Discount Wine Delivery Blog

Vintners all over Oregon are finally opening their 2008 vintage, and word is that this could be one of the best years ever.  Phrases like "best of the best" and "what the willamette Valley is all about" tell the tasty story of a fantastic 2008 season.

The Willamette Valley is what Napa used to be. Untouched soils, light rains and sunny southern exposure with very few frosts which can destroy a vineyard. As the prices flew up in Napa, developers had more sway than the vineyards, and prime soil was capped with concrete and asphalt. Now most wines from Napa are bound to be more easily found on the discount wine delivery list than the premium list.

While prices did hit a high in 2007 as the real estate boom hit its final maximum, the local land development laws known as the "Urban Growth Boundary" made it impossible for the same mistake to be made in the beautiful Willamette Valley.

SInce the first vineyard set up shop, the Willamette Valley quickly became a world-renowned location for premium white wines. World class soils and creative vintners made their own mark on the wine world even before some of their best years came out. As a traveler I've seen these wines delivered around the US and meet with great fanfare in all my experiences.

With 2008 just being corked, this seems to mark the culmination of 30+ years of excellent marketing strategies, macro-economic shifts in their favor, as well as fantastic weather, soils and vintners working together towards a common excellence. While the vineyards in the Willamette Valley compete in the true sense of the word, they all have unique product offerings and do not take business away from the others, but add to the overall number of choices available from the valley.

Can we expect the Willamette Valley to be the "New France" of wines? In many senses, it already is. While American culture is almost universally abhorred in the rest of the world, the culture of the Pacific Northwest including Oregon, Washington, and Alaska meets with good response almost universally. This makes it very easy for wine makers from the PNW to send wine delivery packages all over the globe and meet or beat local and other imports.

Add to this "positive culture" a community of caring wine makers in a wonderfully suited wine growing region, and you've got a winning mixture.

Make sure you don't miss a 2008 from an Oregon vintner, and don't expect this is to be the last of the great wines from Oregon!