Here’s my best end-of-the-year tip for Oregon wine consumers: Buy 2004 . . . buy, buy, buy!

Sure, this story is appearing on a wine retailer’s website, so I run the risk of looking like an industry shill. But I’m telling subscribers to my independent Oregon Wine Report the same thing—and I have NO wine-selling links with any winery, retailer, or wholesaler: it doesn’t impact me one whit whether sales of Oregon’s 2004 vintage rise, fall, or stagnate.

But I happen to think that 2004 is Oregon’s best overall vintage since 1999—and perhaps the lowest-yielding vintage since 1998—so I still say: be savvy, buy 2004 Oregon wines.

Here’s why: from my own personal tastings of Oregon’s 2004 wines, both in barrel throughout the year and in newly-released bottles, I believe 2004 offers the best balance of varietal flavor, acidity, tannins, and complexity—almost regardless of variety or growing location—of any Oregon vintage since 1999.

Let’s see . . . high quality plus low quantity means . . . get ‘em while you can??!!

I am personally taking my own advice and buying as much of the 2004 Oregon wines that appeal to my palate as I can for my own cellar.

Oregon’s Vintage Context

The question of vintage quality is perhaps more important in Oregon than in other places. Oregon, it must be remembered, is not like California, where weather variability during the growing season is much less a factor on vintage quality. A large portion of Oregon’s grape growing geography lies on the edge of a viticulturally friendly climate, exposing much of our grape crop to the unpredictable vicissitudes of variable growing season weather.

In the Willamette Valley, where the majority of our vineyards and wineries are located, the border between summer’s enervating warmth and autumn’s ripening coolness coincides with the end of the growing season for many fruits—but particularly for certain wine grapes, and especially for Pinot noir, the state’s most important wine crop.

When things go well here, this juxtaposition is fortuitous; it means the end-of-season ripening of Pinot noir and other “cool-climate” grapes yields maximum fruit flavor and varietal expression, enabling the crafting of expressive wines full of character and quality. This is why Oregon’s Pinot noirs in particular have become some of the world’s favorites.

But when the weather is more dicey—if the rains come a scosh too soon and the temperatures drop a tad too low for a bit too long—then wine growing on the cusp of climatic compatibility can become a madding set of less then desirable decisions as vineyardists and winemakers dodge autumn weather in their scramble to gather what ripe and balanced fruit they can. This can be why Oregon sometimes also has a reputation for inconsistent wine quality.

In 2004, it seems that northern Oregon winemakers had to contend with a long laundry list of weather weirdness that kept the ultimate quality of the vintage in question until the last minute.

Shea Vineyard, August, 2004

A Challenging 2004 in the Willamette Valley

The 2004 vintage in northern Oregon really began in 2003—the hottest and driest growing year on record.

In many Willamette Valley vineyards, especially those with young vines, or which were dry-farmed, the 2003 weather produced plenty of stress on the plants as they went into their winter dormancy. But in this particular year, the normally restful period was interrupted on New Year’s Day by a harsh winter freeze that settled into northern Oregon during much of January of 2004. The cold affected many vineyards and caused some localized damage to sensitive vines.

When spring finally sprung, the undamaged grape vines happily began shaking off the winter affects and waking up their metabolisms. A spurt of warm weather in the early spring encouraged the plants to start taking up nutrients from the ground and begin the formation of early buds and growth.

But just as this got underway, Mother Nature played a trick: colder weather settled into the region and the plants halted their growth. This meant that unmetabolized nutrients, nitrogen in particular, were left in the plant. This buildup eventually created a kind of toxicity that damaged the development of primordial grape clusters.

The bad news was that this meant irregular cluster and berry size. But there was good news as well: the ultimate size of the grape crop had been reduced naturally—though in many cases rather drastically—instead of by the intervention of the human hand, and a smaller crop means more concentration of flavors—and ultimately better wine.

Pinot noir cluster showing irregula cluster and berry size

The summer season in 2004 was relatively normal, with somewhat warmer than normal weather predominating. There were a few periods of temperatures above the point where the grape vines shut down their metabolism, but nothing like 2003, so the remaining healthy plants entered the beginning of fall in relatively strong shape.

But then in the middle of September, just as winemakers were beginning to plot the sugars and acids of their maturing grapes, a sustained cold and wet weather period moved in and looked like it could threaten the harvest.

