Wineries (alphabetical)

N. Willamette Valley Wineries - Alphabetically
(Yamhill/Washington Counties & Salem area)
(w/winery intro's)
Winery List by Town

For the winery list, see 'Wineries (w/Intro's)' below.

Can I interest you in a little background read about Oregon wine country?
Oregon Wine Country... An Amazing Place... And A Wine Country Intro.

Burgundy represents the pinnacle of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Yet, prestigious Burgundy producers are spreading their winemaking skills across the pond to Willamette Valley. What lures these world-class winemakers to the new world? “There is a soul, an inspiration, a source of energy in Willamette Valley, it is engaging....a true energy on site, a unique 'somewhereness'-

The Willamette Valley vineyards encompasses 30 thousand acres with geology dating back 15 million years when lava flowed from NE Oregon and pushed into the Willamette Valley, covering all but the highest hills with up to 1000 ft of basalt. The catastrophic Missoula Floods 13 to 15 thousand years ago deposited a blanket of sediment on land below 200 feet. Today, the 200 ft contour line defines the Willamette Valley soils.

Oregon has a wild geology shaped by tectonic plates, volcanoes (CRBG) and ice age floods, winds and time. And pinot noir is all about the place. It doesn't have an overriding varietal character that stamps the place, it is ALL about the place (the mother rock), it's a blank canvas. There is no food or beverage on the planet that connects you with place more than pinot noir. And this place and its varied geology is the reason why the Northern Willamette Valley is an excellent area for growing grapevines. Today, the three dominant soil types (or mother rock) for growing Pinot Noir in this region are Willakenzie (or Marine Sediment), Laurelwood (or Windblown Silt) and Jory Volcanic Clay. When the pioneers of Oregon Pinot Noir arrived in the Willamette Valley in the late 60's they recognized that the nourishing volcanic and ocean/lake sedimentary soils and the climate were perfect for cool climate viticulture. It is this mother rock which gives our wines its character (see Ken Wright video). Volcanic mother rock will be typically fruity (berry) wines (Dundee for example), whereas marine sediment mother rock, being completely different, will give you spice & floral; violet, anise, clove, chocolate & tobacco (Yamhill/Carlton & Ribbon Ridge for example).
Some terroirs speak in gradations of nuance, Burgundy for instance. The Willamette Valley is another. The famous wine-growing region in Oregon was named an American Viticulture Area (AVA) in 1984, and now has 6 main sub-AVAs and a number of other lesser-known AVAs, known as the wine routes, to reflect the differing gradations of nuance. The different AVAs were created based on their mother rock, not their soil.

The Willamette Valley enjoys a long, late growing season, perfectly suited for world class Pinot Noir.
Oregon is the premier Pinot Noir wine growing region in the world; as no other area except Burgundy has a climate as ideal for producing this complex, elegant red wine! It's a young wine growing region and Oregon wines are considered to be rare as you can put the entire Oregon production of about 22,000 acres into 1 large-sized California winery. But it's estimated there is the potential of 100,000 acres in the future. This Valley is eerily similar to the Napa Valley of 70 years ago; cooler, and filled with orchards before the vineyards came. It is a potential paradise for wine production.

The winemakers produce mostly Pinot Noir (70%) with Pinot Gris (15%), Chardonnay, Reisling, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Muller Thurgau and other white wines. Other delicious red wines include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah & Zinfandel.

Now with over 730 wineries in Oregon, it's still a small-scale, artisan winemaking environment where the winemakers who tend their own vines and live next door to their vineyards are called vignerons (pronounced vēn-ye-rōn). The Willamette Valley is full of Vignerons.

Washington County - Beginning in the 1840s, the Tualatin Valley is the gateway for the Willamette Valley's bounty going to Portland. Today there's a collection of wineries and vineyards that shape wine country's very Northern tip in Portland's backyard.

The Valley and the charming towns will embrace you with extraordinary hospitality. It's the way the Wine Country used to be -- Un-crowded and Unpretentious. Authentic wine, food, and people. The original winemakers began in the 1960s with no winemaking experience, no business skills and no money but the 10 original families stuck together and focused on quality right from the beginning and the pinot noir grape.

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Most people stay in the tasting room while visiting wine country. Things you should do while visiting a winery:

Get in the vineyard, get your hands dirty, feel the soil, walk the vineyard as if you’re working it, eat a grape right off the vine and try to understand how that fruit expresses itself in the bottle. It’s amazing when you can taste the similarities in the fresh fruit and the wine it created.
The magic happens when you’re not in a hurry; ask if the winemaker is around, see if there are any animals on the property you can say hello to, ask all of the questions your heart desires. Once in Forest Grove we got to sit on a tractor and play with a little baby goat. That was my favorite visit of the entire day and it happened because we weren’t in a rush.

Does anyone have any questions???

See 'Willamette Valley Intro.' on separate page (Reader for SIRI) (7 MINUTES)

See 'Columbia Gorge Intro.' on separate page (Reader for SIRI) ( MINUTES) - WINERIES - HOOD RIVER

Dundee Hills AVA Reader
Chehalem Mountains AVA Reader
Yamhill - Carlton AVA Reader
Wine country podcasts.

Ask Questions, Get Quote or Book It.

Can I interest you in a read about what makes the Willamette Valley so unique?
What makes the North Willamette Valley so Unique?
Willamette Valley Wine Country Facts
About Oregon Pinot Noir & the Willamette Valley
2017 Growing Season:
As Alder reported previously, there is a lot of excitement about the 2017 vintage in the Willamette Valley, Oregon’s principal wine region.
The 2017 harvest comes after three hot vintages in a row – 2014 through 2016 – for the Willamette Valley. The vintage was characterized by several key factors. Spring was cold, and quite wet. Cooler temperatures delayed the start of the growing season. Wet conditions, however, sped growth once it started while also delaying farmers’ ability to get into the vineyards to keep up with the growth. By early summer, conditions settled into warm and dry weather with good diurnal temperature variation to retain acidity, colour and phenolic potential. A few heat spikes did hit during the growing season but, unusually, smoke from the wildfires that hit the Pacific Northwest in summer 2017 provided an unexpected beneficial filter but no reported instances of smoke taint. More

Wineries (w/Intro's)

Superheroes, World Domination and Oregon Wine*

Please contact My Chauffeur with specific winery questions. Some wineries may have limited hours. Info below is not guaranteed. Wine tasting fees are constantly changing, please confirm. Please confirm winery hours & all info by clicking on the individual wineries link to go to their website or contacting the winery directly. You may also be interested in our Winery Route Suggestions page for additional info.
Wineries in green have intro's attached for your tour guide ('new window'). Guides 'set aside' each page before tour for easy access.

*We casually refer to these artisan producers as Superheroes. Okay, calling them Superheroes might be a bit of stretch, they’re not fighting evil villains plotting world domination. But they are putting themselves out there every day battling the forces of nature, the environment, the economy, government and big business… all for the sake of wine. That’s dedication. So next time you’re pouring yourself a glass at the end of a long day, take a moment to think about what kind of passionate individual (hero) it took to get that wine there and make a quiet toast to them. Until we sip again…

Select Wineries (+ towns) in GREEN have 'Intro's' Attached.

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Wineries (w/Intro's)

​Superheroes, World Domination and Oregon Wine*

Superheroes, World Domination and Oregon Wine*