Birds, bad-weather harvest

Weather and birds win some

Making verjus and rose out of unripe grapes

By Janet Eastman

Southern Oregon grape growers and vintners have long invested in the mutual-fund approach to making wine. Diversify, baby.

Warmer, dryer growing conditions south of Eugene and changing climates in roller-coastering hills and valleys make it possible for growers to gamble – and usually win – with both cool- and warm-climate varieties.

The investment should pay off nicely this year. The weather is finally cooperating, leaving most growers and winemakers in and around the Umpqua and Rogue valleys optimistic about the outcome: Low-alcohol, full-flavor wines. The big disappointment: lower yields due to weather and another relentless spoiler, cagey birds.

There were a lot of sleepless nights for growers, even for those who brag about farming on the edge. “It’s been a difficult growing season,” says vineyard consultant Randy Gold of Pacific Crest Vineyard Services in Talent, who has been growing grapes for 30 years.

It was a growing season that began with a promising mild, dry winter, followed by cold-induced delays. Spring was cold and wet. Blooms were a month later than normal. When they finally did bud, a freeze hit. The chill didn’t let up, causing short shoots, uneven growth and in some spots, low potassium uptake.

Normal temperatures finally appeared in late June, making Southern Oregon “the sweet spot in the state,” says grower Ted Gerber. Mercifully, a warm fall may right some of the year’s wrongs. 

But because of the cold play, the hectic harvest crunch time may be even more compressed. Chris Martin is the president of the Southern Oregon Winery Association and he’s been tracking more than 70 different vineyards under his watch.

Typically, maturity levels vary among varietals, and grapes in the Rogue appellations are ahead of those in the Applegate. But this year, many harvests will probably take place in the same two weeks, predicts Martin, who owns Troon Vineyards in Grants Pass. 

“When you have fruit all ready at the same time, it strains the picking resources and the winery’s ability to process the fruit as it arrives,” he says. “Those who are best equipped in their ability to manage these logistical difficulties will ultimately produce some outstanding wines.”

A closer look

Abacela’s vineyards rest in an ideal part of southern Umpqua Valley. Typically, owner Earl Jones enjoys an enviable seven-month-long growing season. This year’s was shortened by three months, considering the bad weather in April, May and June. And, where most years don’t see spring or fall frosts, or a lot of rainfall or temperature extremes, there was a freeze in December and an April frost, and 25% fewer heat days.

“In a nut shell, I haven’t seen anything like this in my 18 years as an Oregon property owner,” says Jones. “and the Roseburg weather station says this has happened only a few times in the last 80 years.”

In August, he made the decision to delegate all the Grenache to making a rose, “which is not all bad,” says Jones. Usually, Abacela offers both a rose and a well-respected table wine. The 2008 Grenacha won gold in this year’s World of Wine Festival. But there will be none in 2010. “We didn’t think we could ripe to that level this year,” says Jones.

The Albarino, however, has “terrific flavors,” he says, “good fruit ripeness but less sugar.”

Brandborg Vineyard and Winery in Elkton is the coolest of nine reference vineyards in the Umpqua Valley. Working with an elevation of up to 1,000 feet and only 25 miles from the ocean, Terry Brandborg has to stretch the ripening curve.

In the fall, he kept focused on maintaining a healthy canopy, hoping to produce a Gewurztraminer that again will be singled out by New York Times’ wine critic Eric Asimov and national judges. “We all know that we are taking risks in growing grapes and making wine every season,” he says. “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

In the third week of October, Brix had only reached 18, but he had to pick before endless days of predicted rainfall.

“It is time to hedge bets and see what we get,” he said late in the evening on Oct. 18, a Tuesday. “For us, our strategy is based on the weather reports that rain starts Friday with no end seen for the 10-day forecast.  So, we are picking Thursday.”

He planned to divide “what the birds have left us” into base wine for bubbly, rose and white Pinot Noir.

“It is the best I can think of given the hand we have been dealt,” Brandborg says.

Lower alcohol, lower yields

By September, rain puffed up berries and held sugars back. Bleak reports from the north had growers here wondering about alternatives to making wine. The owners of Pheasant Hill Vineyard in Talent decided to pick and press unripe Cabernet Sauvignon at 12.5 brix to make verjus, unfermented green juice for sauces, marinades, salad dressing or sorbets.

“We had several reasons for doing this,” says Laura Lotspeich, who is also a partner in Trium Wine, which is selling the newly bottled Baby Bacchus Verjus. “We had a winery that lost their financing so we had some unsold fruit and the very cool spring/summer had us wondering about ripeness this year.”

Most growers won’t be facing mounds of unsold fruit. Yields are expected to be lower. A few growers don’t even have enough to fulfill contracts. In a double whammy, what the weather left to ripen, the birds seemed to attacked with more gusto than recent years, despite bird foils, from netting to sound blasts.

Gerber of Foris Cellars in Cave Junction rigged up speakers to send high- and low-pitched bird distress calls over his vineyards. Taped hawk calls were so authentic he lured in a few real ones. But the crows and robins came and stayed, “more than I’ve ever seen,” he says.

Overall, this year, Gerber’s 33rd harvest, has been “nerve-wracking.”

“I’ve seen weather that scares me, but I’ve never been stumped,” he adds. “It’s the farmer in me to wish for the best.”

Weather-wise, as of mid-October, he was feeling good and dreaming of wine in the 12 ½ to 13 ½ percent range. “Every winery says that this is the best year ever, right?”

He started picking Oct. 10 and will harvest the later varieties – Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Pinot Blanc – by early November.

The ability to exhale for others, too, came in October.

“This latest burst of nice weather has positioned Southern Oregon growers to ripen a beautiful crop and make some excellent wines this season,” says Gold, who manages the vineyards for RoxyAnn Winery in Medford and is a consultant to Cliff Creek Cellars in Gold Hill and Dana Campbell Vineyards in Ashland. “Growers and winemakers who have paid attention to water and crop levels will be rewarded with great flavors, soft tannins and lower-alcohol wines.”

Janet Eastman writes about Southern Oregon wine for national publications and websites. Her work can be seen at www.janeteastman.com.