About the Red Hills & It's History

View of the Chehalem Valley near Newberg, OR

Not unlike "France" Oregon straddles the planet’s 45th northern parallel and is similarly characterized by long, foggy, rainy winters. And like the French countryside, Yamhill County’s gently rolling hills and lush green valleys are dotted with quaint villages and covered by bountiful vineyards.

The Chehalem Valley begins just southwest of Portland near Oregon’s northern border. The valley part of the "Willamette" region stretches south more than 100 miles below Eugene, flanked on the east by the Cascade Mountains and on the west by the Coast Range. The topography blocks some of the rain that blows in from the Pacific. French Canadians planted grapes here in the 1850s. As early as 1900 the area was predicted to be eventually known as the "Burgundy of the West"