20th Anniversary

As the Eola-Amity Hills Winegrowers Association marks its 20th anniversary, we celebrate not only two decades of collaboration, but a half-century legacy of innovation, stewardship, and a landscape that continues to define some of Oregon’s most compelling wines.

The Eola-Amity Hills AVA is one of Oregon’s most distinctive cool-climate wine regions, celebrated for its sparkling wines, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and a wide range of other cool-climate varietals. Established in 2006 within the Willamette Valley AVA, the Eola-Amity Hills stretch across nearly 38,000 acres northwest of Salem, where vineyard sites rise along a north-south ridge shaped by volcanic basalt and marine sedimentary soils that naturally limit vigor and promote concentration. These shallow, well-drained soils — combined with elevations typically between 250 and 700 feet and cool Pacific winds flowing through the Van Duzer Corridor that moderate temperatures and preserve freshness during the growing season — create ideal conditions for wines of clarity, balance, and energy.

Long before the AVA’s formal recognition, visionary growers planted some of Oregon’s earliest and most influential vineyards, establishing the foundation for the Eola-Amity Hills’ reputation for world-class wine. The region’s pioneering era began in the early 1970s with sites such as Preston Vineyard (now Amity Estate Vineyard) (1970–1972), Breaker Vineyard (1972) (now with Hundred Suns Wine), Cattrall Brothers Vineyard (1972–1973), Eola Springs Vineyard (1972), and Eola Hills Vineyard (now Brooks Estate Vineyard) (1973–1974). Momentum continued later in the decade with landmark plantings at Bethel Heights Vineyard (1977 & 1979), alongside early sites such as Catalyst Vineyard (1978) (now with Varnum Vintners) and Stangeland Estate Vineyard (1978).

The pioneering spirit carried into the early 1980s with the establishment of Temperance Hill Vineyard (1981–1983), Seven Springs Vineyard (1982–1984) (now part of Evening Land Vineyards), and O’Connor Vineyard (now Zenith Vineyard) (1982), followed by influential sites such as Resonance Vineyard (1981), Witness Tree Vineyard (1982–1984), Canary Hill Vineyard (1983) (Ken Wright Cellars), Elton Vineyard (1983), and Eola Hills Vineyard (1986). 

For more information on the history of many of these vineyards, see: Vineyards Established 1965–1971” Prince of Pinot article (Volume 12, Issue 29)