Record rains for September are most decidedly impairing what was a very good vintage year

This article describes the effect of our recent heavy rains at harvest time on Pinot Noir. That variety has thin skins and can't resist rain as well as, say, Cabernet Sauvignon can.

Portland saw more than 6" of rain in September, against an average of just 1.5." That makes a big difference to fruit quality. Although Pinot is early-ripening among vinifera, it ripens later than modern varieties do. I harvested Leon Millot two weeks ago with near-perfect chemistry numbers, whereas most of the Pinot is still hanging in the vineyards, under duress from all this rain. But we won't know what the Pinot does until it's been in bottle for a while. 2007 was a very wet, cool year, and yet the high-end Pinots turned out very good.

But clearly, if the winemaker had her choice, she would choose grapes that had hung for a long, sunny, dry harvest season.