What Makes the Umpqua Valley Unique?

Location, location, location.  The use of the word Valley when describing our region is a misnomer, especially when talking wine valleys.  Our most famous wine valley in the USA is Napa, and this is where most wine enthusiasts get the idea of the perfect “valley”.  Napa is one long valley of 30 miles and only 5 miles wide.  Compare that to the Umpqua Valley AVA which is 70 miles North to South and 35 miles East to West.

Now here is the Big Difference between the two: Napa has over 300 wineries packed into that narrow valley, seemingly one after the other along the straight wine route, Hwy 29; while the Umpqua Valley is in reality made up of dozens of smaller valleys each with its own unique micro-climate.  So it’s not really One wine region but several.  One pocket grows Pinot Noir, another grows Cabernet Sauvignon. 

The cause of all these little valleys was the hyper activity of the coastal range mountains when they were formed.  While the mountains of Northern California run North to South, we here in the Umpqua Valley region have several East to West ranges that effectively form a distinct pocket of climate along the coastal range.  This barrier  regulates the weather moving down from the cooler Willamette Valley and cuts it off.  The same holds true for the South and the hotter weather from the Rouge Valley.  We end up with the best of both worlds!

I haven’t even hit on the fact that the Umpqua Valley has 150 different soil types while Napa has 35 and Ohio has 2!  Next blog I will cover this essential feature.