Grape vines eager for water after summer’s dryness soaked up the unexpected wetness, threatening to plump the grapes to the point of bursting—further reducing an already small crop and risking the development of diseases and molds on the damaged grapes.

And here is where Mother Nature showed she can give as well as take away: the rains arrived just before the final period of ripening, and when they departed, they left behind sunny, cool, and breezy days that encouraged the reinvigorated grapes to come back into balance and finish their path to ripeness.

Southern & Eastern Oregon’s Vintage Quality

Of course, there is much more to Oregon wine country then just the Willamette Valley. In southern and eastern Oregon, the 2004 weather was more reliable and the vintage quality more stable.

In these warmer growing regions the major weather issue for winegrowers is often one of extreme temperatures coming at inopportune times.

If weather is excessively hot during the summer or early fall, grapes can become unbalanced because sugar development happens too rapidly, outstripping the maturation of other desirable elements, such as flavor and acidity. Too hot temperatures can also cause the vine to shut down its metabolism, causing undue stress and, if prolonged, damaging fruit quality.

At the other extreme, grapes in these areas can be vulnerable to late spring frosts that damage or kill nascent buds, potentially weakening the plant and damaging the crop yield. Similarly, early frosts in the fall can hit just before picking, damaging the grapes. And of course severe winter frosts can actually kill vines.

In 2004, winter frosts affected vines in eastern Oregon because of both the severity of temperatures and the length of the cool spell. While this damage did not affect the ultimate quality of the crop that was harvested, it did reduce the quantity of fruit. Like elsewhere around the state, the amount of damage varied from place to place, but some vineyards experienced grape losses as high as 75% of their crop.

Luckily, the remainder of the growing year was relatively moderate, and the available crop of wine grapes in eastern Oregon (primarily Bordeaux and Rhone varietals) ripened well, providing winemakers with excellent fruit quality, albeit in smaller quantities.

In southern Oregon, a generally warm spring got vines off to a healthy start, and rapid growth early in the year seemed to indicate an early harvest. But some areas experienced spring rains that interrupted flowering and reduced their crop, while other areas saw early summer cooling that slowed the pace of growth, bringing harvest dates to within normal averages.

For all of southern Oregon warm and dry weather prevailed in much of September and October, allowing winegrowers the leisure to harvest their grapes when they felt the peak of ripeness had been reached—a sure indicator of good wine quality!

A Tough—But Ultimately Great—Vintage

It is entirely possible that if the 2004 vintage had occurred ten years earlier in Oregon, it would have been disastrous. In 1994 there was a lot less winegrowing and winemaking experience in this state than there is today. Ultimately, 2004 challenged the region’s winemakers, but it did not daunt them.

Interviewed just after harvest in 2004, Dick Shea, owner of Shea Vineyards noted that “Some people are saying this was the most difficult growing season they’ve seen, but our winegrowing abilities are a lot better then they were ten years ago and I think the challenges were met. We believe the fruit quality is extremely good and the potential wine quality is really excellent.”

Similarly winemaker Lynn Penner-Ash said at the time “I’m really excited at the quality of the fruit. It was certainly one of the most interesting growing seasons I’ve seen, and we all had to get creative and adjust. But I’m impressed with the ability of growers to handle what the year brought. I think we’re going to be making some pretty damn good wines!”

And to my way of tasting, Oregon’s winemakers have made damn good wines in 2004!

The only trouble is, there is so little of them. With yields down as much as 60% in some vineyards, the amount of 2004 Oregon wine hitting the market is dramatically less than in other recent vintages.

To see the scope of the issue, a look at Oregon’s total wine grape production statistics is instructive. But when you look at the chart (Table 1) you are really only seeing a part of the story. Even though pinot noir production is clearly reduced in 2004, the yield in the Willamette Valley’s best pinot noir vineyards is significantly more than the chart indicates.This is because the state’s aggregated statistics include pinot noir vineyards in Southern Oregon that didn’t experience the same drastic drop in yields that the prime pinot vineyards of Yamhill County and northern Willamette Valley experienced.

For instance, winemaker Patty Green reports that in 2004 she experienced record low yields in all 5 of the vineyards she manages. In her 26-acre Estate Vineyard on Ribbon Ridge, Patty received only 15 tons of pinot noir—that’s equivalent to an average yield of .6 tons to the acre (the industry average in Oregon is closer to 2 tons per acre). And her experience was very typical.

