Russ Raney empties grapes into bladder press, October, 2005

As a wine writer, I get used to hearing from winemakers how “great” each vintage is. Never, in the course of asking how they feel about a new vintage, have I yet heard a winemaker say: “It sucks!”

Of course, since 1998 in Oregon, none of our vintages really has been bad. Every vintage has proven to be quite wonderful — each different (and offering different appeals to consumers), but each excellent in its own way.

But this year, 2005, may have proven to be the most difficult vintage of all for winemakers to manage since 1997. Wonky Spring weather, plenty of disease pressure, and lots of rain and cool weather smack at normal harvest time certainly challenged the patience and judgment of Oregon’s winegrowers.

So as I went around asking Willamette Valley winemakers how they felt about 2005, I was more than a little surprised to see so much spontaneous and obviously sincere excitement!

“I am so stoked, the fruit is fantastic!” enthused Patty Green of Patricia Green Cellars when I talked with her recently at the Salud! tasting. “Great acidity . . . thank God!” said Michael Etzel of Beaux Freres at the same event. “Oh yea,” agreed Morgan Broadley of Broadley Vineyards, “these wines are going to be more like classic Oregon pinot noir—we’re really happy.”

These winemakers weren’t alone in their positive feelings “I think the fruit is very balanced and has elegant flavors,” Veronique Drouhin told me when I visited Domaine Drouhin in the midst of harvest. And Lynn Penner-Ash said that while she saw a small amount of fruit that she didn’t like, 90% of what came in from the vineyard was “really beautiful.”

But for awhile, even veteran Oregon winemakers weren’t too sure of what the vintage would deliver. It required a lot of smarts and patience for them to get to the happy point of satisfaction that most of them are now feeling.

Dry Winter and Stop-and-Start Spring

As always, it was the previous year that helped set the stage for this year’s vintage. An extremely dry winter, including two months of record winter drought, meant that vine roots were exceptionally thirsty for water as the weather began to warm up in 2005.

And warm-up it did! March saw many unusually warm and sunny days, helping the vines to awake early from their dormancy. Ensuing rain helped soak the ground and get the vines going further, but alternating cold spells in late Spring served to put a stop to a potentially early budbreak.

Just as in 2004, the crop size was reduced in the northern Willamette Valley by “inflorescence necrosis”, or the dying back of flowers that would otherwise have gone on to develop into grape clusters. The result was that bloom developed irregularly throughout the valley, and continued later than usual.

The overall result was that grape clusters were of irregular size, and matured at different rates—potentially making harvest times a little less predictable.

Pinot grapes with Necrosis

A Vole Vexed Summer

Once Spring’s variability settled down, the summer months in Oregon’s cool climate growing region proved solidly beneficial for winegrapes. The Spring rainfall gave the vines good ground moisture to help get them through the normal summer drought, and the July and August temperatures were themselves more moderate than in the last few vintages.

In fact, summer weather in the Willamette Valley was much more “normal” than in any year since 2000. This meant that the “heat accumulation days” (an agricultural measure of the amount of beneficial warmth a plant receives during the growing season) for 2005 were more in line with the usual profile of the Willamette Valley as a “cool climate” growing region. This contrasted with years like 2002 and especially 2003, where the number of “degree days” was more akin to the warmer growing regions of California!

As positive as the summer weather story was, however, winegrowers had to contend with an unusual and damaging new development that threatened the wine crop: Voles!

An unusually intense (and largely unexplained) explosion in the population of Townsend’s Vile (Microtus townsendi) caused damage to grape vines as voles began eating the bark around the vine stems and roots, both above and below the ground.

The Dang Vole

By destroying the cambium layer on the root stem, nutrient flow up and down the plant was disrupted, causing severe stress and even death of the vine. The infestation was particularly troublesome in the Willamette Valley, and affected many agricultural crops besides wine grapes.

But with a crop already reduced by irregular flowering, winegrowers were particularly at risk. Many different methods were used to try to manage the problem, from trapping to disrupting burrows, to applying protective devices to trunks. Results varied from vineyard to vineyard, with some sites hit harder than others.

So, as the summer began to wane, winemakers were happy to turn away from Voles and eager to begin measuring grape composition and looking forward to the crucial final days of ripening.

A Hurry Up And Wait Harvest

Though the overall grape crop in the Willamette Valley had been somewhat reduced, the growing conditions overall had been positive, and fruit quality going into the end of September not only looked good, it looked to have a more traditional cool climate character.

But then, the rains came!

It must be remembered that in the broad scope of our climate, and despite the measurable rise in average temperatures, the Willamette Valley is still perched on the outer edge of grape growing viability. Part of what attracted people to this place for grape growing has always been the challenge of getting the best possible varietal fruit flavors out of the grapes before the debilitating cold rains of Fall arrive.

It was easy to forget all this in the warm and dry years between 1999 and 2004. But it was hard not to be aware of it in 2005, as rains to the volume of 2-inches in 2 days and weather that stayed in the 50°-60°F range swept across the verdant vineyards of our valleys.

Shea Vineyard August 2005

Alternating days of rain and sunshine, with week-long periods of cool grey skies, challenged the picking judgments of every winemaker. Young vineyards and higher altitude vineyards were more susceptible to rain damage and slowed ripening, while older vines and warmer sites could harbor mold and mildew risks.

More than in any other recent vintage, winemakers had to watch their vineyards with care and precision, while constantly keeping an eye to the sky.

The harvest story turned out to be different for every winery. Some people picked early, wanting to capture what ripeness they had rather than face the uncertainty of prolonged rains. Others waited things out, watching sugar levels rise and fall as the rains came and went. Still others made individual picking decisions on a block-by-block basis, sometimes picking through a vineyard by individual rows, many days apart.

In the end, there was not a single “right” strategy for when to pick. But ever aware of the need for top quality fruit, all the winemakers chose their moments with care, and sorted with diligence tas he fruit as it came into the winery.

On average, the Willamette Valley grape harvest was one of the longest on record, not starting until the beginning of October and continuing well into November for many wineries.

Early Indications Are Very Positive

Evesham Wood, October 2005 - one of the rainy days

But how was the quality?

In fact, it is still a bit too early to know just what the ultimate character of 2005 will be—some wines were still finishing primary fermentation a week before Thanksgiving, and few had yet to complete malolactic fermentation. Nevertheless, a couple of attributes seem to be showing forth.

So far, the 2005 wines—especially Pinot noir—look to be higher in acidity than in the last few vintages, which indicates a return to the classic, elegant style of pinot noir that had previously been an Oregon hallmark. Higher acidity gives the wines a brightness, or freshness, that tends to highlight the natural fruit flavors in the wine, while still allowing for good food pairing.

It also appears that the colors, aromatics, and varietal characteristics of the must and early wines seem unusually strong and vibrant—this is a good reason why so many winemakers are showing such enthusiasm for 2005. In many cases it appears that the long harvest allowed sugar development to proceed very slowly, resulting in more deep and complex varietal flavors—something winemakers and consumers alike cherish.

Of course, all of these descriptions are preliminary—there is still much to happen in the cellar as winemakers complete their fermentations and “barrel down” their wines. Yet if the old adage that strngth comes from adversity is true, then the difficulties of 2005’s growing year may yet prove to be the birth of a strong vintage for consumers. It seems the winemakers believe this—and so far, so do I!