RogueValley
The Rogue Valley AVA is the southern most winegrowing region in Oregon. It's made up of three adjacent river valleys (Bear Creek, Applegate and Illinois valleys) that extend from the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains along the California border north to the Rogue River. It is 70 miles wide by 60 miles long and encompasses the Applegate Valley sub-appellation.
The valley also lies with in the South Oregon AVA .. To make it even more complicated the Applegate Valley located in the middle of the Rouge is now also an official AVA
Wine History: Rogue Valley's wine history dates back to the 1840s when European immigrants began planting grapes and eventually bottling wines. In 1852, an early settler named Peter Britt joined in on the grape growing adventure, though it wasn't until 1873 that he opened Valley View Winery-Oregon's first official winery. Valley View closed in 1907 (though its name was resurrected by the Wisnovsky family in 1972), then prohibition hit. It wasn't until after an Oregon State University professor planted an experimental vineyard here in 1968 that winemakers rediscovered Rogue Valley as a superb winegrowing region. Rogue Valley became an official appellation in 2001.
Climate: Rogue Valley is made up of three distinct valleys with progressively warmer microclimates, which enables the region to successfully grow both cool and warm-climate grape varieties. To the west, the region is affected by mountain and ocean influences, making it suitable for some cool-weather varieties, including Pinot noir. Farther east, Rogue Valley has the highest elevations (nearly 2,000 feet) of Oregon's winegrowing regions, but it is also the warmest and the driest, making it well suited for warm-weather varieties including Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc
Soils: Rogue Valley soil types are many and varied, including mixes of metamorphic, sedimentary and volcanic derived soils ranging from sandy loam to hard clay. They grow
Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot noir, Chardonnay.
The wineries of the Rogue Valley