FAQs About the Eola-Amity Hills (EAH) Winegrowing Region

The Eola-Amity Hills (EAH) winegrowing region is composed of a string of hills located nearly in the center of the Willamette Valley of Oregon. These hills are coated with soils formed from ancient marine sediments, derived from massive primordial lava flows, or deposited by post-glacial floods of biblical proportions, and the hills are warmed by Oregon's long, dry summer growing season. The hills are now home to numerous vineyards and wineries producing ultra-premium wine grapes and wines that capture the unique terroirs of the EAH region.

Please explore the details of the EAH in the answers to the following FAQs and trace the roots of Oregon wine by visiting EAH wineries.

FAQs:
  •What is the location and size of the EAH?
  •What is the Eola-Amity Hills American Viticultural Area (EAH AVA)?
  •What wine grapes are grown in the EAH AVA?
  •What is the history of wine grapes in the EAH AVA?
  •What is the origin of the EAH name?
  •What is the geological history that created this extraordinary region?
  •What are the most unique features of this terroir?
  •What is the relation between elevation and wine grape cultivation?
  •Are there common characteristics of the EAH AVA wines?

Contributors:

Myron Redford, Amity Vineyards
Pat Dudley, Bethel Heights Vineyard
Marilyn Webb, Bethel Heights Vineyard
Terry Casteel, Bethel Heights Vineyard
Patricia Bjornson, Bjornson Vineyard
David and Jeanne Beck, Crawford Beck Vineyard
Don Byard, Eola Hills Vineyard
Tim Ramey, Zenith Vineyard

Sources:

Donald A. Dibbern Jr. "A Taste of Oregon Terroir: The New Willamette Valley AVAs." wineloverspage.com. 07 Nov. 2008

"American Viticultural Area." Wikipedia. www.Wikipedia.com the Free Encyclopedia

Natural Resource Conservation Service, USDA, Soil Survey: http://www2.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/osd/dat/J/JORY.html

Oregon Winegrowers Association website: http://www.oregonwine.org/Discover_Oregon_Wine/About_Oregon

Michael Beazley, Terroir, Reed Consumer Books, 1998