Washington state relief map!

This is pretty cool. You can see the state's wine valleys very prominently.

Though the Columbia River cuts through it, the extreme northern end of the Wilamette Valley is where our vineyard is. We're on the south side of an East-West little mountain range that extends SW from Mt St Helens. That little mountain range plunges to the Columbia around Kalama WA.

2019 Grape Harvest Report, SW Washington

Harvest 2019: The Good, The Ugly

1. The Ugly: 

a. Bud break was two weeks late here on the Wet Side (of the Cascades), and summer was cooler, so we didn't make up the late start. Then, we had rains come three weeks early and they were record heavy rains (at our farm, we saw 6.8" rain between Sept 7 and Sept 22, when normally lighter rains wouldn't start until after Sept 22). We all saw record bird damage, as the birds were starving due to the early rains' rotting the wild blackberries. Other area growers have told me that even with nets, they lost over half their crop, as birds found ways in but couldn't get out, so they just hung out inside the nets and ate more and more. Wasp damage was also very high, and some clusters saw some rot--wasp and rot berries had to be hand-removed from each cluster, greatly slowing harvest speed.

b. I've learned which modern grapes can hang through rain, and even resist some bird damage, and which cannot. But every grape saw its Brix fall (a very bad thing here) when the rains came.

c. Many growers on the Wet Side abandoned their grapes this year, or harvested only about 25% of normal yields with far-reduced ripeness. Higher-elevation vineyards fared the worst of course.

d. On the warm side (east of the Cascades--as in Walla Walla, Yakima, TriCities, and Red Mountain), it was a nice-but-cool summer. They had more rain than usual (Yakima saw 1.5" in a day, in early September, when they get only about 8" in an entire year! But their worst issue has been early frost: 24F tonight in Yakima and Tri Cities (Walla Walla is being spared that).  Grapes can withstand some freezing, as sugar-water freezes at a lower point than just water, though any heavy frost will kill the leaves, ending any further ripening. Growers there couldn't harvest early because it was a cool summer, and are scrambling to get their grapes in before the berries freeze and burst. 

e. This is a year when you will need to be a very careful consumer. Look for wineries/sellers who are frank about their wines--try to look past the marketing BS. I pledge to you that I will be as honest as I possibly can, to tell you what my wines taste like. I am pretty optimistic about this year's wines, given the horiffic circumstances of their birth. Perhaps grapes are more adaptable to wine than I knew.

2. The Good: 

a. At our Epona Vineyard, I picked my Leon Millot and Labelle at pretty good chemistry, the day before the heavy rains hit; they hit 22 Brix and had great flavors, and will make good wine. The advantages of my steep-south-slope vineyard, coupled with my choice of early-ripening grapes, made a huge difference in this cooler, shorter year. My Cayuga hung through the heavy rains and avoided most of the bird and wasp damage, and while its sugars were less than normal, it has a wide range of good flavor profiles, depending on the weather. This year, it's showing grapefruit and good nuance and zing. 

b. All of us winemakers on the Wet Side are honing our rose-making skills. I picked many red grapes at about 16-18 Brix (when you want 21-24), and so far it appears they will make a nice, big, darker rose wine. 

​c. Some growers on the Wet Side saw their varieties hang well through rains; these included Marechal Foch and Cayuga. The ability to hang through heavy rain is a prize attribute in a year like this.

d. The Cab Franc I just got in Yakima (Noel Vineyard) is great. 25 Brix and magnificent flavors--as in 2017, I was "last one out" of the vineyard, and all that ​hang time let the fruit shed its green bell pepper notes (pyrazines) and attain fantastic fruit flavors.

e. I also bought Cab Sauv from that vineyard. Was a bit skeptical because the great Cab Sauv usually comes from further east, in W.Walla or Red Mountain. But I read there have been many great Cab Sauvs from the Yakima area. The Cab Sauv I just bought is known for its rosy/floral notes and softness--still fruit-forward and fairly big, but more restrained than a big, powerful Cab. It also hit 25 Brix and had loooonnnnggggg hang time. Can't wait to work with it.

