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Oregon's Ribbon Ridge defined

Brick House vineyards

This Willamette Valley AVA might be hard to get a grip on at first, but Sam teases out its defining characteristics, and offers 42 wines that you can put to the test. Brick House vineyards are pictured above.

In theory, it would have been easiest to start my breakdown of Willamette Valley sub-AVAs (see Dundee Hills and Eola-Amity Hills) with Ribbon Ridge. It is Willamette Valley’s smallest sub-AVA at only 3,500 acres (620 acres/251 ha planted); it has the distinction of being the only sub-AVA with a homogeneous soil series; and, having been established in 2005, there are plenty...