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I still believe 2016 is as good a vintage as I have seen. Wines have super bright and crunchy fruit while still being concentrated and focused. 2018 is close but I think side by side 16 v. 18 bottlings more of the former would get the nod. That being said I am better at what I do each year, had bett...

If only they had raked the forest and swept up the leaves! Haven't you been doing that in your spare time, Jim? BTW, had a very strange dream a few nights ago. I was still in the wine biz and was doing a trade tasting and after the tasting you, Eric Pottmeyer and I decided to eat outdoors at a rest...

Clearing skies in parts of YC. Saw some blue sky out on vineyards yesterday evening and this morning. Take what we can get.

If only they had raked the forest and swept up the leaves!

2020 Goodfellow Rauch-vin Joking...I hope Full disclosure, even if we don’t have smoke taint, the vintage in WV will be a challenge. My first pick came in at 1.24 tons per acre. Yields are way down, so while I do believe we are dodging a bullet on taint, the fruit we do have will not be much. Guess...

Trader Joe's and other discount stores are going to have a ton of bargain wines that nobody has ever previously heard of on the shelf in a few years featuring the 2020 vintage and several premium appellations on the labels. I'm guessing that these low-taint grapes will be "just fine" for low end bo...

Feels like I’ve been in the car all day long. And at this point, there’s too many people in Oregon suffering real losses for me to think our issues are very important. My heart goes out to southern Oregon. And the area I grew up in is a mess, and evacuated. It’s far too early to comment on smoke ta...

So what's the latest on risk of smoke taint? Anyone picking "prematurely" to avoid the smoke? I think in most areas the risk is still minimal. I’m reading a VERY thorough publication out of Australia with tons of links to papers and studies on every aspect of the topic. https://www.awri.com.au/indu...

Seems like the Chehalem Mountain fire is abating as it is starting to lighten up both in terms of daylight and smoke intensity to our northeast. However to the Southwest it looks darker and more intense now. Feel like the wind is starting to turn as well.

8:00 AM and it’s nearly pitch dark still at the winery. Processing fruit outside and need the bright overhead lights on to see what’s going on.

6:45 AM. Fire burning over the top of Chehalem Mountains. Heard from folks on the other side that looking up at it last night it looks like Mt. Doom.

Eola-Amity(Salem) is rough. Power is out and fire mapping is in the red. But as is noted in the CA thread, topography will create a range of outcomes. Also, according to Paul Gordon’s rule of thumb, distance from the fires to the vineyards is well beyond where a short term exposure would taint the ...

East of Salem is where a LOT of the fire acreage is at. I decided not to go look at fruit at Freedom Hill Vineyard today just to be on the safe side. They’re 10 miles SW Of Salem but who the hell knows or wants to be caught in some sort of situation that could have been avoided by staying away? It’s...

We are not picking fruit at Family Farm, Skyline, Alpine, Horseshoe or Centennial Mtn. Very painful but I guess it could be worse. I hope other wineries are faring better. This is pretty devastating for everyone. Shit. That’s beyond awful. To some extent it’s less the money involved and more the lo...

Couple of photos between 4:30-5:00 this eve. Actually got cool with the sun blocked.

The sky was all purple
There were people runnin’ everywhere.

My mother was evacuated out of Ashland, OR at the southern end of the state. Fires inside the city limits. Pretty high density small town that is dry as it gets. She’s just on a road with LOTS of other people trying to figure out what to do and where to go. I don’t think up here we’re in any imminen...

In NO way am I trying to minimize what California is experiencing and, if anything, this thread is about coming to a greater level of understanding about their collective experience. There are real deal fires up in Oregon and in the Willamette Valley as we speak. Hot temps, super dry conditions and ...

First pick date is set. September 9th. Possibly could pick something on the 7th but I doubt that will happen. This is some young vine Dijon 943 I picked up later in the summer to guard against some lower tonnages. Super small clusters. Vineyard manager has an estimate of 3.4 tons/acre. Mine is 2.2 t...

With the small crop load, Brix can jump very quickly. Being a newer winemaker, I'm still trying to lock down logistical details like trailer rental, let alone picking decisions. How far out do you feel like you have to make the call on picking, just from the perspective of locking down your labor? ...

With the small crop load, Brix can jump very quickly. Being a newer winemaker, I'm still trying to lock down logistical details like trailer rental, let alone picking decisions. How far out do you feel like you have to make the call on picking, just from the perspective of locking down your labor? ...

Bump. We had a nice, warm August: A strong long iron shot? Any worries about this heat wave, especially given how dry things have been? Daytime temps in the 90s as far as I can see. Do things still have a ways to go, or is there a danger of some vineyards overshooting the green? I have zero sense o...

Bottling 13 of our top Pinots this weekend including one we have not bottled the last 3 years because we didn’t have the, I don’t know, right stuff despite the quality of those 3 vintages. Wines are pretty supple with alcohols in the low 13s mostly. I think they could be a little bottle shocky out o...

I would love to be “limiting” my harvest to 3.52 tons/acre!

This is from 5 years ago (and, man, those were simpler times) so not entirely germane to this thread but still seems a bit useful for maybe some who weren’t around or interested back then.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=109562&p=2129135&hi ... e#p2129135

Nice. Front and center in the picture, too!

Well, I am certainly happy for that. The 2003s from virtually anywhere in the world are going to have some level of affectation to them. That we have something still chugging along after 14+ years in the bottle from that vintage pleases me. Glad it worked out. Been really digging PGC and chasing do...

Richard T r i m p i wrote: ↑
August 21st, 2020, 11:29 am

F.Daner wrote: ↑
August 21st, 2020, 4:50 am
What a great time to be a fan of Oregon pinot.
Indeed. Not the relative secret it used to be....but the past 15 years have been pretty great!

