The premier white grape for a generation was Pinot Gris. There’s still plenty of it around and those wineries who made their names on it are not stopping. However, as we’re upon the 60th anniversary of the first vines being planted in Oregon (1965), winemakers have a fine-tuned understanding of what works in their vineyards and what they would likely not do again. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Willamette Valley was considered too cool for Chardonnay by most and as a result, Pinot Gris became preferred. Pinot Gris is also a wine that rarely, if ever, sees oak barrel aging so it was a less-expensive wine to make for new wineries exploring the uncharted region.

Since then, Chardonnay has supplanted Pinot Gris in many vineyards. Climate change has also aided in this and land once considered unplantable, higher than 800ft above sea level, is now viable for a variety of grapes. Riesling has found a home in the southern Willamette Valley, along with Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc in a variety of locations. Syrah, Gamay and Cabernet Franc lead the charge among the once rare but now more widely found reds.

Cabernet Sauvignon is also making inroads, not in the usual Willamette but in the state’s northeast corner in the Walla Walla Valley, which is shared with Washington. Many of the most famous Walla Walla wineries are actually in Oregon in The Rocks District, one of the first growing regions in the United States based on geology and not geography. The region’s rocky and infertile soils create layered and concentrated Syrah and Bordeaux varieties that struggle in the wetter coastal regions.

And it’s important to not forget Southern Oregon, where varieties like Muscat and Tempranillo do well in the warmer Rogue Valley region. These wines are completely different than Willamette and Walla Walla and show the increasing diversity of Oregon’s wines. If you think you know Oregon, you should look again.