#oregon-wine

#oregon-wine

These bottles are generally crowd-pleasers, and they pair well with a wide range of foods. And if you want more certainty that they're esteemed wines, they've also won one or several medals at wine competitions. Although countless delicious wines haven't received awards (that entails actually entering a competition), you can be certain that these bottles have received a seal of approval from plenty of wine professionals ... so your guests should be satisfied!

The Willamette Valley had vineyards in the 1800s, but Prohibition and market forces kept it from becoming a true winemaking region until the 1960s, when rows of cool-climate grapes like pinot noir and chardonnay began to crawl across the Dundee and Tualatin Hills. A few wineries grew to more than 700 today, making the Willamette Valley a global wine sensation. Along the way, a handful of bottles helped define the valley's distinctive character.

The 2020 vintage was on track to be the perfect year for the 874 wineries of Oregon's Willamette Valley until late summer, when the valley choked on smoke from record-breaking wildfires.