RT

Not to agree in too crass a way but Josh Raynolds recently reaffirmed that sentiment big time.

Anyone ever bought/ordered from them? This may be a bit of conflict of interest but I have been there innumerable times, poured wine there, done dinners with the shop and so on. Evelyn is a powerhouse. She loves wine. Truly loves it. Her shop is a throwback to older times. Tiny, packed, other gourm...

[highfive.gif] Jim/John/Brian...Do any of you live in Nashville? We are always looking to expand the local group. Bill...I hope your daughter enjoys Vanderbilt. I work just down the street. I rarely purchase locally...mainly order from a few mailing lists at this point. Hard to find anything really ...

Wearing their shirt right now. Great place.

No. There are scores of white varieties with better pedigree, track records and upside than Gris. Is it ever the best choice? Not a chance. Even from the heralded regions it is still a one off. Here in America? I will hold my tongue out of respect for folks here working with it honestly and diligent...

Jim- bit of thread drift but what are your thoughts on the 18's in general ? Just had the 2018 Patricia Green Lia's PN. That would fit the bill of Burgundian. Thanks. That would, historically, would not be one of ours that I would have gone with but the 2018 is a different beast. Todd’s farming has...

100 here over the weekend but dropping down to low 90s Monday and then low 80s next week. We still have cool nights even when it gets this hot and the heat takes a long time to build during the day. It’s not 100 at noon for instance.

Thanks for all the advice guys, it's much appreciated. I've update my plans based on your advice. I really wanted to check out Beaux Freres, but frankly I'm priced out of their wine and I'm looking to find winemakers I can enjoy for years to come. Day 1: -Vincent (awaiting response) -Johan (awaitin...

As good as a vintage as I think 2005 is I would love to take it and drop it into our laps now. So much more knowledge, better equipment, better farming and, really, better everything not the least of which would be an additional 14 vintages under the belt. All those things we have now (forgot to men...

We’ve got one. Not ever year. 2014, 2015 and soon to be from 2019.

People make a bigger deal out of it than it is. Any wine properly acidified tastes utterly normal and the idea that one could pick it out blind is pretty crazy. Well, going back to the reason I brought this up, the wines I tasted (several vineyards from the same producer in 2018) all tasted quite a...

Roy Scheider brings a really nice bottle back from France and shares it with his brother (Hoffman) and then in the restaurant scene when he confronts the girlfriend there’s a long exchange with the som over what to order. I haven’t seen it in years, just off the top of my head that’s what I remembe...

People make a bigger deal out of it than it is. Any wine properly acidified tastes utterly normal and the idea that one could pick it out blind is pretty crazy.

Marathon Man is a wine movie?? Anybody?? Roy Scheider brings a really nice bottle back from France and shares it with his brother (Hoffman) and then in the restaurant scene when he confronts the girlfriend there’s a long exchange with the som over what to order. I haven’t seen it in years, just off...

Bdklein wrote: ↑
August 5th, 2020, 12:00 am

Jim Anderson wrote: ↑
August 4th, 2020, 9:51 pm
Marathon Man.

If you want to know the story of Pahlmeyer watch the old Douglass-Moore move Disclosure.
Marathon Man is a wine movie??

I really like Sideways .

No. But they do have a good Burgundy/Beaujolais scene.

Marathon Man.

If you want to know the story of Pahlmeyer watch the old Douglass-Moore move Disclosure.

Why is this thread giving me the urge to watch the PGA Championship next week? LOL I would rather watch a round of golf between Marcus, Jim, Todd, and Vincent. Back in the day of less winemaking I could play a little bit. Usually broke 90 (shot 91 at Pacific Dunes once and was pretty happy with tha...

2007 was only tough if you weren't around in 1996 and 1997 (or earlier). Harry Peterson-Nedry on 2007: "As always, experience tells us not to freak out about dreary rain days, but to drink another cup of coffee, continue to pick on flavors and jump only when botrytis seems ready to show." How many ...

I have now seen 16 of our 18 Pinot Noir sites. Seeing one more tomorrow and the other will have to wait as they just sprayed today and it’s one of the two “far away” sites and I saw the other one today. The very experienced vineyard manager at that site said he thinks crop load is normal so I’m coun...

Haven't you had some brutal heat in Willamette as of late. Not that it is that unusual but seems to have gotten quite hotter. Son lives near Sherwood and it has been very hot there for the last week. It’s been hot. Not brutal. Supposed to get to around 96 today. That being said it’s noon and it’s 8...

Not too early to know that in lots/many/most places tonnages are off to way off. Worden Hill Rd. sites (I have 2) seem to be okay and have enough clusters to make up for smaller cluster size. Ribbon Ridge sites (I have 4) are on the edge a bit. Some stuff under 2 tons/acre, some stuff a bit over, no...

I really enjoy the Hundred Suns and Flaneur wines. Grant and Renee do great work with their own label(Hundred Suns) and the wines Grant is making for Flaneur have been some of my favorite WV wines over the past couple of years. Buying fruit from 2 of Flaneur’s estate vineyards. Doing a SVD of one o...

Thanks. A lot of folks here made this (well mostly the 2017 version) a go to in the early stages of the pandemic with the offer on this site.

I really enjoy the Hundred Suns and Flaneur wines. Grant and Renee do great work with their own label(Hundred Suns) and the wines Grant is making for Flaneur have been some of my favorite WV wines over the past couple of years. Buying fruit from 2 of Flaneur’s estate vineyards. Doing a SVD of one o...

In the right situations clones are an aspect of terroir. Like any facet of a whole there are stronger, weaker, better, worse, more capable, less capable, more interesting and boring examples. Most of the vineyards I work with are older (planted 1990 or before) and there were few clones in Oregon bey...

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