Contrary to popular belief, the Oregon wine scene was fashionable over 126 years ago.
Oregon Wine History: What was the vineyard scene like in Oregon over a hundred years ago? You might be surprised that the wine scene was flourishing and winegrowers were producing great wine from the Willamette Valley and beyond. Even back then, many believed that Oregon wines were better than those from California:
“There are so many hundred thousands of acres in Oregon and Washington, I know positively from long years of study and examination, to be excellently adapted to raising the finest table grapes and the most valuable wine grapes in the whole United States! California, till now, producing the best qualities of foreign grapes never will and never can produce such high grape qualities…as several districts and locations known to me in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, where a great, new, enormously profitable industry can be easily achieved.” ~ Vineyards Would Prosper Here. Neglected Opportunity Exists for Production of Finest Wine Grapes, (Published as Morning Oregonian, Letter to the Editor, written by Albert Angermayer, Los Angeles, CA), June 20, 1913
Dozens of winegrowers saw this vision a decade earlier, planting roots (literally) in the Chehalem hills on David’s Hill in Willamette Valley, Oregon. To the south, there were almost as many more winegrowers, and over on Mountaindale there were three.
“There are on David’s Hill about a dozen winegrowers, scattered through the Chahalem hills to the south there are almost as many more, and over on Mountaindale there are three.” ~ Oregonian, 1904
Grapevines, unpruned for over twenty years. Exact location and year unknown. Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, The Grape in Oregon, Western Oregon, Corvallis, Oregon, 1901. Oregon Wine History.
What were they growing? Muscatel, Riesling, Zinfandel, Burgundy (which many will contend Pinot noir, not a mutation such as Pinot Meunier, often referred to as Miller’s Burgundy) and Hambourg:
“There are five varieties of wine made with the best success in the Forest Grove country: Muscatel, Riesling, Zinfandel, Burgundy and Hambourg.” ~ Oregonian, 1904
Amazingly, over a century ago, Pinot noir was blossoming in Oregon. One of the early Oregon wine pioneers, A. Reuter was growing grapes circa 1889, more than 126 years ago. Interestingly enough, the Oregon Agricultural College published a paper in 1901 that documents there were wine pioneers long before Reuter arrived, stating,
“…the first vine planted so far [in Oregon, a.k.a. Oregon Territory] was an Isabella, in 1848. Yet, while the grape has been grown here over half a century, it is only within the past sixteen years that it has been considered as a commercial crop.”
Oregon has a prosperous wine heritage worth examination. I recommend reading an article written by the Oregonian dated back in the early 1900’s, titled, “Making of Wine in the Chehalem Hills of Oregon.” Read it for some interesting facts on what was going on in the Oregon Willamette Valley wine scene over a hundred years ago. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how fashionable wine was, back in the day.
Leave A Comment