Acclaimed wine writer Paul Gregutt ( formerly of Wine Enthusiast) and founder of Northwest Wine Guide has published a three-part series spotlighting the wine and wineries of Rogue Valley Wine Country. We encourage you to read all three.
PART ONE
“Oh the Rogue, the Red Red Rogue...” (Joni Mitchell – “California”)
The Rogue Valley AVA, the southernmost in Oregon, encompasses an important slice of the total Oregon wine industry, yet I suspect that few wine drinkers outside the region have any awareness of it. Established in 1991, it’s 70 miles wide and 60 miles long. Roughly bordered by the confluence of the Cascade, Siskiyou, and Coastal mountain ranges, the AVA’s interior valleys are defined by the Rogue River tributaries – the Applegate, Bear Creek, and Illinois Rivers. I-5 cuts across it diagonally from northwest to southeast, where the AVA borders end just south of Ashland, a stone’s throw from California. The Applegate Valley is the sole sub-AVA follow along a similar path southwest of the freeway.
PART TWO
Oregon’s First Winery and Where It All Began
As noted in Part One of this series, Oregon’s Rogue Valley AVA is not only the state’s southernmost wine region, but also its highest elevation, sunniest and warmest AVA overall. What is less well known is that it was home to some of Oregon’s earliest vineyards. The Oregon Wine Board reports that European immigrants began planting grapes here as far back as the 1840s. In 1852 (some sources say 1854) settler Peter Britt planted a vineyard at his home in Jacksonville that included a wide variety of Vitis Vinifera grapes, among them some ‘Franc Pinot’ that may have been Oregon’s first planting of Pinot Noir. Britt’s vineyard eventually became Oregon’s first official winery – Valley View Winery.
PART THREE
The Applegate Valley AVA & the Kubli Bench – Special Wines/Special Places
The more I taste the wines, the more I am intrigued and excited about the Applegate Valley, a sub-AVA (since 2000) of the much larger Rogue Valley AVA. With roughly 700 acres under vine (often at elevations over 2000 feet), it’s home to about 20 wineries, and feels much more remote than the rest of the Rogue Valley AVA, with no major highway or town to anchor it. Named for the river that runs through it, the valley is rugged, spectacular country, surrounded by the Siskiyou Mountains.
