McMinnville wine country with the coast range
— — vineyard rows running west into the fog.
Not only on a wall.
“McMinnville sits at the southern end of the northern Willamette Valley, with Pinot Noir vines climbing the low hills west of town toward the dark wall of the Coast Range. The McMinnville AVA was federally recognised in 2005, sheltered in the rain shadow of the Van Duzer corridor. Mornings come in cool and grey off the coast, the rows step uphill in long quiet lines, and the Doug-fir ridge holds the western horizon. — from the studio
McMinnville wine country with the coast range, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
McMinnville is the seat of Yamhill County in the northern Willamette Valley, about 35 miles southwest of Portland. The McMinnville American Viticultural Area was approved in 2005 and covers roughly 40,000 acres on the east-facing foothills of the Coast Range, between elevations of about 200 and 1,000 feet. The valley floor sits on Missoula Flood sediments; the higher benches above town hold marine sedimentary soils that Pinot Noir reads as cooler and more savoury than the volcanic Jory soils a few ridges north in the Dundee Hills.
Marine air pours in through the Van Duzer corridor, a low gap in the Coast Range west of town that channels Pacific weather straight onto the McMinnville hills. Afternoon temperatures regularly fall 15 to 20 degrees in the back half of the day during summer, which preserves acid in the Pinot Noir grapes and is the single most cited reason the AVA produces structured, age-worthy wine. The same corridor is responsible for the long, low fog banks that sit in the rows on summer mornings.
Most tasting rooms cluster on the back roads west and south of town — along Muddy Valley, Peavine, and Old Sheridan roads — with more inside town along Third Street. The annual International Pinot Noir Celebration, held at Linfield University each July since 1987, draws growers from Burgundy and Central Otago. Harvest typically runs from late September through October, and traffic on Highway 99W thickens both weekends. The Allison Inn and Spa in nearby Newberg is the regional anchor for overnight visitors.