 Kenton

The major grape species of the world

There are eight major species of grapes in the world, and six are native to the USA:

Europe: Vitis vinifera, to which all the classical wine grapes belong.

Asia: Vitis amurensis.

USA:
1. Vitis rotundifolia: Muscadines--large flavorful grapes.  The best-known example is the Scuppernong. There is a Muscadine "mother vine" in North Carolina (see photo) that is hundreds of years old. I've rejected trying to grow these grapes here in the PacNW, as they would be (climatologically) so far from their Southeastern US home.

2. Vitis rupestris: The Sand Grape, it grows in warm prairies and sandy areas such as wet/dry creekbanks, in places like the Ozark hills of Missouri and Arkansas. As it is found principally on riverbanks, our practice of damming and draining wetlands has severely threatened this grape in the US.

3. Vitis mustangensis: The Mustang Grape is found in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and has very acidic juice (acidic enough to burn my lips!).

4. Vitis labrusca: Best known for its varieties Concord and Niagara. This grape is the one used in Welch's grape juice or grape jelly, and its flavor is called "welchy" or "grapey." It does not make good wine.

5. Vitis riparia: The "Frost Grape" grows well in cold climates and is found from New England to Montana to Texas.

6. Vitis aestivalis: Called "bicolor" by grapebreeders due to its leaves' silver-colored undersides. Found from Maine to Florida, to Oklahoma and Texas. This grape is a parent of Norton, one of the best-known winegrapes bred in America, from only American grapes.

All these species of grapes have been bred with Vitis vinifera, to make modern varieties of grapes. The aim of grapebreeding is to create new varieties with the flavor of vinifera and the disease resistance, cold-hardiness and earlier ripening of the US grapes.

Cayuga is a great example. It tastes like a cross between Riesling and Viognier, with a taste profile that is very familiar to vinifera winelovers, and yet it has outstanding disease resistance (never needs antifungal spray) and ripens early, with huge yields of large clusters. It is currently my favorite white winegrape here in SW Washington state. Cayuga is 56% vinifera (including Zinfandel, a red wine grape, oddly enough), and some rupetris and other US varieties. It was bred in 1945 by Univeristy of Cornell at the Finger Lakes, NY, but not released until 1972.

Photo credit: In the article, discussing the above grape species, found here.

Blattner modern grape varieties do well on Vancouver Island

Here's an article about Valentin Blattner's grapes' succeeding in Canada. (Note: The link doesn't work right--you have to go the magazine's website, then enter "Blattner" in the magazine's search box, and then you can get the article.)

Exciting stuff! I imported these grapes to SW WA, at Epona Vineyard, and will have cuttings available in a couple of years. I've met Paul (that's him in the photo) and one of the winemakers mentioned in the article. And that fruit--48.05.83--is very special. It makes a good Bordeaux-blend style of wine.

Javier Alfonso makes very good wines under the Pomum label. He's from Spain, and suggests that eastern Washington is the best place in the US for Spanish grape varieties. He's quoted in this article about the Taste Washington event.

I love what Abacela is doing in southern Oregon, but why not plant more Spanish grapes in Washington? How about some old vine Garnacha?

Ranking the wineries of Washington state, as if they were Bordeaux

Just returned from tasting in Columbia Valley AVA, Red Mountain AVA, and Walla Walla. First, I want to lay out some thoughts, and second, I'll attempt a first rough draft of a ranking of wineries, ala the "Growth" system in Bordeaux:

