Home | Wine Vintage | 2008
|
2008 HARVEST REPORT What we wanted most from the 2008 harvest was not to repeat 2007. The process of building a new winery, moving and setting up all of our equipment, mega-stressing to get into the building on time was difficult enough. Then, in an exhausted state, we harvested the largest crop ever in the shortest time frame with the two largest volume days in our history that just happened to occur on the third and fourth days after we were allowed to occupy our new winery. Our wish came true. The growing season began with a cool May and June. Bud break was close to normal, but the cool conditions delayed bloom until early July, about two weeks later than normal. Bloom occurred in dry, moderate weather and the fruit set was good resulting in moderate sized clusters with mostly even sized berries - essentially perfect from a winemaker's perspective. Because bloom was late, we knew that the timing of harvest would also be delayed. We usually figure it takes 105 days from mid-bloom until we begin picking. In Burgundy, they figure 100 days. For 2008, that would calculate to the second week in October. That is late and the later we pick, the greater the risk of rain and incomplete ripening. A common, and my standard, response is to thin the crop more aggressively at the mid-point between bloom and harvest, at what we call lag-phase. This is the time when cell division stops in the berry. After that time, the individual cells just become larger as the fruit matures. Thinning before this time can stimulate increased cell number in the remaining berries. The berries left just become bigger, you get more juice and less skin, which does not make the best wine. Thinning at, or just after, lag prevents this problem. The summer was relatively dry. From July 1 through August we received only an inch of rain. Temperatures were mostly moderate with few days over 100 degrees. There were some intermittent rains in September into early October that we welcomed as they provided some much needed moisture to the vines. October was cool with the temperature rarely exceeding 70 degrees and the fruit seemed to be in no hurry to ripen. Our stress level mounted as we scoured the weather reports for incoming storm fronts and other signs of the apocalypse (winemakers can be a bit dramatic at harvest). As I said before, our wish came true. The rains did not come. The weather remained dry until Halloween. We were able to leisurely pick each vineyard site at exactly the time we felt the grapes were fully mature. We had lunch outside, enjoyed an occasional beer, laid in the sun, and rarely worked past 10pm. In all, it was a most civilized experience - and the opposite of 2007. The only downside was volume. In almost every site, the yield was reduced from what we expected. In some cases this was 10%, but in others it was more than 60%. For whites the Pinot blanc was down 10% while the Pinot gris was down 38%. Our largest lot of Pinot noir came from Momtazi Vineyard and was 25% smaller than in 2007. Fruit for our Villages Cuvée Pinot noir comes from Vitae Springs Vineyard and we received half of what we expected. The total tonnage from 2008 was the smallest since 1998, just over 91 tons in total. The upside is that all of the fruit was clean without rot, was completely ripe, and had great balance of acid, flavor and ripe tannins. Although there is not much wine, every lot is distinctive and true to its terroir. The other great blessing in 2008 was our harvest crew. In July, I received an e-mail from a Toronto sommelier, Irene Steh, requesting a harvest internship. She had attended Oregon Pinot Camp two years before (a trade-only, intensive, three day educational program produced by 50 Oregon wineries) and wanted to return to experience harvest. I assumed she had attended one of the seminars that I ran and was so impressed that she wanted to work with me. The reality was much different. We had never met and she had sent out several letters requesting positions, I just happened to respond first. She checked me out with some mutual winemaker friends in Ontario and, at their urging, accepted my offer. When she arrived in Oregon, she visited several winemakers who, upon learning that she was going to work for me, offered her refuge if things got 'a little too intense'. It was not without some trepidation that she showed up at our doorstep. Increasing the heat of the fire, she was going to spend her two months staying with us. Our other harvest intern was my niece, Martha Leffek. She had recently interrupted her university experience to take some time off and decide what she wanted to do; we used to call this 'finding ourselves'. I was concerned about the level of her work ethic and issued a warning that harvest was intense, we worked long hours, and that we need everyone to do their share of the work to survive. She assured me that she was up to the challenge and joined us in out home. Let me be clear. I can be very intense, especially at harvest. Adding two adult females to our home at a time when my wife, Vickianne, is already stressed might not turn out to be the best idea. However, Vickianne insisted that Irene and Martha would stay with us. So be it. I could always just work more. As things turned out, this was without a doubt the best harvest crew we ever had. Both Irene and Martha worked their proverbial asses off. Vickianne, Martha, and Irene frequently had 'cocktail hour' (or two) after work, laughed and got along fabulously. We loved Irene, and she loved us, so much that we are looking forward to having her join our staff permanently in the fall of 2009 after she experiences harvest in Australia and France. 2008 turned out to be a great year: great wine and great friends. I could not ask for anything more. Thank You, Mark Vlossak, winemaker |
