Harvest Report :: 2017

2017 will certainly go down as one of the most unique vintages in Oregon memory. After a wet winter, the growing season started later than the last few vintages. However, temperatures quickly rose and continued to stay warm, so that the grapes made up their two week delay and we ended up picking right at about the same day as in 2016. So far, we have picked most of our lots for rosé, and are in the middle of our picking of Pistoleta, with a lovely crop of Viognier from Mae’s vineyard already in, and our first picking of Marsanne scheduled to come in this week.

Wildfire smoke has certainly been an issue for us this year. A ring of wildfires surrounded Southern Oregon this summer, producing large quantities of smoke for most of August. Wine grapes can absorb compounds in the smoke during certain periods of their development, which during the fermentation process, can contribute to smoke related flavors in the wine. Fortunately, a large rainstorm came through in early September, and cleared out the smoke from the valleys. With this storm, we avoided a large scale impact. We predict that you’ll still be able to pick up some of the nuances. Wines from 2013, another wildfire year, have notes of smoked meat and mesquite.

Cheers,

Herb Quady

President for Life