Home | Wine Vintage | 2002
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2002 Harvest ReportWe must be living right! Once again mother nature cooperated and gave us the chance to make beautiful wine. A sunny summer, after a slightly earlier than normal bloom, was followed by a long, almost too dry fall. The harvest proceeded slowly beginning on October 4th with last grapes arriving October 16th. This afforded us the luxury of giving each lot all the attention it needed. Like 2001, we had a very good "set" resulting in an unusually high number of berries in each cluster. We did our crop estimates early and were able to reduce the crop to well under 2.5 tons per acre (TPA). Most blocks came in at 1.7 to 2.3 TPA. Yield is an extremely important factor in wine quality. The ability to reduce the crop to the right level early is critical to properly ripening fruit. We know that too much fruit will reduce ripeness, varietal flavors, and intensity. It is very important to accurately estimate the crop early in the season and reduce the yield by crop thinning, if needed, prior to the grapes changing color (veraison). Fruit "set" is the term we use to describe the number of clusters and the number of berries in each cluster that set (fertilize and form grapes) in a particular year. The amount of fruit on a given grape plant can vary up to 400% from season to season. The most critical factors are the weather during the time of set (usually June) and the health of the plant. We prune grape plants to control vegetative growth and keep plants in balance. Pruning determines the number of shoots the plant will have. Most shoots will average 2 clusters and, on average, there are 5 ripe clusters of Pinot noir per pound. By pruning carefully, we can pre-select how much fruit the plant is likely to have. What we cannot control is how many of the tiny grape flowers will fertilize during the brief bloom period. We also do not know how many clusters each shoot will actually have: there may be only one or as many as three. If we have a poor set and very few clusters per shoot, we have a "crop failure" vintage - yields are very low, and no thinning is need. 1994 was a perfect example. Both 2001 and 2002 set large crops; as high as 5 tons per acre before thinning. Set was incredible and the clusters were full of berries. Most shoots had 2 clusters and some had three. In both years, our early estimates showed that the crop was large and we thinned extensively. Our estimates were accurate and Pinot noir crop levels in all our Pinot noir blocks for 2001 were reduced to less than 2.5 TPA. For Seven Springs, Anden, and Brickhouse, they were under 2.0 TPA. These low crop levels were not the rule for Oregon in 2001 and the press has already advised consumers to look for the bargain wines from the 2001 vintage as wineries declassify the high yield lots and sell them at a reduced price. A few growers and winemakers saw the problem early, thinned, and will make lovely wines. It is possible that too low a crop load can also be detrimental to quality. I have previously written here about hang time and its importance in developing ripe flavors. If the crop is very low (under 1 ton per acre) ripening is accelerated and the final phase of flavor development could be limited in very warm conditions. Heat reduces hang time by rapidly raising sugars, reducing acid and forcing harvest of fruit with high sugar, low acidity, and little flavor. This is especially problematic if there has been little rain and the vines are water stressed. The key is to find the right crop level for the vintage, i.e. the amount that will full ripen and develop the maximum flavor. The trick in Oregon is to pick these perfect grapes before the rains come. Once the grapes are picked we have to put them somewhere. We purchased two traditional Burgundy wooden fermenters this year to augment our long row of stainless tanks. A few of the great domaines in Burgundy ferment in these tanks (most use glass lined concrete fermenters). Every Burgundy winemaker I talked to that used them, loved them. I was instinctively drawn to these tanks, and decided to buy two as a trial. The results were amazing. One of the fermenters was filled with Anden Vineyard Pinot noir. Throughout the fermentation, it was the most seductive, beautiful fermentation I have smelled in 15 years of sticking my nose in fermenters. The same fruit in the stainless tank next to it was nice, but not the same. We barreled the wine separately and will see how they develop. Overall, the harvest was very, very good. Ripe fruit, no significant rot, low stress, and very cool new fermenters. Oh, and by the way, the white grapes were the ripest I have ever seen. Not a bad way to end the fall. Thanks, |