1. General thoughts:
a. Walla Walla is moving away from a big, jammy wine style, towards a leaner, more-acidic "European" style. Speaking personally, this saddens me, as the fruit character of W.W. wines was, and can be, truly marvelous.
b. Walla Walla is still RELATIVELY undiscovered by the rest of US WineWorld. But that anonymity is fast disappearing. As a result, prices continue to climb in Walla Walla, to obscene levels in some cases. But overall, Walla Walla wine quality is still superior to Napa's wines, and is far less expensive.
c. I am reluctantly retracting my earlier deep and enthusiastic love for Red Mountain wines. Red Mtn is still probably the hottest AVA in the country, but almost all the wines I tasted there are not as good as what the older, established good wineries are making in Walla Walla. Perhaps with more time, Red Mtn wines will become world-class, but they are not yet.
d. One example in Red Mtn is Frichette, a new winery where Shae (co-owner, who poured for us) is maybe the most-charismatic wine pourer in the country. Their operation is good despite their being so new to it. I think her charisma has something to do with the fact that she can sell her wines (some of which are quite good) at such high prices. There are always too many people who are too willing to overpay for wines, and this causes wineries to overprice their wines, in a vicious cycle.
e. This may be a rather cool summer, despite a rare early super-hot stretch a month ago.

2. My rough draft of a winery ranking (and no one can taste everyplace in WA, even after, say, 10 trips, so there are many wineries missing from my list, and their absence doesn't mean anything about whether they are great, or poor. As you know, 1st-5th Growth wineries are all Grand Crus--the best of all the wineries out there. Also, I am thinking only of wine quality, not of price, so the QPR for some of these may be terrible:

First Growths (2 wineries): Cayuse, and K Vintners. And I can't think of any other winery that is making wines at their level, unless perhaps it's Buty.
Super-Second Growths (4 wineries): Buty (the best of the Super-Seconds), Quilceda Creek (tempted to drop them to a 2nd, as only Parker raves about their wines, which are just too black for me, and I've heard they perform poorly on the resale market, but they are skilled winemakers; if they only changed their flavor profile they could be like Screaming Eagle), Barnard Griffin (for whites and roses only, and this is NOT a mistaken ranking), Pepper Bridge,
Second Growths (11 wineries):  L'Ecole No. 41, Cougar Crest, Seven Hills, Tamarack, Five Star, Zerba, Saviah, Abeja, Charles Smith Wines. Owen Roe, Tyrus Evan
Third Growths (13 wineries): Leonetti (no way they deserve to be higher; they coast on fame; you spend a lot on their wines and years later when you open them they are a bit disappointing), Three Rivers, Woodward Canyon, Jacob Williams, Kiona, Terra Blanca, Maryhill (Proprietor Reserve wines), Walla Walla Vintners, Gramercy, Ch. St Michelle, Columbia Crest, Gouger, Novelty Hill,
Fourth Growth (10 wineries): Maryhill (primary wines), Adamant, Beresan, Dunham, Canoe Ridge, Northstar, Col Solare, Hogue, Syncline,  Barnard Griffin (for reds only),
Fifth Growths (4 wineries): Basel (they have fallen very far in wine quality-I suspect they are focusing on making money by renting out their many gorgeous rooms in the mansion, and then selling wines primarily to their guests who probably don't know much about wine--and they have become unfriendly to the wine trade, but they are in one of the coolest winery buildings in the state), Sleight of Hand, 14 Hands, Cor,

Do not deserve to be ranked as Grand Crus; let's call them table wines (some of their wines would be fine with dinner, even though not remarkable, but some of their wines were undrinkable when I visited, though of course their wine quality may be much higher now): Isenhower, Forgeron, Glen Fiona, Blackwood Canyon. Tefft, Waving Tree,

Notes:
1. Notice that the distribution is funky; there should be more wineries in each lower ranking. This may be because the average quality around Walla Walla is so high.
2. This list is based on my perception of winery quality; others' lists would of course be different.
3. As in Bordeaux, even a Fifth Growth winery can make a fantastic wine, if fruit and winery decisions come together happily.
4. It is very, very difficult to make a great wine. It is no disgrace not to make them.
5. My ranking is based on my perception of a winery's average quality across its entire lineup--so if they make two great wines and twenty below-par wines, they don't rank very high. (This describes a number of wineries.)
6. No one has visited every winery, and thus if a winery is not named here, it might deserve to be ranked, However, it seems likely to me that about 80% of the wineries not ranked above would probably be listed as table wines. And there is nothing wrong with table wines.
7. Even if you think this ranking is ridiculous, I nevertheless think it is helpful to give consumers, who want to choose a wine from Washington, an idea about general winery quality, because if they rely only upon advertising, or a pretty building, or a charismatic pourer, or favorable yelp reviews, they are unlikely to find most of the best places.

