Yamhill County Pinot Noir

Most of the premium pinot noir winemakers around these parts harvested this week.

The grapes look very good and they just beat the rains.

Just got an email from Don Hagge at Vidon. His grapes came in at 24 Brix.

Joseph-
A lot of what I had been reading up until about a week ago (yeah, it is the internet afterall) put many of the sites with harvest dates between 10/10 and 10/20. I wonder if the grapes are truly ready, or if the rains forced growers hands a bit. I suspect the weather for the next 10 days will determine if the decision to pick "early" was the best option.
Overall, it appears to be a very challenging vintage with the cold start and the rains at harvest.
Bill

Joseph-
A lot of what I had been reading up until about a week ago (yeah, it is the internet afterall) put many of the sites with harvest dates between 10/10 and 10/20. I wonder if the grapes are truly ready, or if the rains forced growers hands a bit. I suspect the weather for the next 10 days will determine if the decision to pick "early" was the best option.
Overall, it appears to be a very challenging vintage with the cold start and the rains at harvest.
Bill

Yeah a couple of winemakers told me they wouldn't be harvesting until the second week of October or so. It has been a challenging year.

But, on the upside a couple of them have told me they are very happy with the grapes. We'll see. I'll try to keep abreast of this as it develops.

Thought I would toss in my two cents, which is about all my opinion is worth regarding harvest decisions. We have been hanging around the winery like a bunch of race horses, waiting to load and go. So far all we have in-house is a bit of eastern washington fruit with a small amount to come in Sunday and a small lot of Pinot Gris which came in late Thursday ( about 18 Tons ). The gris is not what I would call optimum, but we feel that with the amounts we still have coming it should provide a nice back-bone to the blend. We have NO Pinot Noir and no plans to pick anytime soon and have not seen the trucks rolling full of totes. Most of the other winemakers I have been running into are not into full fledge "go like hell" mode yet, and with the rains I don't expect that to start anytime soon.
Most of the vineyards we use are not ready yet, and our call will be to wait. It is one of a winemakers biggest responsibilities deciding when to pick, but after having been in this valley my entire life, I have learned not to panic. Worrying does no good, doesn't change a thing about the outcome and in fact can taint your ability to make a clear and good choice.
What I suspect that Cary may be speaking about might relate to younger vines, or vines that showing signs of stress ?
So far I think our vintage is stacking up to be a nice one, we made up some time in the last few weeks with the warm weather, and expect to make some mighty tasty wines in 2008 with a little patience on our part and of course some co-operation from the weather gods.
Linda

Thought I would toss in my two cents, which is about all my opinion is worth regarding harvest decisions. We have been hanging around the winery like a bunch of race horses, waiting to load and go. So far all we have in-house is a bit of eastern washington fruit with a small amount to come in Sunday and a small lot of Pinot Gris which came in late Thursday ( about 18 Tons ). The gris is not what I would call optimum, but we feel that with the amounts we still have coming it should provide a nice back-bone to the blend. We have NO Pinot Noir and no plans to pick anytime soon and have not seen the trucks rolling full of totes. Most of the other winemakers I have been running into are not into full fledge "go like hell" mode yet, and with the rains I don't expect that to start anytime soon.
Most of the vineyards we use are not ready yet, and our call will be to wait. It is one of a winemakers biggest responsibilities deciding when to pick, but after having been in this valley my entire life, I have learned not to panic. Worrying does no good, doesn't change a thing about the outcome and in fact can taint your ability to make a clear and good choice.
What I suspect that Cary may be speaking about might relate to younger vines, or vines that showing signs of stress ?
So far I think our vintage is stacking up to be a nice one, we made up some time in the last few weeks with the warm weather, and expect to make some mighty tasty wines in 2008 with a little patience on our part and of course some co-operation from the weather gods.
Linda

Hi Linda-
Glad you chimed in with your nickel's worth.
May the weather Gods be with you and your patience rewarded.
Cheers,
Bill

Linda, all I know is what I've heard from Willakenzie, Domaine Serene, and Vidon. They've all begun harvesting. ( I was supposed to help with Vidon, but it came up so suddenly Don said he didn't have time to notify anyone.)

On another note, Linda, I left you an email at The Stone Wolf website asking what would be a good time to drop by as I drive right by there just about every other day.

Also glad Linda chimed in. It was a pleasure to meet her at MOCOOL. FWIW - I'm making Pinot Noir red for the first time this year. In 2004 I used some to make Blanc Des Noir bubbly. These are from local Niagara County grapes, 3 year old vines, a mixture of 3 clones (115, 677 and I forget the other). They were picked last weekend as the grower was anxious about a lot of rain in the forecast. I split 550 lbs. with Dan Smothergill and his friend. We came up with slightly different numbers on testing. I got Brix - 21.0, pH - 3.35, TA - 1.08. Dan got Brix= 19.9, ph= 3.28, TA= 0.92. I drew off about 7 gallons to make Blanc Des Noir bubbly and the rest is now fermenting on the skins in the garage.

Any updates?? I suspect everyone is rather bizzzy about now.
Thanks.
BP

We have seen signs over the last few days that things are ramping up. In particular yesterday I began to see the "grape trucks" moving about the valley in droves... Sounds like it's time to let the crush crew do what they do best - Work hard, Play harder !
In the last week we finally started recieving Pinot Noir and must say I am VERY pleased with what we are seeing. Got some chardonnay in last night that also looks and tastes quite nice.
The weather has been great, small chances of baby showers but sun and 60's during the day and no threat of frost at night. Guess the weather Gods did smile on us.
So, off we go for another wild ride called harvest. I suspect from now through the next week we will be going non-stop, trying to beat the "real rains".
2008 is shaping up to be another nice vintage in the Willamette Valley... Whew ! It was a LONG growing season, full of hard decisions and alot of prayers.
Linda

So, off we go for another wild ride called harvest. I suspect from now through the next week we will be going non-stop, trying to beat the "real rains".
Linda

Thanks for taking the time to get us updated, Linda. And good luck with the harvest and the wine making.
Looking forward to your next update, but I realize you will be quite busy from now on...
Anders

Hi Linda- Glad you chimed in with your nickel's worth.
May the weather Gods be with you and your patience rewarded.
Cheers, Bill

Bill, have you ever had one of Linda's wines? No? See what you missed by not coming to Mo'Cool last August? Linda was there, and she brought Pinots! She also brought a hand carried bottle of her unbottled (at that time) of her 2007 pinot gris special delivery for me. It is the most Loire like PG I have ever had, and her 2006 (which I am getting low on) was damned good in it's own right.

Hi Linda- Glad you chimed in with your nickel's worth.
May the weather Gods be with you and your patience rewarded.
Cheers, Bill

Bill, have you ever had one of Linda's wines? No? See what you missed by not coming to Mo'Cool last August? Linda was there, and she brought Pinots! She also brought a hand carried bottle of her unbottled (at that time) of her 2007 pinot gris special delivery for me. It is the most Loire like PG I have ever had, and her 2006 (which I am getting low on) was damned good in it's own right.

Bob-
Linda, NJ and I spit together. A fun day...she is a gracious lady! Now, what I want to know is whatever happened to those "Farmer Road" barrels?
Bill