Savor Southern Oregon wine festival is a Sunset Travel Award winner
Published 12:00 pm Sunday, September 20, 2026
Event selected in 2026 ‘What To Do: Food & Wine Experiences’ category; this year’s event drew 1,000 people to Jacksonville
One of the Rogue Valley’s newest wine events has earned the praise of a prominent Western U.S.-focused lifestyle magazine.
Savor Southern Oregon, Travel Medford’s signature wine event that just completed its second year, was selected as a winner for the 2026 Sunset Travel Awards from Sunset Magazine in the category of “What To Do: Food & Wine Experiences.”
The yearly Sunset Travel Awards celebrate the best travel spots in the American West, and Savor Southern Oregon was selected among 19 other winners in the food and wine category, a news release said.
Sunset Magazine has 190,000 print subscribers and more than 450,000 unique monthly website visitors, along with 1 million-plus newsletter subscribers, according to the publication.
“From the beginning, we wanted Savor Southern Oregon to be more than a wine festival. We wanted to create an experience that tells the story of the Rogue Valley through its wines and, most importantly, thorough the people who make them,” said Carole Skeeters-Stevens, chief marketing officer for Travel Medford and event director for Savor Southern Oregon. “To have Sunset recognize Savor among the best food and wine experiences in the West is incredibly meaningful. It is a reflection of the quality of this wine region and the wineries, winemakers, partners and community members who have helped make Savor what it is.”
Savor Southern Oregon is held each June and brings together wineries, winemakers and wine lovers to celebrate the Rogue Valley’s wine country with a two-day event that offers the Savor Southern Oregon Wine Competition, tastings and educational opportunities to connect attendees with the people behind Southern Oregon’s wine.
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The event returned for its second year on June 12-13, drawing nearly 1,000 attendees to the Bigham Knoll Campus in Jacksonville and featuring 50 Rogue Valley wineries.
The event generated a noticeable increase in reservations at area hotels and short-term rentals as wine enthusiasts traveled to the Rogue Valley to experience one of Oregon’s premier wine regions firsthand, officials said in June. Attendees represented 53 unique ZIP codes across 13 states, demonstrating the rising reach and appeal of the Rogue Valley as a wine tourism destination.
The Rogue Valley wine industry has been growing in Southern Oregon as well as growing in the spotlight, with the USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards selecting the valley as the No. 1 wine region in the United States.
Medford’s DANCIN Vineyards was also named as a 2026 Sunset Travel Award winner for the food and wine experiences category.
“Having two Rogue Valley experiences recognized by Sunset in this category speaks volumes about what is happening in our region,” said T.J. Holmes, senior vice president of Travel Medford. “Savor was created to give people a reason to discover the incredible wines being made here and then go out and experiences the wineries, tasting rooms, restaurants and communities that make Rogue Valley wine country so special. Recognition like this introduces that story to a much larger audiences and gives travelers another reason to put Medford and the Rogue Valley on their list as a must-visit destination.”
For more information on Savor Southern Oregon and Travel Medford, visit travelmedford.org.