Record winegrape harvest in Washington for 2013

Can you believe it? One winery (OK, three affiliated ones: Chat. St. Michelle, 14 Hands, and Columbia Crest) produces two thirds of all Washington's grapes, and their harvest was up 10% this year from last year's record harvest.

So 2013 will see another record for grape production in the Evergreen State.

Read the article here.

Note, in the photo from the above article, how mechanical harvesting is used--much more sophisticated (IMO) than the machinery needed to harvest wheat! That vineyard is in the Columbia Valley's Wahluke Slope.

Smoke from 2012 wildfires in Washington state a factor for wine quality?

This is interesting: Wildfires in eastern Washington last summer (2012) put a smoke haze over parts of the state for days. Smoke particles can come to rest on grape skins, and thus end up in the finished wine (I suppose the smoke could be rinsed off, but that is not practicable in the case of many tons of grapes and it could dilute the wine flavors, and if the smoke somehow binds to the grape then you have an unremovable flaw.

However, the Walla Walla wineries don't think they were impacted by this; I'm not sure where the smoke clouds were located.

Apparently the effects of smoke on wine will increase with the wine's age, so any damage won't be known right away. The damage would be worse with red grapes, where the smoke flavor could obscure the fruit flavors. However, since some white winegrapes are aged in burnt barrels (that's behind the name "Fume Blanc," for example), smokiness in a white wine can be a plus. And in a small amount it's just another beneficial flavor in a red wine.

We should know, over the next few years, whether and to what extent any WA wineries were impacted. Meanwhile, funding for remote firefighting is dropping, and the number of fires is increasing . . .

Read the article here.

[photo credit: Al Feldstein. Amazing artworks of his can be seen here.

Tales of three vintages, no, four

This is taken from a great article by Andy Perdue, in Wine Press NW, about the climate for recent Washington and Oregon vintages. You can read that article here.

Washington State has seen three very challenging years in a row, for the first time since the 1970s. This wouldn't be unusual for the Willamette Valley, but in the desert of WA, the climate is consistently hot and dry for winegrapes, right? Not always.

2009: A great vintage for some WA plots, but an early freeze put an end to additional ripening at many vineyards. In Oregon, a very good year, following the great year of 2008.

2010: Springtime in the Evergreen State was cold, so buds broke late and the grapes stayed behind schedule all summer. Harvest ran late, which brings special issues to manage, but it was a happy ending with a record crop. Or so we thought, until a hard freeze before Thanksgiving decimated many vineyards which hadn't time to harden off for winter. (Let's face it, folks--vinifera vines are wussies compared to native American vines). The famed Horse Heaven Hills got it particularly hard. At Champoux Vineyard--where Quilceda Creek sourced some of its cabs--whole blocks of vines died.

In Oregon, it was a plague of starving birds which hit the vineyards during preharvest in 2010. The cold summer weather prevented the normal development of the quadrillions of blackberry vines upon which the birds had become so dependent. Over 20% of Oregon's grape crop was lost, and in some vineyards it was much, much higher than that.

2011:  This vintage was worse than 2010, with an even colder Spring and later harvest.

(that incredible photo of a staggered boxer is copyrighted by Reuters)

But as we've seen so often in the past decade, WA and OR winemakers are really getting a handle on how to cope with weird weather. Wet years in the Willamette can still produce good Pinots, for example, and Oregon's whites from the cold years of '10 and '11 can be superb (some say the 2010 Pinots are, too). The application of science, in the field and the winery, can undo some of Nature's damage in the field. Washington's wines from those three trying years were still quite good, as evidenced by their professional scores.

