2014 - Long, Slow Fermentations of Fully-Ripened, Perfect Clusters

2014 will go down as one of the earliest, warmest, and driest winegrowing seasons in recent Willamette Valley history, producing some very flavorful Pinots.

Without any of the, used-to-be-normal, several multi-day spikes above 100, we had no sun-damage; without any rain before harvest, we had no botrytis; and with the long and very warm ripening period, we had no unripened berries.  Even with no irrigation or rainfall and daily relative humidity in the single- and extremely-low-double digits, there was no raisening.  In short, we had perfect clusters this harvest.

The overriding characteristic of this vintage should turn out to be flavor.  If ever there were an Oregon growing season to let the grapes fully ripen, 2014 was it.  And, ripen they did.

Surprisingly, sugar and acid levels were not as indicative of the clear, hot, dry ripening weather as might be expected.  Compared to 2012 (a Pinot vintage that may go down as one of the most consistently great Oregon Pinot vintages, but nowhere near as warm a season or a finish): 2014 Brix levels were at least a half degree lower; and while 2014 TA was slightly lower than 2012 and 2014 pH was about 0.1 to 0.2 units higher than 2012, Tartaric acid levels were approximately the same, with the main decrease in acid being from the almost negligible levels of Malic acid we saw this year.  [It will be interesting to see the effect of intervention vs non-intervention after the wines go through MLF.  I would guess there are a goodly number of winemakers that looked at Brix, TA, and pH and then proceeded to water down and add Tartaric, without noticing there was little to no Malic in the must.]

Unlike 2013, which practically mirrored 2014 (at least, until the last week or so before harvest), 2014 fermentations were long and slow; gradually warming up and only hitting the 90F range at less than 5 degrees Brix.  We barreled down the last tank yesterday; about 28 days after the grapes were picked.

Here are a few photos of what the caps looked like during early fermentation and what the wine looked like at the press (photos don't do justice to the colors):

2014 Harvest: Sept. 19-23

We started harvest early this year on the same day as last year, at the end of an unusually warm ripening period.

This year's fruit is beautiful and tasty: fully-ripened, deep blue-black berries, without sun-burn or rot, with little to no shriveling, and with intense fruit flavors.


Although sugar levels rose high, fast, and early during this season's ripening period; they slowed down considerably a week or so before harvest, ending in the 24-25 degrees of Brix range.  Acid levels seemed to drop slower than usual this year, ending at the same or lower levels than normal.  A significant, and unusual variation this year is the extremely low level of malic acid.

Flavors, which normally come on late in the ripening process, did so as usual this year. And, at least in the case of early ripening vineyards like ours, the lack of rain and birds this year allowed for additional hang-time to take advantage of the unusually favorable conditions for flavor development.

Almost There...

Sugars and acids are coming into picking range, skin tannins are coming on, and flavors are beginning to show themselves.  Clear skies; low, low humidities, and unseasonably warm temps continue.  We'll start picking next week, about the same time as last year.

Dijon Clone 114

Dijon Clone 115

Wadenswil

Pommard

Final Ripeing 2014

With weather like this since mid-May, the vines have grown well and are in great shape to finish ripening the season's early and abundant crop.


Clone 114

Clone 115

Pommard

Wadenswil

 

As of Wednesday, average Brix and pH for the vineyard was 21 and 3.0, respectively; with green, but ripening, seeds; and tough, unflavored skins. Dry, sunny weather since then, with temperatures into the mid- to upper-90s, have ripened the grapes further; and humidity levels around 10% have softened the berries somewhat.  After it cools off Tuesday, we'll test for sugar and pH - hopefully by that time skins will start showing some flavor.   

August 2014 Cumulative Heating Degree Days and Rainfall

Temperature-wise, through August, we've had 2072 heating degree days this season - almost an exact duplicate of last year, and one of the warmest seasons in recent memory.  Fortunately, again this year, the warmth has come in the form of steady warm temperatures, rather than in heat spikes - with only 5 days above the critical 95F point.

Rainfall-wise, for October through August, we've had 27.4 inches of rainfall this season, 11 inches less than the 10-yr average, an inch less than the most recent driest year (2009), and about 7 inches less than last year.  All of the shortfall came during the dormant season, but with plenty of rain during early shoot-growth the vines have been exceptionally vigorous this season.

As we head into the last few weeks before harvest, the weather forecast is showing continued sunny, dry weather with highs in the mid- to upper-80s and lows in the low-50s,

Veraison Begins

We're dropping wings and 3rd clusters, just as veraison begins.

Hot, dry weather continues into August.  We're tracking very close to last year's fruit development; unless we get some serious cold, wet weather over the next 6-8 weeks, we'll likely begin picking sometime in mid-September.

