After a long day, sometimes the best way to relax is with a glass of wine. What better day to celebrate drinking wine than February, 18th - National Drink Wine Day? Oregon has an international reputation for its production of wine and there is an amazing journey starting with the seed planted in the soil all the way to the wine in your glass.
Here are some fun facts about wine from Willamette Valley Wineries:
- The total geographic area, between Oregon’s Cascade Mountains and the Coast Range, is more than 100 miles long and spanning 60 miles at its widest point. That’s 3,438,000 acres of vineyards!
- The total number of vineyards in the Willamette Valley is 694 with 507 wineries.
- Oregon is best known for its Pinot Noir. There are 14,027 acres of Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley.
- Wine takes up 74% of production in the Willamette Valley.
- The first Pinot Noir planting was in 1965 by David Lett at The Eyrie Vineyards.
To go along with your newly learned wine trivia, here are a few books we recommend for the fond of wine:
The Grail written by Brian Doyle
- The Grail is a spirited and entertaining chase for a truly special wine. Brian Doyle set out to spend a year in one Willamette Valley vineyard, chronicling the creative and chaotic labor as the winemakers chase after the perfect pinot noir. Doyle follows Jesse Lange, son of Lange Winery founder Don Lange, peppering the young winemaker with questions about the growing of grapes and making wine. Doyle serves as a cheerful tour guide through the world of wine, alert to the colorful and riveting stories that swirl around its creation and consumption.
Oregon Viticulture edited by Edward W. Helleman
- Oregon Viticulture is a comprehensive, easy-to-use guide to successful strategies and methods for commercial vineyards in Oregon that will be extremely valuable both for current winegrape growers and for prospective growers. The volume is unique in its approach of combining the expertise and experience of university researchers with that of professional grape growers and winemakers—most chapters were written by at least two authors with different perspectives. Commercial winegrape growers, students, researchers, serious home viticulturists, and individuals with a strong interest in Northwest wines and the wine industry will find Oregon Viticulture to be a valuable reference and easy-to-use textbook and guide.
Voodoo Vintners written by Katherine Cole
- In Voodoo Vintners, wine writer Katherine Cole reveals the mysteries of biodynamic winegrowing, tracing its practice from Paleolithic times to the finest domaines in Burgundy today. At the epicenter of the American biodynamic revolution are the Oregon winemakers who believe that this spiritual style of farming results in the truest translations of terroir and the purest pinot noirs possible. Cole introduces these “voodoo vintners,” examining their motivations and rationalizations and explaining why the need to farm biodynamically courses through their blood. Her engaging narrative answers the call of oenophiles everywhere for more information about this “beyond organic” style of writing.
Pacific Northwest Cheese written by Tami Parr
- In this rich and engaging history, Tami Parr shows how regional cheesemaking found its way back to the farm. It’s a lively story that begins with the first fur traders in the Pacific Northwest and ends with modern-day small farmers in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Along with documenting the history of cheese in the region, Parr reveals some of the Pacific Northwest’s untold cheese stories: the fresh cheese made on the Oregon Trail, the region’s thriving blue cheese and regional swiss cheese makers, and the rise of goat’s milk and goat’s milk cheese (not the modern phenomenon many assume it to be).