Applegate Valley AVA wineries and tasting rooms

Applegate Valley became its own AVA in 2000, carved out of the broader Rogue Valley AVA in the Rogue Valley region, for ground that sits cooler than Bear Creek Valley to the east and warmer than the Illinois Valley to the west, a genuine middle climate, mostly between 1,000 and 2,000 feet, that Troon Vineyard's own site compares to Australia's Margaret River by ripening potential.

Peter Britt planted the region's first vines here in 1852, during the Rogue Valley gold rush, after arriving to mine rather than to farm: one of several growers, including A.H. Carson, who planted an early vineyard and nursery at his Redland ranch around the same period. The modern era didn't start until 1972, when Dick Troon put in Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon and Frank Wisnovsky revived the old Valley View Winery name.

The valley's microclimates can be sharp even within a single vineyard: at Troon's Kubli Bench, winegrower Craig Camp has watched fog blanket the surrounding hills while his own slope stays in full sun. Valley View Winery still carries Britt's original lineage forward, more than a century and a half after his first vines went in.