5 ms·

What's your take on the Willamette Valley becoming the next Napa? I've heard this being discussed as climate change and wildfires become more apparent in Califo

What's your take on the Willamette Valley becoming the next Napa? I've heard this being discussed as climate change and wildfires become more apparent in California.

zwieback 5y ago
I've heard this too but don't know a lot about wine. What I have noticed in my 26 years here is that there are more and more drinkable reds growing in the valley, you may not see it so much in the supermarkets but when you go on wine tours it seems like there's more selection of wines that need warmer weather so it does seem like a real possibility. The land is pretty densely farmed, though, so you'd either have to log some hills or displace other crops, not that that would be a problem if it promises to be lucrative.
- iNane9000 5y ago
  Most wine today is fake and terroir isn’t as important as micro-aeration or various additives like oak chips or mega purple.
  - twiddling 5y ago
    Since I hadn't heard about mega-purple: https://www.winespectator.com/articles/what-is-mega-purple-46549 https://www.winespectator.com/articles/what-is-mega-purple-4...
harlanlewis 5y ago
Last year, when SF was posting photos of the orange sky I was driving up I5 in the Willamette Valley at 11am with my brights on because smoke had turned day to night. Last year 4.4 million[1] acres burned in CA (~4% of the state), and 1.2 million[2] in OR (~2% of the state). These are huge numbers. Similar to CA, it's not just the acreage significantly increasing in recent years but also intensity and damage. The Almeda Drive Fire destroyed over 2,000 structures between Ashland and Medford, in highly accessible terrain with firefighting resources nearby. Right now, the Bootleg Fire in Oregon is over 150,000 acres with 0% containment [3], putting it within the top 20 largest fires in state history at present and likely to grow. From my layman's perspective, it seems that the brief window when CA's ideal climate moves slightly north has already come and gone. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_wildfires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_wildfires [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Oregon_wildfires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Oregon_wildfires [3] https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7609/ https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7609/
- scotuswroteus 5y ago
  Ashland and Medford were downright scary to drive through on the main drive north (not from there, don't remember the route number specifically). The only people out were crews and the occasional artist or photographer memorializing the human aspects of widespread fire wreckage. Just devastating.

What's your take on the Willamette Valley becoming the next Napa? I've heard this being discussed as climate change and wildfires become more apparent in California.

zwieback 5y ago

I've heard this too but don't know a lot about wine. What I have noticed in my 26 years here is that there are more and more drinkable reds growing in the valley, you may not see it so much in the supermarkets but when you go on wine tours it seems like there's more selection of wines that need warmer weather so it does seem like a real possibility. The land is pretty densely farmed, though, so you'd either have to log some hills or displace other crops, not that that would be a problem if it promises to be lucrative.

iNane9000 5y ago
Most wine today is fake and terroir isn’t as important as micro-aeration or various additives like oak chips or mega purple.
- twiddling 5y ago
  Since I hadn't heard about mega-purple: https://www.winespectator.com/articles/what-is-mega-purple-46549 https://www.winespectator.com/articles/what-is-mega-purple-4...

harlanlewis 5y ago

Last year, when SF was posting photos of the orange sky I was driving up I5 in the Willamette Valley at 11am with my brights on because smoke had turned day to night. Last year 4.4 million[1] acres burned in CA (~4% of the state), and 1.2 million[2] in OR (~2% of the state). These are huge numbers. Similar to CA, it's not just the acreage significantly increasing in recent years but also intensity and damage. The Almeda Drive Fire destroyed over 2,000 structures between Ashland and Medford, in highly accessible terrain with firefighting resources nearby. Right now, the Bootleg Fire in Oregon is over 150,000 acres with 0% containment [3], putting it within the top 20 largest fires in state history at present and likely to grow. From my layman's perspective, it seems that the brief window when CA's ideal climate moves slightly north has already come and gone. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_wildfires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_California_wildfires [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Oregon_wildfires https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Oregon_wildfires [3] https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7609/ https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7609/

scotuswroteus 5y ago
Ashland and Medford were downright scary to drive through on the main drive north (not from there, don't remember the route number specifically). The only people out were crews and the occasional artist or photographer memorializing the human aspects of widespread fire wreckage. Just devastating.