Freezing Weather in Oregon Vineyards | Northest Wine Reporter

Christina Kelly,
Avalon Wine Senior Editor

Christina Kelly spent the first half of her career as a journalist for daily newspapers and magazines. She left daily journalism to work in corporate marketing/communications, but as a passionate wine enthusiast, she continues to write about the Northwest wine industry (since 1997) for many national publications.

Christina is a multiple fellowship winner to the Professional Wine Writers Symposium in Napa, including 2012. Christina has written for Avalonwine.com for the past 12 years. She can be reached at winewriter@comcast.net.

Jean Yates
Avalon Wine Owner

Jean first worked with the Oregon wine industry in 1989, when she helped develop marketing brochures for wineries in the South Willamette. She then started Avalon, and has supported the industry through her wine shop and web site ever since. Jean enjoys promoting Oregon and Washington wines and bringing Northwest wines to the notice of the wine-loving public across the country. She previously worked in high tech marketing and research in Silicon Valley.

Jean built and continually updates the Avalon web site, writes our Wine Club Newsletter, numerous e-mail articles on NW wine, and articles for the web site. Her twenty five years of experience working with NW wineries and winemakers gives Avalon a deep knowledge of the industry. She's judged NW wine at various competitions since 1997. Jean's favorite activity is photography, and many of the images on the Avalon web site are hers. She's from NC via Palo Alto, and lives in the South Willamette wine country.

December 11, 2009, at 9:15 am

Oregon Wine – 19 Degrees and Vines – What’s the Damage

By Jean Yates Avalon Wine, on December 11th, 2009

stock-freezing-man It’s been much, much colder than usual in the Willamette Valley for the last five days. I had 19 degrees (F) on my outdoor thermometer yesterday morning. Plus, it’s really, really dry. Our cold weather is almost always wet. Maybe snow, and usually rain – constant, dripping rain. Thus the many jokes about Oregonians, moss, and lichens.

But this has been a very dry, very cold period of several days, and I’m going up to wine country today to ask about the effect on the vines. In Washington, they use giant wind machines, mulching up to the top of the plant with straw, even heaters, to keep the vines alive. And they lose a lot of vines in the coldest years. But the weather this last week in Oregon is almost unprecedented. So we shall see….Hope for the best!!!

More after I get back….

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