So as 2012 approached there was not a little trepidation. And Spring was cool, with budding a bit late. But summer was grand, with heat units off the charts (OK, much higher than average) for the Willamette and a great growing season was had in both states. Record harvests strained all available tankspace. Too early to know for sure, but it appears 2012 will produce many great wines in the Pac NW.

Bethany Vineyard in Clark County WA

Bethany Vineyard and Winery is one of the best wineries in Clark County WA (and before you say, "well, that's not saying much," please read on). Four of us visited Bethany this past Sunday, after our fence contractor and some other folks told us we had to go there. To describe it, I'll resort to letter grading:

1. Physical plant: Grade "A": The tasting room is large enough to handle a dozen or more tasters comfortably, while still feeling cozy. It's well-appointed and a nice place to hang out. You can sit around high tables, or you can belly up to a pretty stone bar and stand. There are several buildings there, including an old large barn that may be the winery, and the owner's pretty house. The parking is paved. The location is just a few miles ESE of exit 14, up I-5 in Washington.

2.  Grounds: Grade "A+": I was amazed at what Walt Houser, the owner/winemaker, has done there. He has a pretty large vineyard planted on slight slopes that meet downhill at a little swale into which he has constructed a gorgeous lake. The hillsides are smooth with well-mown grass, like a giant lawn. It is a true estate. The lake is pretty. It has a rock wall around part of it. There is a huge rocked, covered patio that would be a great place to sit and enjoy a bottle in the warm months. Wow, is all I can say. This was hiding here in Clark County? And the oldest grapes are 18 years old. I know how much work it was to create the lake and the wall and the patio and the vineyards; just amazing. And expensive. It shattered me in a way, as I am thinking of a pretty country place with a vineyard, but I doubt it will ever look like this place. If you know someone who wants to marry at a local winery, consider this spot.

3. Tasting Setup/Efficiency/Friendliness: Grade "A": Walt is enthusiastic and fun to speak with. He obviously draws a lot of energy through having people in his tasting room. He moves through the crowd, talking and working and laughing; this is Heaven for him. His wife is there and another young lady who took very good care of us.  Tasting fee is $5 but comped if you buy something. Besides wines, they sell these really neat candles made from real and used Bethany wine bottles with the labels still on; $15 and worth it, and a nice way to recycle. They had a large hunk of a Swiss-type cheese out with crackers. About 8 wines were pouring, plus Walt brought out an '02 Cab as a special pour (free). They could not, however, accommodate an Oregon buyer who asked to avoid the WA sales tax.

4. Vineyards: Walt owns two vineyards: one at the winery, and one in Dallesport WA (that's across from The Dalles, and is hot desert vineland, perfect for warm weather grapes and I think he has Italian varietals there. He also buys other warm-weather grapes from vineyards in Prosser WA (also a great area for warm weather varietals).

5. Grape variety choice, at the Clark County vineyard: Grade "C-": He planted Cabernet Sauvignon and other warm weather grapes there, and I'm afraid those grapes need more heat units than our climate can give. Hell, we can't even ripen Pinot here in some years, and the hot sites of Lyle and Hood River can't even ripen Cab. Walt tries to accommodate for the weather by dropping most of the fruit, and that is an intriguing approach, but it's like trying to grow pigs and hoping to produce beef from them, when you plant warm weather grapes in Clark County. It's a great approach for cool-weather grapes (especially Pinot, which needs uncropping anyway), though. 

