Willamette Valley ( Wil-LAM-it) is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The appellation is the wine growing region which encompasses the drainage basin of the Willamette River.
It stretches from the Columbia River in the north to just south of Eugene in the south, where the Willamette Valley ends; and from the Oregon Coast Range in the west to the Cascade Mountains in the east. It was established as the nation's 55th and Oregon’s initial wine appellation on December 1, 1983 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Treasury, after reviewing the petition submitted by Mr.