The Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon AVA is an

American Viticultural Area An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of winery, wineries and consumers. Winemakers frequently want their consumers to know abo ...

located in Douglas County,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, near the town of Yoncalla. It is entirely contained within the Umpqua Valley AVA, which is itself included within the larger Southern Oregon AVA.

History

Originally petitioned in 2002 as the "Red Hill AVA", the proposed

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...

name brought protest from Willamette Valley AVA vintners, where a region known as Red Hill is also located. Another AVA in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

that gained official status in 2004, the Red Hills Lake County AVA also carries a similar name. As a result, the name "Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon" was instead chosen to avoid consumer confusion and the AVA designation was granted in 2005.

Red Hill Vineyard

The AVA is the home to a single vineyard, the Red Hill Vineyard, founded by the late Wayne Hitchings in 1991. Hitchings died on September 5, 2016. Fruit from Red Hill Vineyard continues to be sold to a few winemakers throughout Oregon.

Notable wines

The 2011 Art Brut Outsider Cuvée, a sparkling wine by Roots Wine Company that contains Red Hill

pinot noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

and

chardonnay Chardonnay (, ; ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...

, was a featured selection by Oregon wine club Cellar 503 in February 2016.

References

American Viticultural Areas of Oregon Geography of Douglas County, Oregon 2005 establishments in Oregon {{wine-region-stub