So while aggregate numbers show a decline, the total yield of Oregon’s best pinot noir vineyards was even lower than the statistics show!

Even so, the wines they produced—limited though they are—are superbly balanced.

I like to look at vintages as a summary of these factors: varietal fruit flavor, acidity, tannins, overall complexity, and alcohol. I use a spider graph to chart my sense of the intensity of these characteristics in order to compare the relative nature of each vintage.

Chart 1 (Cole’s Sensory Summary of Oregon’s 2003 Vintage) shows my (admittedly oversimplified) view of the 2003 vintage. The hot and dry weather in this year produced wines that were, for my palate, somewhat out of balance. Huge alcohol and tannin levels in these wines tended to obscure the varietal pinot noir flavors for me. Relatively low (or artificial) levels of acidity tended to suppress the complexity in these wines—as shown on the graph.

Chart 2 (Cole’s Sensory Summary of Oregon’s 2004 Vintage) shows my view of the 2004 vintage. What a difference! Incredible balance among these poles of distinctiuon produced wines of great force in nearly every dimension . . . except, perhaps, alcohol. This allowed the true varietal flavors to burst forth in 2004, and let the complexity really shine, without the intruding tannins so apparent in many 2003 wines.

Of course, this is just my personal summary of the vintage. You are likely to experience it differently. But experience it you must! 2004 produced superb wines in very limited supply that are well worth seeking out—sooner rather than later!

Here are some of the notes I’ve taken on 2004 wines I’ve tasted either in barrel tat different times in the year, or in recently released bottle.

Patricia Green Cellars

There’s not much doubt that Patty Green has a unique way with pinot. Since 1993 she had been making pinot noir in Yamhill County and it seems that, regardless of the nature of the vintage, she pulls off spectacular wines. And 2004 was no exception. Here are some notes.

2004 Patricia Green Oregon
This blend is comprised of fruit from the Bradley Vineyard in Elkton, in the Umnpqua Valley AVA, along with lots from a variety of Willamette Valley sites. This wine shows an intriguing combination of floral and spice notes on the nose, with an underlying red cherry core. In the mouth the cherry fruit predominates, with a sense of fresh acidity helping lend a bright edge. Additional notes of both earth and minerals, plus a lightly spicy (not quite cinnamon, but quite pleasant) veil give the wine some nice complexity. The finish maintains its red fruit essence, with subtle but well-framed tannins providing structure.

2004 Patricia Green Estate
The Estate Vineyard for Patty consists of 26-acres of vines—which in 2004 yielded very little wine! Though relatively closed when last tasted, the wine shows a wild berry-like aroma with distinct leathery and earthy overtones. Big and dark-looking in the glass, it delivers a mouth-filling sense of dark cherry and blackberry fruit, with a drying edge of summer-warmed garden earth. There is also a certain lively note reminiscent of citrus oil that comes out even more on the long and densely-packed finish. I have the sense that this is a tightly wound wine that will show a lot more with a year or two of cellaring.

2004 Patricia Green Croft
More purple than red in the glass, the Croft wine has big and sweet aromatics reminiscent of blueberry and mocha, with a light and pleasing accent of pepper and fresh moist soil. Big and lively on the tongue, the wine delivers plenty of ripe blackberry fruit flavors, with nuances of chocolate and cola. Good acidity and fresh, fine tannins keep everything feeling very lively.

2004 Patricia Green Notorius
Made with 100% new Frencgh oak, this bottling is, well, notorius for being 1) rare, and 2) powerfully concentrated. 2004 is no exception. Blended from a series of “best barrels” from many of Patty’s vineyard sources, this wine has real depth and layers. The fruit is a mélange of ripe cherry, blackberry, and even a hint of plum, with ancillary notes of cola, mint, cedar, and dried autumn leaves. There is plenty of acidity and an amazingly sily texture that gives this wine an alluring—dare I say erotic?—quality . . . !

Broadley Vineyards

Broadley's Estate Vineyard outside Monroe, Oregon

It is interesting to note that when you talk to many Oregon wine aficionados about Broadley Vineyards, most of them have only a vague notion of who they are, where they are, and what their wines are like. BUT, if you talk to Oregon’s pinot noir winemakers about Broadley Vineyards, you get comments that convey unflagging respect. Perhaps it is about time more Oregon wine lovers caugfht up with the Oregon winemakers in their respect for Broadley wines!

