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Is This the End of
the Willamette Valley’s
Throughout the year, from January 1 until the end of September, weather weirdness has tried the patience and taxed the skills of Oregon’s Pinot noir growers and winemakers. And yet, as the first fruit to be harvested starts to arrive for processing, winemakers are finally beginning to smile. While it may not be an easy vintage in which to make great wine, great winemakers should rise to the challenge and be able to make the kinds of Pinot noir wines we’ve all come to love so much. Remembering The Oregon Context Wine, lest we forget (which as consumers we often do) is the product of farming. Come harvest time, winemakers will watch the weather with the wariness of the most worried farmer. After all, their living can depend upon what happens in the skies of September and October. Nowhere else in wine producing North America is this fact as poignant as in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Here, on the edge of a viticulturally friendly climate, 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 wine grapes, and especially for Pinot noir. When things go well, this juxtaposition is fortuitous; it means the fin de siecle ripening of Pinot noir 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 have become some of the world’s favorites. But when it all goes wrong—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. Looking at Vintage 2004 In many vineyards, especially those with young vines, or which were dry-farmed, the hot and dry 2003 weather produced definite stress on the plants—they no doubt welcomed the onset of dormancy! But their winter rest, which in recent years was wrapped in mild conditions, was disturbed on New Year’s Day by a harsh winter freeze that settled into the Valley during much of January of 2004. As the spring weather began to turn warm, it could be seen that some vines, particularly younger ones, had been damaged by the winter freeze. Though the effects were localized to specific sites, and not always widespread, it was an additional element of stress on plants that were now getting ready to begin their growth phase toward the 2004 harvest. Spring is a critical time in any growing year, but in 2004 Mother Nature played tricks on our Pinot noir vines, which were still reeling from months of mixed heat, dryness, and frost. As April began, typical spring warmth woke up the vines and they began to take up nutrients from the soil to drive the process of bud formation and growth. But just as this got under way, colder weather settled in and the plants were fooled into halting. In particular, nitrogen was left unutilized in the plant, causing a kind of toxicity that resulted in damaging the development of primordial grape clusters. It seems that in many places older vines were more affected by this process, perhaps because of their deeper and more efficient root systems. Combined with this, sporadic spring rains helped lower the quality and quantity of fruit set. Throughout the Willamette Valley irregular cluster size, irregular berry size (often called “hens and chicks”), and reduced crop size plagued growers used to the abundantly fruitful sets of recent years. Going into the main summer growing season, many Willamette Valley growers were staring balefully at a total potential crop that was dramatically lower then in any year since 1998. Indeed, some vineyards that had planned for yields of 2-2.5 tons per acre were seeing a “naturally thinned” crop load of as low as 0.5 ton per acre! The summer season was relatively normal, with warm and dry weather punctuated by only one sustained period of temperatures above 100°F. But then, just as winemakers were beginning to plot the sugars and acids of their maturing grapes, a sustained cold and wet weather period developed in early and mid-September. It was sometimes amusing to hear people talk about the strange rains of September (as if it had never rained here in September before—which for some young winemakers perhaps it hadn’t!), but it was not very funny watching the concerned frowns and growly dispositions among growers and winemakers who saw their vines in some cases inundated by water. The danger was that grape vines eager for water after the dry summer would soak up the unexpected wetness, plumping the grapes to the point of bursting—further reducing a small crop and risking the development of multiple diseases and molds. In the end, however, the rains gave way to sunny, yet still cool, weather at the end of the month. Better yet, drying winds dramatically reduced the threat of rot and mildew. Both skies and dispositions were noticeably sunnier as Oregon’s Pinot noir crop—though significantly reduced in size—was allowed to reach its final maturity under benevolent conditions at the end of September “Challenging Year” Doesn’t Mean “Bad
Quality” Even with the challenges that 2004 presented growers and winemakers, there are (if you will pardon the cliché, which seems particularly apropos here) definite silver linings in the dark clouds of Vintage 2004. As Dick Shea, of Shea Vineyards and Shea Wine Cellars likes to point out, the easily bandied about term “poor set” is misleading. A “good” grape set under normal conditions might result in vines carrying three, four, or even five tons of grapes—much larger yields then quality growers want. So in a year of “good fruit set” most Willamette Valley growers would go through the vines and thin developing clusters to reduce the final yield. In the case of 2004’s “poor” fruit set, Mother Nature did the thinning for the grower, bringing “natural” yields down to around 2 tons per acre—a good thing! Also, the large number of irregularly sized berries that are typical this year, means a higher then normal proportion of small berries. These berries are often more concentrated, sometimes don’t have seeds, and help increase the ratio of skin to juice—all of which can be beneficial to the final wine. In fact, winemakers around the Valley are beaming with pleasure at the quality of the fruit that is coming into the winery. The clusters may not be pretty, and the memories of the previous months may not be pleasurable, but the fruit is concentrated, the flavors are focused, the colors are good, and early reports on fermentations are extremely positive. It also may be that the constant pressures of the vintage have kept growers and winemakers on their toes more then usual. They have been forced to pay extraordinarily close attention to every nuance of the vine’s health throughout the year . . . which can result in a more focused and disciplined approach to the final winemaking. Unlike many recent years, when a lack of real weather pressure made it easy to make wine, Vintage 2004 has forced winemakers to call upon every inch of skill and every ounce of experience in order to wring the best out of their grapes. Vintage 2004: An Early Prediction So will 2004 be a great vintage? While it is too early to say with certainty, it would seem that Oregon’s 2004 Pinot noir vintage is likely to be very good . . . maybe even great—but most likely not universally good for all producers. This year, perhaps more then any recent vintage (except perhaps 2003, which was equally challenging, but for entirely different weather-related reasons), the individual experience of the growers and winemakers will be paramount in determining the ultimate quality of wine coming out of the vineyard. Those who made good decisions in the face of 2004’s many challenges are likely to make superb wines. But not everybody made the right decisions—and not every Oregon 2004 Pinot noir will be good! There will undoubtedly be great wines made form 2004 grapes, but not every wine is likely to be great! So when it comes time for consumers to start barrel tasting the new year’s wines (around the Thanksgiving holiday), they should think back to what kind of grape growing year it was. 2004 presented growers with a complex set of challenges that called upon them to make many difficult decisions in order to get the best out of their fruit. Similarly, winemakers had difficult picking decisions to make, and many issues in managing their ferments to get the best from an oddly framed set of fruit. Consumers will need to pay close attention to the wines they purchase from the 2004 vintage. Taste and evaluate for yourself! Don’t assume that just because you like the 2002 Pinot from XYZ winery, you can be assured that their 2004 Pinot will be good. Nothing is likely to be a sure bet in Vintage 2004! But, consumers can be confidant that Oregon’s growers and winemakers have come a long way since the last time there was such a “challenging” cold and wet vintage (perhaps 1997, or 1995?). They have learned vast amounts about how to handle weather challenges and how to deal with the fruit in the winery. The skills and knowledge of Oregon’s winemaking community are far in advance of what they were just a few years ago. So even in the face of less then ideal conditions, a lot of great 204 wine will be on offer to Oregon ’s Pinot-loving consumers! |
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