Applegate Valley is contained within the larger Rogue Valley AVA in Southern Oregon. It stretches 50 miles north from the California border to the Rogue River just west of Grants Pass. The region’s wine history began in 1852 when an early area settler named Peter Britt planted wine grapes. In 1873, he opened Valley View Winery, Oregon’s first official winery.

Valley View closed in 1907; then Prohibition hit. It wasn’t until the 1970s, after modern pioneers began discovering the neighboring areas’ quality wine growing conditions, that Applegate Valley experienced a resurgence of winemaking. It began with a few family-run wineries that planted their roots and opened their doors. Today, this area is an important winegrowing region turning out a diversity of high-quality wines. The appellation became official in 2001.

Applegate Valley has a moderate climate that generally enjoys a warm, dry (just 25.2 inches of annual rain) growing season with hot days and cool nights perfect for warm-climate varieties. The Valley’s soil types are typically granite in origin, and most of the area’s vineyards are planted on stream terraces or alluvial fans, providing deep, well-drained soils that are ideal for high-quality wine grapes.

The region is surrounded by the Siskiyou Mountains, which were created by up-thrusts of the ocean floor as a plate forced its way under the continental shelf. The Siskiyou National Forest borders the Applegate Valley to the west and the Rogue River National Forest to the east. Vineyards are typically grown at higher elevations up to 2,000 feet. (Wine/Appellations)