• Wine associations foster a love of wine.low view of a wine glass with wine and grapes and napkin image by David Smith from Fotolia.com
  
  Wine associations can take different forms. Some promote tourism and travel to local wineries. Others are more serious in nature, providing legal advice and representing wineries in a lobbying capacity. In Oregon, a geologically diverse land with a unique wine country where cool-climate and warm-climate varieties flourish in close proximity to one another, both types of wine associations can be found. Wine associations benefit both winegrowers and wine drinkers, providing information and promoting awareness.
  
  

Oregon Winegrowers Association

• The Oregon Winegrowers Association (OWA) describes itself as a "voluntary membership-based organization that provides legislative and regulatory advocacy and lobbying for the Oregon wine grape and wine industry." The OWA currently boasts almost 300 professional members -- local wineries banded together to present a unified voice on key industry issues, including ecological issues such as land use and spray drift, and legal issues such as direct shipping and labeling compliance. In addition to representing winegrowers in legislative and legal capacities, the association also provides the public with information on Oregon's wineries and wine regions, and wine craftsmanship and sustainability issues.
  
  

Southern Oregon Winery Association

• The Southern Oregon Winery Association is composed of almost 60 southern Oregon wineries. The SOWA encompasses four American Viticultural Areas (also called "AVAs" -- "official" grape growing regions designated by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms). These AVAs range from the Rogue Valley, one of Oregon's hottest growing regions, which produces a wide variety of Bordeaux-style wines, to the significantly cooler Umpqua Valley, which produces Rhone varietals. The SOWA promotes local wineries through brochures, events and its website.
  
  

Willamette Valley Wineries Association

• The Willamette Valley Wineries Association is one of many wine associations in Oregon's Willamette Valley, near Portland. The region boasts almost 250 wineries. The winery association is closely related to the Willamette Valley Visitors Association, a private, non-profit organization promoting and supporting travel and tourism in the region. Calling Willamette Valley "Oregon's premier wine destination," the association promotes local wineries and wine events, and emphasizes the area's culture and rich natural resources. The Willamette Valley is also home to several smaller winery associations, such as the North Willamette Vintners and the Yamhill-Carlton District Winegrowers' Association.