6. Wines: This is a matter of personal taste, so you should discount my thoughts somewhat. Overall, the wines have less color than you would expect for their variety, and the bouquets are light or absent; this is partly due to growing the wrong varieties for the climate in a particular spot. The winemaker's general style (which actually is in vogue now but it's not what I would do) is to put a large streak of acidity in the wine, with a wave of acidic finish--and this will make the wine good with food but it is more difficult to enjoy it alone. The best wine he poured was his '11 Chard--it has wonderful body (it was alone in having good body) and crispness and nice fruit; its undertones are unusual but the overtones are classic (butterscotch, citrus, apple); light or no oak; and it has layers of complexity. A really nice wine and the only one I would buy (though I think it's overpriced at $22 and as you all know I'm not a Chardonnay fan, having been burned so badly by the tidal wave of bad Chard (overoaked; over-MLF'd) that flowed from CA starting 20 or 30 years ago. "Sweet Riesling" has only 0.5% RS so it's dry or off-dry and thus misnamed; its nose is unusual and unique, off-type, but the wine (as all his wines) is clean and well-made. His '09 Pinot would be at home at some places in the Willamette Valley, but for me it was too light and thin. His '09 Sureoh (Pinot, Syrah and Merlot) is better than the Pinot due to the addition of some Merlot. The pure Merlot ($22) was light, had no nose but was nice in the mouth, though not big enough to be a typical Merlot. The '09 Sangio was thin but nice and had that acid streak. The '02 Cab (grown in Clark County) was a no. The '09 Tempranillo (from Prosser)  was OK. All these red wines were like Burgundian Pinot Noir in their light bodies and faint colors, though not as subtle or complex as the French wines. The '07 Syrah (alone among the reds) was dark-ish. It was grown on the Clark County vineyard, and since the Rhone lies 2 regions South of Burgundy, it's not completely crazy to plant it here in Pinot country (Amalie Robert succeeds with it in Salem, but Salem is hotter than here and A.R.'s Syrah has the northern Rhone style that I don't prefer as much as the fruitier, richer Southern Rhone style. This Syrah had a light nose and the same large acid streak as the other reds. Last was a $25 blackberry dessert wine; 12% alcohol and sweet enough to match the berry's intense acid; unfortified. For me, give me my blackberry pourt; that richness really helps the blackberry experience. Overall, an impressive slate of wines, but the wines will be best appreciated by those who like the Burgundian style of Pinot Noir.

7. QPR (Quality for the Price): Grade "B-": You can't fault a winery for pricing its wines as high as it can, but these wines seem high-priced to me, especially for a winery located in an area that is pretty new to winemaking. I also saw overly high prices at Heisen House, where I honestly suspect they are about making money from the tasting fees and they don't care as much about selling the wines--when I bought a bottle from them, they didn't even have a bottle ready and labeled for sale! Now that I think of it, that might be in play at Bethany, too. It's a smart strategy where you don't produce much wine, and Walt drops a lot of fruit at Bethany, to try to drive up fruit quality; this of course reduces production. There are discounts if you join their club and buy in bulk, but here are some sample full retail prices: Chard $22, Merlot $22, Sangio $28, Syrah $24.

I can't offer you his wines, as he sells 99% of them at the winery (so, why would he sell at wholesale when he doesn't have to?). You will need to pay retail prices plus sales tax at the winery. However, the tasting experience is quite good and I do recommend it. If you're up there, also try Olequa and Confluence; skip North Fork until they figure it all out a little better, although the second-best fish shop in Portland is next door to them, and you should definitely go there.  

And I ran into my customer Denise F at Bethany, who was tasting with friends; great to see you!

It is very impressive what Walt and family are doing at Bethany; they deserve your support. I think he is quite happy and successful with what he's doing there now, but if I were in charge I would make some stylistic changes to the wines and would stop trying to force warm weather grapes to grow here. 

Wine bottle maker operates in Kalama WA

Bennu Glass started making wine bottles in August in Kalama WA. They hope to ramp up production to 100 MILLION bottles per year in coming years. This is a restart of a failed wine bottle manufacturing effort that went bankrupt a few years ago due to repeated and expensive problems with the melting machine.

Pretty cool. If I ever start up a winery near Woodland, it won't be far to get bottles!

Read more here.