Overview of Willamette Valley Wine Tours and Mount St. Helens Guided Tours

Mid-Willamette valley vineyards have developed a reputation for producing some of the best Pinot Noir grapes in the world and excellent Pinot Gris. The Willamette Valley American Viticultural Area is the largest AVA in the state, encompassing 5,200 square miles, and is home to most of the state s wineries. The Willamette Valley AVA is divided into six sub-regions, each of which has its particular soils, climates and elevation. The area is also noted for its vast diversity of wines, each having its own defined character despite their vineyards being only a short distance apart. One can find a number of amazing things during the Willamette valley wine tours.

The Chehalem Mountains AVA was founded in 2006 and covered 70,000 acres stretching from Wilsonville to Forest Grove, of which more than 1,600 acres are given over to vineyards. There are more than 100 vineyards in the Chehalem Mountains AVA and 31 wineries. The AVA also has the three central hillside soil types ideal for grape cultivation: ocean sedimentary, basaltic and blown lake bed sediment.

The Eola-Amity Hills AVA covers an area some 15 miles long by 6 miles wide and stretches from Amity in the north to the capital Salem in the south. Grape production in the region benefits from the Pacific Ocean's steady winds that reach the Valley through the Van Duzer Corridor. Some 1,300 acres of the almost 40,000-acre AVA are given over to vineyards. The soils are mainly composed of volcanic basalt produced by ancient lava flows as well as marine sedimentary rocks and alluvial deposits.

Mount St. Helens guided tours

Mount Saint Helens is probably one of the most famous volcanoes in the United States, along with Hawaii's Mauna Loa, which is itself the most massive volcano on the earth. Mount St. Helens is still active, after its last fierce eruption in 1980. It is a stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington. It is located in the Cascade Mountain Range, and is known as a part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc. This is a small segment of the pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. Mount St. Helens guided tours will let you explore the amazing features and the magical natural phenomena.