Willamette Valley Wine Map: 18 Oregon AVAs in 3D, Interactive

Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge, Chehalem Mountains, the Willamette Valley AVAs and Southern Oregon in full 3D terrain.

This interactive 3D Willamette Valley wine map shows 18 Oregon AVAs on real terrain: the Willamette Valley and its 11 nested AVAs, Dundee Hills, Chehalem Mountains with Ribbon Ridge and the Laurelwood District, Yamhill-Carlton, McMinnville, Eola-Amity Hills, Van Duzer Corridor, Tualatin Hills, Mt. Pisgah Polk County and Lower Long Tom, plus Southern Oregon with the Umpqua Valley, Elkton, Red Hill Douglas County, Rogue Valley and Applegate Valley, drawn in 3D by SommGeo. Tilt and fly along the hills, check elevation and slope, toggle the AVA layers, run the daylight animation and click any AVA for its grapes and profile. The interactive map is part of SommGeo membership, which starts with a free 15-day trial.

• AVAs on the map: 18, every boundary clickable: the Willamette Valley and its 11 nested AVAs, and Southern Oregon with its 5
• Hillside vineyards: Most Willamette vineyards sit between about 200 and 800 feet (60 and 245 m) on the hills above the valley floor, out of the frost, fog and rich soils of the flat
• Three soils: Volcanic Jory on the Dundee Hills and the ridges, marine sedimentary Willakenzie around Yamhill-Carlton and Ribbon Ridge, wind-blown Laurelwood loess on the Chehalem Mountains
• The Van Duzer: A gap in the Coast Range that lets Pacific wind into the Eola-Amity Hills every afternoon, which is why both have their own AVA
• Pinot Noir: Oregon’s grape, well over half of the state’s vineyard, with Chardonnay and Pinot Gris behind it; a Pinot Noir labelled by variety here must be at least 90% Pinot Noir
• 3D tools: Tilt and rotate the terrain, elevation profile readouts, daylight and shadow animation and layer controls

The Willamette Valley is the heart of Oregon wine and one of the premier Pinot Noir regions in the world. The valley runs roughly 150 miles (240 km) from Portland south to Eugene, framed by the Coast Range to the west and the Cascades to the east. What makes 3D essential here is how the nested sub-AVAs relate to the hills, ridges, and wind gaps within the valley. The Dundee Hills, the Eola-Amity Hills, and the Chehalem Mountains are all distinct volcanic and sedimentary landforms that rise from the valley floor, and each produces Pinot Noir with a recognizably different character tied to soil, elevation, and exposure. This map covers the Willamette Valley AVAs with detailed popup data. Use the layer controls to filter by AVA and the elevation profile tool to trace the hillside positions that define site character across the region.

What You’ll Explore

This 3D Fast Map covers the AVAs of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, plus Southern Oregon’s Umpqua and Rogue valleys. Click any mapped AVA for detailed popup content covering grape varieties, classification details, and geographic specifics. Use the layer controls to toggle different AVAs on and off and the elevation profile tool to trace the hillside positions that distinguish one sub-appellation from the next. The daylight animation is especially useful here for seeing how the sun moves across the valley’s hills and ridges throughout the day.

• Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon AVAs mapped with detailed popup data
• Elevation profile tool for measuring hillside vineyard positions
• Daylight and shadow animation to visualize how sun exposure shifts across the valley
• Detailed popup data for every mapped AVA

Key Regions in Focus

Dundee Hills and Chehalem Mountains

The Dundee Hills is where Oregon’s modern Pinot Noir story began, with plantings dating to the 1960s and 1970s. The hills are a single volcanic landform rising to about 1,000 feet (305 m), and the red, iron-rich Jory soils here have become closely associated with the region’s identity. Most vineyards face south and southeast between 200 and 800 feet (60 and 245 m). The Chehalem Mountains, just north, are geologically more varied, with volcanic basalt, marine sedimentary, and wind-deposited loess (Laurelwood series) soils all present within a single landmass. In practice, soil boundaries are not always clean lines on the ground, and many vineyards work across more than one type. Ribbon Ridge, a small AVA nested within the Chehalems on predominantly marine sedimentary soil, produces some of the valley’s most refined, textured Pinot Noir. Chardonnay is increasingly important across both AVAs, with producers drawing on the same hillside sites and soil diversity that define their Pinot Noir. The elevation profile tool is useful for tracing hillside positions across these adjacent AVAs.

Eola-Amity Hills and the Van Duzer Corridor

The Eola-Amity Hills sit directly east of the Van Duzer Corridor, a gap in the Coast Range that funnels cool Pacific air into the valley every afternoon. This wind gap is one of the most important geographic features in the Willamette Valley, and in 3D it is unmistakable: a clear break in the mountain wall to the west. The cooling effect of the Van Duzer winds gives Eola-Amity its signature combination of concentration and acidity. The same conditions suit Chardonnay well, and the AVA has become one of Oregon’s strongest sources for the variety. Vineyards sit on a mix of volcanic and marine sedimentary soils at 200 to 700 feet (60 to 215 m). The daylight animation shows how the afternoon shadow from the Coast Range and the wind gap interact with the hillside exposures.

McMinnville, Yamhill-Carlton, and Across the Valley

McMinnville occupies the eastern foothills of the Coast Range, where shallow, rocky marine sedimentary soils produce Pinot Noir with earthy, savory character. Yamhill-Carlton, to the northeast, sits in a horseshoe of ancient marine sedimentary soils (among the oldest in the valley) producing wines with firm tannins and aging potential. Newer AVAs continue to add definition across the Willamette Valley: Tualatin Hills, in the north near Portland, and the Laurelwood District, nested within the Chehalem Mountains, were both established in 2020. Van Duzer Corridor, the wind gap itself, is now its own AVA.

Hopefully this index is useful on its own. To explore these regions interactively, with every boundary on real terrain and a full profile for each, start a 15-day free trial. To see what one of these maps is like first, a different map is unlocked for everyone every day. For a flat view of all 276 AVAs, see the United States Fast Map, or download the free Willamette Valley wine map and Oregon wine map.