The Broadleys have been making pinot noir in the southern end of the Willamette Valley since the early 1980s, and they specialize in using Burgundian techniques such as whole cluster and in-wood fermentation. In fact, their 1994 Claudia’s Choice wine was given the highest score the Wine Spectator has ever given to an Oregon pinot noir!

And now for a statement of full disclosure: In 2004 I worked harvest with the Broadleys (indeed, they helped me make my own 3 barrels of pinot noir that year), and so I have a less than arm’s-length connection to the following two wines—I was there when they were made!

2004 Broadley Estate $26.77/$29.95
Unusually light in color, but with a focused and appealingly creamy nose of raspberry and cherry fruit. The same fruitiness is apparent on the tongue, with a bright and fresh mouth feel and nicely sweet red fruit, wuth hints of dried herbs, a touch of minerality, and notes of dried wood that add depth and complexity.

2004 Pinot noir, Shea Vineyards $45/$50
Broadley's interpretation of Shea Pinot, with that Burgundian wildness we've grown to identify with Craig and Morgan's style. The wine is smooth and fruit forward, ready to drink through 2011. It's very much a Shea in style, similar to the Shea Wine Cellars Block 23 Pinot that was made in 2003. The Broadley Shea 2004 fruit comes from Block 22, one of the original old vine blocks that is now out of production for replanting. THis wine came from the last vintage pulled from the block, and as is mostly true with phylloxera decimated vines, the small, sparce clusters have intensified flavor and character in the wine.

2004 Pinot noir Claudia's Choice $43.19/$47.99

Named for Claudia Broadley, beloved wife, mother, and co-founder of Broadley Vineyards, Claudia's Choice is the powerhouse wines of Broadley's offerings.Grapes for Claudia's Choice come from 4 acres located mid-slope in Broadley's estate vineyards. Planted in 1983 of primarily Pommard clones, with a few rows of Wädensvil clone Pinot noir thrown in for structure, Craig and Morgan use whole cluster fruit and ferment in open top French oak fermenters. The wine is aged in 100% French oak for 15 months and is always bottled unfined and unflitered. The 1994 Claudia's Choice Pinot noir is a legendary wine, earning an unprecedented 97 score from the Wine Spectator.

Carlton Cellars

The first time I had the Road’s End Pinot noir from Carlton Cellars, I was impressed. It was a lively wine that carried a big set of punchy flavors, yet had a lot of style and substance. I gave the wine a good rating in my Oregon Wine Report, and added a few bottles to my own cellar. The wine is made by Ken Wright and is a blend of different vineyards.

2004 Carlton Cellars, Road’s End Pinot noir
Darkly-hued purple red color in the glass, with bold aromas of “bloody” pinot fruit blended with earth and herb notes, plus a kid of dusty wood overtone. Plush in the mouth with almost boisterous flavors of blackberries and dark cherries, chocolate and minerals, cola and coffee. Though big and soft, there is plenty of backing acidity and a stout tannic frame that holds everything together nicely—lot’s of ‘tude and character in this cellar candidate!

Sineann

Peter Rosback, Sineann winemaker and owner

Peter Rosback is one of Oregon’s most prolific winemakers, producing everything from top-notch pinot noir to killer old vine zinfandel, under his own label (Sineann) and as a consultant for many other labels. He also has the smarts to seek sites that produce great grapes regardless of borders—hence his consistently well-styled bottlings from Washington state vineyards. Noted for a bold and lush style, the 2004 wine’s I’ve sampled show great balance that serves to emphasize the power of his fruit.

Sineann 2004 Cabernet Baby Poux
Produced from one of Washington’s premier vineyards (Champoux Vineyards, formerly known as Mercer Ranch Vineyard), this Cabernet has style and elegance without sacrificing power and force. The nose offers brambly scents of dark and sweet berry fruit, ringed with a sense of dried herbs. In the mouth, notes of cassis and currants combine with light cedar and earth to provide a very Bordeaux-ish feel. The tannins (often a bugbear in these kinds of wine) are remarkably polished.

