immigrants to Southern Oregon experimented with various varietals, including Zinfandel, Riesling, and an unknown variety of Sauvignon.
Hillcrest Vineyard, established by UC Davis graduate Richard Sommer, opened near Roseburg in 1961 (in what is now the Umpqua Valley AVA),[2] with the first vintage appearing for sale in 1964.
Also in the 1960s, several winemakers started planting Pinot noir grapes in the Willamette Valley, including David Lett and Charles Coury.
[6] Many out-of-state winemakers, the bulk of them from California, began migrating to the state, including Dick Erath and C. Calvert Knudsen of Knudsen Erath Winery, Dick and Nancy Ponzi, Susan and Bill Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser Winery, David and Ginny Adelsheim, Pat and Joe Campbell, Jerry and Ann Preston, and Myron Redford.
This prevented many hillsides, deemed inappropriate for other crops which are easier to grow on flat fields, from being converted to housing.
Eyrie Vineyards' 1975 South Block Pinot noir placed in the top 10 at the Gault-Millau French Wine Olympiades, and was rated the top Pinot noir, one of several non-European vintages to outplace French wines in the competition.
In 1984, noted wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. visited Oregon and was highly impressed with the Pinots he encountered.
In 1986, the International Pinot Noir Celebration was started at Linfield College in McMinnville, and in 1989, Willamette Valley Vineyards became the first publicly traded winery in the state.
Close ties were forged between horticulturalists at Oregon State University and notable French wine cultivation experts, such as Raymond Bernard at ONIVINS; this relationship gave Oregon vintners access to clones that California growers were not able to acquire.
This necessitated the use of Phylloxera-resistant rootstocks, many vineyards took this as an opportunity to select different varieties of grapes more suited to their particular location.
The Rogue Valley AVA[12] was established; three years later, the Oregon Wine Marketing Coalition was founded.
A further legal change occurred in 1999, when legislation (HB 3429) was passed allowing multiple winery licensees on a single premise.
