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Oregon Vintage 2003:
Big, Dark, and Soft

by Cole Danehower

1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 . . . and now vintage 2003. Will this year’s vintage stand up to its illustrious predecessors?

Until recently, Oregon had been famous for trying winemakers’ skills with unpredictable vintages. In many years, wet or cool fall harvests had sometimes wrecked havoc with the harvest plans by making it difficult to achieve full ripening before autumn rains arrived, especially in the cool growing region of the Willamette Valley.

But since 1998, Oregon winemakers up and down the state have become famous for demonstrating a new mastery of their craft, helped by a fortuitous string of warm and dry vintages. Without the rain to dilute them, or the coolness to harden them, Oregon’s more recent vintages have blessed winemakers with ripe and character-rich grapes.

Yet memories of the rains linger, and each September growers and winemakers anxiously study the skies and weather maps . . . and consumers eagerly await the first vintage verdicts: will it be another great vintage for Oregon wine?

For 2003, the early money says “”yes!” . . . but with some qualifications.

Fruit Quality is Superb!

Winemakers I talked to—north and south—agreed that the overall quality of the fruit, from Pinot noir to Pinot gris, from Syrah to Chardonnay, was excellent. There was little disease pressure, and though there were some issues with variable ripening and even a lot of “pulpy” grapes (lacking “loose juice”), the flavor characteristics are excellent.

“It’s awful early,” says Bryan Wilson, winemaker at Eugene’s Silvan Ridge/Hinman Vineyards, “but I’m excited by the fruit.” Michael Etzel of Beaux Frères in the Ribbon Ridge area of Yamhill County agrees. “Things look good,” he says, noting that he’s seen lots of sweet flavors, sweet tannins, and big aromas in the fruit he’s picked.

Earl Jones, owner and winemaker at Abacela in the Umpqua Valley AVA also sees a strong vintage. “I’m impressed,” he says. “Tempranillo and Syrah in particular are excellent—I think it’s going to be a better vintage for us than last year was.”

Further south, Mark Wisnovsky of Valley View also sees excellent quality. “The fruit is really ripe and healthy, and I like the flavors we’re seeing: big and sweet but with decent structure.”

But despite the great flavors, the 2003 harvest has posed some challenges to the skills of Oregon’s winemakers.

Heat Poses Harvest Challenges

Throughout the state, but especially in the Willamette Valley, one of the driest years on record was accentuated in August and September by heat spikes that drove temperatures to the point where grape vines shut down their photosynthesis.

At Chehalem, for instance, Harry Peterson-Nedry recorded 2212 accumulated heat units at the beginning of October, when last year (which had been considered warm) the total at the same time was 1979 heat units. For many vineyards in the north, this resulted in sugars developing in advance of full physiological ripening.

So, many Willamette Valley wineries decided to delay picking—even though the sugar levels might otherwise indicate it was time to harvest—until the flavor development “caught up.” Thankfully, two brief periods of rain in September helped moderate sugar levels without excessive dilution and allowed for more even maturation of flavors.

Even so, the heat of the summer did seem to disrupt the normal pattern of ripening: the 2003 harvest began about 10 days earlier than usual. This alone didn’t pose particular problems for wineries, but when winemakers began to realize that final ripening was happening quickly, and at nearly every vineyard at about the same time, there suddenly was a mad rush to get the grapes picked.

Vineyards that normally ripened two weeks apart, suddenly came ripe within a week of each other, or even within a few days of each other. This barely allowed enough time to pick, soak, and press the first vineyard’s fruit before the second vineyard needed to be picked. Consequently, there was a great deal of scrambling as wineries scrounged around to find enough bins and tanks to accommodate so much fruit requiring processesing all at once. “It’s been a logistical horror show,” one Yamhill County winemaker told me.

In Southern Oregon, by contrast, some vineyards found ripening had been delayed by a few days because of the heat. Vines that shut down because of the heat simply lost ripening days.

Ironically, this didn’t help wineries that worked with fruit from both ends of the state. When the harvest of Southern Oregon grapes that normally ripened before Northern Oregon grapes became delayed, and when the Northern Oregon grapes ripened significantly earlier than normal, it meant that there was little of the normal separation between the two harvests. Again, wineries had to suddenly processes everything pretty much at the same time.

A Big, Dark, and Soft Vintage

The heat also affected the grape character of this year’s harvest. Sugar levels were definitely higher than other recent vintages. Most grapes—including Pinot noir—were picked above 26 brix, and very few were picked below 25 brix. That should mean the resulting wines will be big, and alcoholly. One winemaker said to me “There will be some monster wines this year . . . I hope we don’t see a bunch of Zinfandel-like Pinots with 15%-plus alcohol!”

Along with the high sugars came a little less acidity than in previous years. On average, winemakers were seeing acid levels 1 gram per liter below what they were in 2002. One winemaker remarked that “this will be the year of acidulation.”

Along with the “bigness” and “softness” also comes “darkness.” In all of Oregon’s growing regions winemakers have remarked how darkly colored the fruit is—especially the Pinot noir. Michael Etzel called the grapes in his fermenters “scary black!”

Finally, it also seems that a characteristic of the vintage may be aggressive aromatics. Many winemakers commented that the fruit in their fermenters seemed to have aromas that were very big, sweet, and complex—perhaps about what you’d expect from high sugar, low acid, really ripe winegrapes!

So How Good a Vintage Is It?

Truthfully, it is too early to say for sure. As I write this (October 5) most wineries have either completed their harvest, or are within a day or two of doing so. Many have pressed off much of their wines, and some have completed early fermentations. There’s still a great deal of development to go, including malolactic fermentation, rackings, and barrel ageing.

At this point in the maturation cycle of a vintage we only have indications of what the overall quality will be like. But those indications are all positive that 2003, though quirky, can measure up to the standard of its post- ’98 predecessors!

One thing is for sure, though. Oregon’s winemakers have matured their craft just as surely their vines have matured in the ground. Though there were interesting challenges in this growing year, they are challenges that can more readily be met in 2003 then they would have been in 1993. To Oregon winemakers, they are just part of what makes each vintage different . . . and “great” in its own way! --CD

About Cole Danehower

Cole Danehower is a wine writer specializing in the Pacific Northwest.
Since 1999 he has edited and published the Oregon Wine Report, the newsletter of record for Oregon wine consumers. In 2003 the Oregon Wine Report was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award as one of the three best food and wine newsletters in North America.

In addition to his column for Avalon, Cole also writes the "Inside
Northwest Wine" column for Northwest Palate magazine, and his wine writing has appeared in The Oregonian, as well other newspapers and websites.