3 Vital Things
to Keep in Mind
When Buying Oregon Wine

1) Vintage Variation

Vintage is perhaps more important with Oregon wines than with those from Washington or California. That’s because the majority of Oregon’s wines are produced in the cool climate region of the Willamette Valley. Here, certain grape varieties (pinot noir and pinot gris, especially) achieve their maximum ripeness just as the growing season ends. This results in the best varietal flavors, but it also poses risks for winemakers.

If the weather gets wonky in mid-September, it can cause lots of headaches as vintners roll the dice on when to pick. If rains come early, the grape crop might become waterlogged or damaged; if the weather turns cool too early, ripening can be slowed and disease risks enhanced; if hot weather persists, the grape quality can become variable as sugar and acid development can be unbalanced.

In the more reliably warmer regions of California and Washington, these weather risks are considerably less—but cool weather grapes can have less intense varietal flavors because they ripen unnaturally quickly in the region’s reliable warmth.

Oregon’s own warm climate regions (Southern Oregon, Walla Walla, and the Columbia Gorge areas) still have weather risks, but warmer climate grapes (such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot, or syrah) can thrive here.

So, when buying Oregon wines—especially the cool climate varieties—it is important that you pay attention to vintage characteristics so that you can more knowledgeably buy wines that will likely meet your taste.

2) Vineyard Location

Partly because of Oregon’s cool climate, the importance of “place” in the wines has been emphasized by winemakers. In fact, the bottling of wine from a single vineyard has become extremely popular among the state’s winemakers, in part because some of these vineyards seem to have a distinctive “taste signature” (which is sometimes, though a bit inaccurately, called “terroir”).

Many of these vineyards are independent, selling grapes to a variety of winemakers. Names such as Shea, Freedom Hill, Croft, Temperance Hill, Del Rio, Seven Springs, and many, many others have come to be a kind of seal of approval that the wine is likely to be fine when the grapes come from here.

But many other vineyards that have developed broad reputations for quality are estate vineyards owned by the wineries themselves. There are many people who continually buy the bottlings of these estate vineyards because they have been proven to be distinctive, vintage after vintage.

Plus, different geological regions within the state’s appellations, seem to produce broadly different wine flavors. For instance, the volcanic soils of the Willamette Valley’s “Red Hills” region tend to produce elegant and high-toned red-fruited wines, while the sedimentary soils of the Willamette valley’s “Yamhill-Carlton District” seem to be softer, earthier, and have more red and black fruit notes.

While it isn’t necessary to have intimate knowledge of all these details, gaining a broad understanding of the vineyard make-up of Oregon can help you find wines that appeal more strongly to your own palate.

3) Producer Reputation

No one really knows exactly how many wineries there are in Oregon(!) Depending upon whose statistic you use, you can easily come up with a number somewhere between 300 and 375. And, frankly, the level of wine quality varies tremendously.

On the one hand, there are many famous names that have proven themselves reliably capable of producing excellent wines. Over the years these venerable producers have attracted a loyal following among consumers for their wines. These wineries tend to have a high profile, are available all across the country, and often sell-out quickly.

Many Oregon wine buyers happily limit themselves to procuring wines from these producers—and more power to them, the wines can be fantastic!

But there is another kind of producer that savvy wine buyers are increasingly seeking out: the small, limited production, craft winemaker whose wines can’t be so readily found in national markets, but can be of fantastic quality. Often these wine labels have been around for many years, but because of their size (and limited marketing budgets) they haven’t yet built sell-out-in-a-second status.

These boutique winemakers require the dedicated wine lover to dig a little deeper to find—by searching the Web, reading locally-produced wine publications, and talking to other consumers—but the rewards of discovery and wine quality can be wonderful.

And finally, there is a third category for adventurous consumers to consider: the brand new names whose wines are fresh to consumers’ palates. Some of these labels have only two or three vintages under their belt, others are brand new to the 2003 and 2004 vintage. Some of these labels have big financing behind them and are able to hire “name” winemakers as consultants, others are shoestring operations, with passionate winemakers barely able to pay for the cost of their own label art.

While some consumers will shy away from these vernal wineries as unproven risks for their hard-earned dollars, others will dive right in, eagerly sampling these new wares in search of a diamond in the rough.

But then, that is what’s so fun and exciting about Oregon wines -- their diversity, quality, and opportunity for greatness!