Region carves out its own niche with warm-season varietals

By JOHN SCHMITZ

For the Capital Press

There's a lot more to Oregon's wine industry than the Willamette Valley and Pinot Noir.

Starting just south of Eugene the vast and distinctive Southern Oregon American Viticulture Area begins to unfold.

Unlike the Willamette Valley AVA, where mostly cool season Burgundian wines are grown, Southern Oregon, because of its warmer, drier climate, is known mostly for its warm-season wines.

It was in early 2005 that the federal government granted Southern Oregon its own AVA. Within the region are four separate AVAs: Rogue Valley, Umpqua Valley, Applegate Valley and Red Hills Douglas.

There's no question that Southern Oregon's nearly 50 wineries have a huge task ahead of them in bringing to their region the same recognition the Willamette Valley now enjoys.

"We're at a changing point in the life cycle of wine growing in Oregon," said Dick Ellis, a Medford-area winegrape grower and president of the Rogue Valley Wine Growers Association.

"The folks in the Willamette Valley have done a very good job of branding the Willamette (Valley) and being very well known for growing really good Pinots. What we're trying to do is a similar thing in Southern Oregon ... trying to get people to recognize there's more than one grape-growing region in the state."

Since the region's umbrella AVA was formed, great strides have been made not only in growing great winegrapes but promoting the region's wines as well, Ellis said.

"The challenge has been to get the region known for quality, which we've done quite a good job on in the last five or six years," he said. "We're winning 90-point ratings now. We're winning a lot of national competitions."

Ellis said Southern Oregon features a number of micro-climates that allow for the growing of over 40 wine varietals, including, in the coastal and northern reaches, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.

He grows seven varieties now and will add "two or three more," he said.

Unlike the Willamette Valley, where Pinot Noir is king, no one varietal dominates in Southern Oregon.

"Pick one wine, it's hard to do," Ellis said. "Here, we do well with Syrah, Viognier, the Bordeaux varieties, and we make some wonderful blends. And of course, Tempranillo, the Spanish grape, is coming on."

Interestingly, about half of the grapes grown in Southern Oregon are shipped to the Willamette Valley, where they are made into Oregon branded warm-season wines.

Ellis said that the world famous Shakespeare Festival in Ashland every summer has done much to expose travelers from outside Oregon to Southern Oregon wines.

People began growing winegrapes and making wines in Southern Oregon over a century before David Lett and other visionaries planted cool-season Pinot Noir grapes in the rich, red soils of Dundee in 1965.

Wines made from grapes grown in only one of the AVAs carry that AVA's brand. Wines made from two or more Southern Oregon AVAs carry that AVA brand.

Ellis said that because Southern Oregon wines are more moderately priced, the recession has not had that much of an effect on sales.

Since most of the wine grape plantings in Southern Oregon have been made using grafted material, phylloxera has not been much of a problem, Ellis said.