Enobytes Wine Blog

Welcome to our series, “Wine Regions of the World!” ©. As part of an ongoing series, we will take you on a journey throughout the world to learn about appellations and sub-appellations, region varietals and winery information, most of which will be graphically displayed with the use of satellite imagery, maps, terrain data and 3D buildings using Google Earth technology.

We have combined our talent for wine research with technology to bring you interactive maps, which will give you a comprehensive view of wine data for a particular region. Our maps display information including geographical terrain; tasting room and wine reviews, winery hours of operation & location information; road information, turn-by-turn directions, and real-time traffic and weather reports.

The information will be useful whether you are educating yourself about a particular region, involved in planning your next wine country trip or simply interested in looking at all of the great information our maps provide.

We actually started this research project out of frustration. A large amount of the data we found (on the Internet and other publications) was static and outdated. We wanted to make it easier for enophiles to learn about their favorite region without having to go through the agony of searching a copious amount of data like we did. After collecting all this data, we knew that sharing this information interactively would be much more interesting than writing a journal or publication.

We hope you enjoy and appreciate the "Wine Regions of the World" series. Check back often to review the latest and greatest region. Now on to our series.

About this Map

This map depicts wineries and tasting rooms within the Oregon Willamette Valley AVA. Here you will find a level of in-depth graphically displayed information never before offered on any other wine website.

The Willamette Valley Region Description

Established in 1984, Oregon’s Willamette Valley AVA (a.k.a. American Viticultural Area) is a concentrated appellation packed with many jewels within it’s sub-appellations. At 5,200 square miles at 150 miles long and 60 miles wide, it’s the largest AVA in the state, making it Oregon’s largest AVA which contains most of the state’s wineries. It runs from the Columbia River in Portland south through Salem to the Calapooya Mountains and has the largest concentration of wineries and vineyards in Oregon. The Willamette Valley shares the 45th parallel with the Burgundy region of France, and has fertile hillside soils and ocean-cooled climate conditions that make the Willamette Valley a perfect location to plant and grow varietals such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Approved American Viticultural Area(s)

The Willamette Valley consists of two major regions, which include North Willamette Valley and South Willamette Valley. The Northern part of the valley consists of six delimited grape-growing regions distinguishable by geographic features. The American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) include

the Chehalem Mountains AVA, Dundee Hills AVA, Eola-Amity Hills AVA, McMinnville AVA, Ribbon Ridge AVA and the Yamhill-Carlton District AVA:

What’s interesting about the demographics of the Northern versus the Southern Willamette Valley is that all of the approved Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) AVAs exist in the Northern part of the region.

Varietals

The Willamette Valley has a cool, moist climate, which makes a perfect climate to produce Pinot Noir, for which it is most recognized. There are approximately twenty-four known varietals grown in this region, but the most well known and dominating varietals include Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Marechal Foch, Merlot, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Syrah.

Vineyards and Wineries:

Launch Wine Regions of the World Series: Oregon – Willamette Valley with Google Earth (you won’t regret it, I promise). If you don’t have Google Earth, download the latest version by clicking on the green download button below. What is Google Earth? Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.

Here is a sample of what you will find using our interactive maps:

The initial interactive start-up screen lists all wineries and vineyards in the Oregon Willamette Valley.

Navigate to a winery by clicking on the yellow and red grape icon. Details including winery location, hours of operation, winery URL and directions will appear. If Enobytes reviewed the winery, a link will appear at the top of the details page. Click on this link to get to the review information.

Once you decide where you want to go, you can use the left-hand navigational bar to turn on various layers of mapping information such as roads, turn-by-turn directions, shopping and services, geographic features, 3D buildings, sightseeing, gas, food and lodging, real-time traffic and weather reports among others:

For more information on how to navigate the maps, see Google Earth’s video demos.

Attention Wineries: If you do not see your winery listed, please contact us at info@enobytes.org so that we may work with you to get your listing added to our database.