Vineyard Notes
The 2020 Willamette Valley growing season began with a moderate winter followed by a fairly wet spring, leading to a mid to late April bud break, depending upon vineyard elevation. A cool and rain-afflicted middle of June lead to a challenging bloom, resulting in some of our lowest yields that we've seen in here in a long time. The rest of the summer was quite beautiful—a classic no-AC-required type of Oregon summer that we haven't had for a number of years. A late August/early September heat spike really got the small fruit crop ripening in a hurry, which got us into picking mode starting September 1st with Chardonnay at Lone Star Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills. After a week of picking, easterly winds blew smoke from the Cascades into the Valley, causing us to stop and reevaluate our harvest plans. We moved with Mother Nature and decided not to pick any more red wine after the fires in order to focus on sparkling wine, chardonnay, riesling and still wine rosé, keeping wine quality at the core and involving very gentle, low yield pressing. We finished picking on October 23rd, also at Lone Star Vineyard, with a small parcel of late-ripening Riesling.
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