Grape harvest begins at vineyards across Mid-Valley
Fall may be in the air but things are heating up at vineyards across the Willamette Valley as harvest begins.
So far, the weather is cooperating, unlike the torrential storms that hit last year as remnants from a typhoon in the Pacific moved into the West Coast just as harvest was beginning.
If you visit wineries with vineyards on-site now, chances are you'll see them beginning to harvest white wine grapes as well as grapes that are being used for sparkling wines.
Stoller Family Estate in the Dundee Hills began harvest on Tuesday, Sept. 2, this week. Vineyard Manager Robert Schultz predicts another remarkable harvest given the weather conditions.
"This year is remarkable for its earliness, perfect conditions at bloom and increased heat accumulation. It appears to be an all around stellar year for the Dundee Hills, and I'm looking forward to tasting the results of our collective work," Schultz said. Stoller will process more than 600 tons of fruit this year, which will translate to 40,000 cases, half of which will be used for Stoller's estate grown wines. The remaining fruit will be sold to long-term vineyard client such as Adelsheim, Argyle and Chehalem.
This year's crop is "bigger and riper earlier than last year," said Schultz. Last year's season was earlier and warmer but "we had some pretty severe rains at the end of the season that had an impact on quality," he said. In 2012, it was perfect.
Melissa Burr, who is celebrating her 12th vintage at Stoller, is also enthusiastic about this harvest. "We have a healthy and heavy fruit set across the entire vineyard. The vineyard flowered in a compressed period of time, which leads me to think that harvest will also be compressed, and we are ready," Burr said.
Schultz said harvest should be done at Stoller by mid-October.
At neighboring Sokol Blosser, harvest has begun for the Evolution Sparkling wine grapes, including Müller-Thurgau and early muscat.
"The grapes are picked early to help with acid retention and lower sugar content, resulting in lower alcohol content for sparkling wine, an approach we've adopted after developing our sparkling program over the last year," said winemaker Alex Sokol Blosser.
"The rest of the Müller-Thurgau on the estate will be picked at a later time and will be used int he Evolution White," he said.
The estimate for beginning of pinot noir picking at Sokol Blosser is Wednesday, Sept. 10, but it could be moved up if hot weather accelerates ripening of the grapes.
Down closer to Salem at Illahe Vineyards in Dallas, picking begins on Saturday, Sept. 6, for grapes that will be used in the winery's new sparkling wine project, said owner Lowell Ford. "Pinot Noir will be coming in just over two weeks from now," Ford said.
So let's hold our collective breath and hope that the weather forecast holds true and we keep on course for sunny skies and no rain for the next two weeks because it looks like the potential is there for another spectacular vintage.
Vpanichkul@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6704, on Twitter @TasteofOregon and at Facebook.com/WillametteValleyWines.