Seeds Hardening

Hardly any rain, but the vines are vigorous.  Here's what it looks like after our third hedging this season.

The fruit is developing well and early; we're now at lag - the point when the seeds are hardening, just before the berries swell to full size. 

Dijon 114

Dijon 115

Wadenswil

Pommard

This year it looks like we will have a well-balanced, good-sized crop: with a few more shoots per vine, and larger than normal berry/cluster counts.  Vine/berry development is tracking very close to last year, so it's likely we will be harvesting early again this year.

Good Bloom, Good Set...for the most part

Bloom ended early this past week.  The first week of bloom was dry and sunny, we had cloudy and showery weather for the rest of the period.  Except for one block, fruit set throughout the vineyard was very nice with large berry counts per cluster.

Even without any significant rainfall, we had exceptionally vigorous shoot growth this spring, making for an expensive year of canopy management.  But, by mid-afternoon today we finished the bulk of this year's canopy management with shoots tucked and clipped up to the top wire, leaves and laterals pulled on the east side of the fruit zone, and vines hedged (twice already - once to prevent the long end-shoots from bringingin down the trellis, and then again yesterday/today to tip the middle shoots that lagged behind).  Usually we hedge twice each season, we'll be lucky if it's only one more time this year.

Things should slow down a bit for several weeks, as the berries/seeds develop.  With the warm (mid-90's), dry weather forecasted to begin in the next week or so, I won't feel so bad finally working on taxes inside with some A/C.

First Signs of Bloom

While tucking shoot tips under the top wire today I saw this, the first sign of bloom. I walked other blocks and saw flowers opening in those, too.  Like last year, this is the earliest bloom in recent years, with first signs of it on the same day.  It confirms that we are headed for another early harvest this year, perhaps even as early as last year's September 27 start of harvest.

After a very warm May, with 5 days hitting the upper 80's/lower 90's, we are having the highest early-season accumulation of heating degree days in recent years.  Through the end of May we had 375 heating degree days.

Despite nearly 12" less rainfall than normal during the dormant part of this season, with slightly less that 26" of rainfall since last season, we are still about 2" ahead of the January through May norm.

Although many of the shoots are at the top wire, we haven't had any significant rainfall since the middle of May; and, as a result, we are seeing significant unevenness is shoot development - with many of the middle shoots shorter than the end shoots.  This is causing a lot of additional shoot positioning work this season.

The forecast for the next month or so currently shows continued pleasant, sunny days - mostly in the mid- to upper-70s, with less than normal June rainfall (typically only about 1.5").  On the positive side, this bodes well for bloom; but I'd like to see a little rain sometime soon, to fill out the vines for fruit development and to get all the trellis work done.

Warm, Wet Spring - Off to a Fast Start of the Growing Season

Although it was a very cold and dry dormant season, since January temperatures and rainfall have been above average.

We've had 102 Cumulative Heating Degree Days through April, just slightly less than last year's early start to the season.

Although we've had only 23.9 inches of rainfall for the period since last harvest, about 10 inches below the normal, we've had two inches more than normal since January.

The net effect of these favorable weather conditions is that the vines are off to a good, strong start.  As of Tuesday, we had 12 open leaves on the rapidly growing shoots.  With mostly sunny weather this Spring, it doesn't look like we'll have issues with the carbon:nitrogen ratio which has adversely affected bloom in several of the recent seasons.  While too early to know how bloom will go, it looks like we have slightly more shoots per vine than normal, each uniformly bearing 2 sets of inflorescences.

So at this point in time, the vines are looking early and healthy; with good prospects for a normal and well-balanced crop load....we'll see what Mother Nature has in store for us.

Quail

Budbreak 2014 - April 9

Another early budbreak. We have been on the verge of breaking bud for the last two weeks, and on Wednesday it finally happened - five days later than last year, 11 days later than the earliest start in recent years.

We've had a colder than normal winter; particularly during December, when we saw temperatures dip into the single digits. Over the next month we'll see how much, if any, bud damage this caused.

We've also had a dryer than normal dormant season - during the October through January period we had less than 7 inches of rainfall, compared to a normal level of over 22 inches.   In February and March, we recovered somewhat with over 14 inches.  By the end of March cumulative rainfall for this season was still 10 inches lower than normal.

During the "off-season", in addition to the regular pruning and trellis work, we planted another 3 acres of Pinot vines, and put in the associated trellises.   We are now nearly done with our second phase of renovating the vineyard, having substantially increased vine density, introduced phylloxera-resistant rootstock, and planted additional Pinot clones.