The New Flight to Oregon Wine Country

Willamette Valley gets a shot in the Tourist Arm with direct flights from the Bay Area

It hasn’t been an “exodus” but the migration of winemakers from the North Coast of California to the Willamette Valley and other parts of Oregon has been steady for a good long time. Perhaps with the recent change in travel options from the North Coast wine country to the heart of the Willamette Valley, we’ll see even more winemaker exchanges between these two heralded wine regions.

Recently, Avelo Airlines announced it will be adding flights between Sonoma Airport and Salem, Oregon. The convenience of this new route can’t be overstated. Sonoma Airport is far more convenient than Oakland Airport or Sacramento Airport while Salem Airport is much more convenient than the Portland, Oregon airport for anyone coming or going to the Willamette Valley.

Avelo Airlines has been a regional carrier for quite some time with most flights hitting secondary airports in the West and a variety of regional airports along the East Coast corridor. Flights from my hometown airport of Salem, Oregon in the middle of the Willamette Valley have headed to Burbank airport and Las Vegas. This has been fine if I wanted to head down to LA for God knows what or if I wanted to spend a few days in Las Vegas playing no-limit and the 1-5 tables.

Flights into Salem, Oregon via Avelo only began last October with, as I mentioned, flights from Burbank in LA and Las Vegas. This was a pretty big deal for the Willamette Valley tourism and wine industry. The opening of the Sonoma to Salem is equally important as it opens up the Willamette Valley to the Bay Area. The ability to bring travelers directly into the Willamette Valley and bypass the often congested Portland area is a tremendous convenience.

As with most regions, 2023 was a down year for winery visitation in the Willamette Valley. So, it should be no surprise that, according to the ShipCompliant/Wines & Vines Direct-to-Consumer Shipping Report, the volume of wine shipments from Oregon wineries to consumers fell by 9% from 2023.

If the reported downturn in wine sales is systemic and not a momentary blip downward, then DtC sales and shipments are going to become even more important to wineries, including those in the Willamette Valley and the rest of Oregon. This in turn reminds us just how critical it is for the Oregon wine industry to attract visitors to their wineries. Not only do increased visits to wineries mean more immediate sales, but they also mean more wine club memberships. These wine club memberships are what help sell even more wine and also bring visitors back to the region.

Being able to bring more people to the region more conveniently via air travel is an important part of making all of this happen. I will not be surprised to see the various Oregon wine and hospitality associations promoting more heavily in the Bay Area, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

The other issue with the Willamette Valley that a new air route to the Bay Area won’t help is the winter weather. Wine travel here is still somewhat seasonal. As I look out the window from my office I see what I have seen for the past four months: grey skies, rain, and 45-degree temperatures. It will be like this for another month…at least.

Despite the periods of heavy rain Napa and Sonoma have gotten this year, for the most part, the North Coast wine country enjoys temperate winters and springs, making travel there comfortable.

In the Willamette Valley, however, several wineries severely reduce their hours or even close for the winter months as the number of visitors is reduced significantly. The various hospitality organizations will have to determine if it is worth the time and money to attempt to bring more visitors during this more uncomfortable time of the year.

It needs to be pointed out that despite the rain and constant dampness of the November -April period, the Willamette Valley doesn’t shed its beauty. Earlier this week I went wine tasting with a friend up from Los Angeles and my son Henry. We traveled through the Eola-Amity Hills appellation west of Salem. We saw that green foothills with their stands of trees remain attractions to the eye. The backroads continued to wind around small population hamlets. The busted old barns still sat off to the side of the road with their red remnant color. And the vineyards with their vines lined up like good soldiers continued to roll over foothills. And occasionally the clouds broke and an uncommon brightness exploded over the hills and vineyards. Not too bad. But it will still take a good marketer to get potential visitors to see past the notorious rains of the Pacific Northwest and into the Willamette Valley in the winter.

I should note that this time of the year here in the Willamette Valley leads to racing hearts. After four months of damp, grey, raining days and nights, we are just starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

I see it in the buds on the tree beginning to swell. The tulips, though not blooming, are beginning to push up through the wet dirt. The daffodils are just now beginning to show their yellow. And while the significant collection of hostas I’ve planted in the ground have not started to poke their pointed heads up through the soil, those planted in protected, warmer pots are emerging.

All of this is to say that there is good evidence that Spring will arrive. And if we can look forward to the coming of Spring, then I can imagine the summer months arriving a bit later. And I can say without equivocation that summer in the Willamette Valley is the best form of summer I’ve experienced anywhere.

With Spring and Summer likely to arrive, if all goes well for the wineries of the Willamette Valley and Oregon, Avelo Airlines will have to add more flights to Salem.