Oregon’s Newest Wine Region Wins the Name Game

On Dec. 10, 2021, the Lower Long Tom became the third Willamette Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) approved by the federal government in the past year. The people making Oregon’s wine maps must be busier than Santa’s elves these days.

The Lower Long Tom is the 10th nested AVA within the Willamette Valley, joining the likes of the Dundee Hills and Ribbon Ridge to the north. An AVA is a wine-growing region recognized by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) as distinct from neighboring areas in terms of criteria such as soils and climate.

*reported by Oregon Live