Adam Lee On Changes in Oregon vs. California for Pinot Noir

WINE TALK
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Just stumbled upon this article by Adam Lee while looking for another article. I did not see any talk of it here so thought I would post it. I agree with almost every word. Oregon has warmed quite a bit the last 15 years while the coolest parts of NorCal have never made better wines than now. One person in OR that I’ve known for 20 years sold his Pinot winery there because he said degree days in some vintages in Oregon equal or exceed parts of Napa. In my view, the best cool climate vineyards in America now are Santa Rita Hills, Occidental (especially above 300 feet), some parts of Fort Ross, the deep end of Anderson Valley, the Western Sonoma Coast AVA, elevated parts of Santa Lucia and Freestone.

This is a good topic to discuss.

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You’re totally forgetting Santa Cruz Mountains.

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My personal favorite

Santa Rita Hills is much cooler than the Willamette valley. I think it was Sashi from Domaine de la cote that made that statement during a berserkerfest about 10 years ago.

I thought “no way” but you better know you’re shit if you’re disagreeing with Sashi without any facts. :smiley:

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Adam is certainly well-versed having worked in both regions for many years. The track record for CA Pinot Noir along the coastal AVA’s, up and down the state, is compelling. I dunno, though, Burgundy often harvests before CA or OR. Burgundy is flowering now; we’re a few weeks away. There are additional metrics that come into play besides the ones mentioned in the article: latitude, sunlight hours, humidity, solar light intensity…to name a few.

Certainly, change in climate has occurred during the sixteen years I’ve been here. I would venture the conditions have improved for growing Pinot Noir rather than detract.

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Craig,
I agree. The degree days are a ham-fisted indicator. When the heat happens is as important as how much. I also think sunlight hours are an under-discussed factor. One of the things that also never gets talked about it hang time. A cooler climate can permit more hangtime, but there is such a thing as too much. I think some of the CA regions mentioned above can yield wines that are rather lethargic relative to alcohol levels. I suspect hang time, and its influence on the balance of skin and seed tannins, is a factor. One that is rarely discussed.

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I’d argue for Oregon , being warmer is a good thing for the Pinot. Just like in burgundy

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Drove the PCH last week from SF to SD and the stretch between Cambria and Avila Beach was considerably colder than SRH.

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That’s interesting Roy but, as a counterpoint, we’ve started making some very good sparkling wines in the past 6 years.

Bottling tomorrow:

2024 Durant Pinot Noir 13.7%
2024 Durant Heritage No. 26 13.7%

2024 Pumphouse Block Pinot Noir 12.8%
2024 West Field Pinot Noir 12.7%
2024 Temperance Hill Heritage No. 25 12.7%

2024 Whistling Ridge Pinot Noir 12.8%
2024 Long Acre 12.9%
2024 Whistling Ridge Heritage No. 24 12.2%

All three Chardonnays are sub 12% abv…again.

These numbers are all verifiable. Buy a bottle of any of them and take a sample to the lab.

Talking about generalized data like degree days without context doesn’t mean much. Degree days can come earlier in the season for us also not while any fruit is ripening. Daytime temps are a touch higher but night time temps are still mostly in the high 50s through July and August, maybe a few nights in the low 60s.

For those growers who persist in viticulture and conopies from 25 years ago, it would be unsurprising if too much ripeness isn’t an issue.

And for winemakers who follow the same recipe and start sampling vineyards based on when they “usually start”, it’s not unlikely that 2023 and 2025 could be less than stellar years.

But, and I appreciate your previous transparency, you have stated a preference for picking your Cabernet (a later ripener than PInot Noir) at Brix levels higher than I ever pick at. That’s coming from a producer using high levels of whole cluster, please feel free to check CT and see if any complaints of green notes come up at all.

So while I haven’t read Adam’s paper, I definitely think it’s a little pre-mature to suggest that Oregon is somehow too warm for our currently planted varietals. I’d be a fool to not be concerned, but the sky sin’t falling…

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Looking at things at a macro scale vs a micro scale will always lead to different results. And even in a place like the Sta Rita Hills, there is a tremendous amount of diversity of temperatures from the ones closer to the ocean vs the ones much more inland - but still in the same AVA. Macro vs micro

Cheers

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SRH is cooler, but it’s weighted to the summer months, when Oregon has much longer days. The side seasons, are cooler in the Valley. So yes, we have a spike of heat, aand yes SRH often picks later than we do. But the growing season here is not so much warmer than SRH, nor does that account for the seasonal shifts in sunlight hours that we receive at the 45th parallel.

And in the end, vino veritas. I tasted 2024 tank samples this morning with Audrey Frick (she’s awesome) and the next round of bubbles we’re disgorging in early June.

I’m happy to pull corks any time somebody wants to do a tasting and compare. I’ve seen some dynamite low abv Cali wines in the past few years, but if someone is making beefcake Pinot Noir up here, it’s not because they can’t do something else.

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100%

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Great points my friend. Winemaker intent has a lot to do with this as well. One can choose to pick at different stages of ripening and it happens all the time. Just because you make a wine that’s lower in alcohol.does not mean you picked at optimal rightness in another winemakers viewpoint.

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Very true.

YMMV is as true for farmers and cellar hands as it is anyone else.

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Adam is a nice guy and a master at self promotion. He is fully entitled to his opinion and I have little doubt that he’ll continue to make wines that suit his style from wherever he sources his fruit.

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Oregon pinots have gotten better and better over the last 20 years as the vineyards and know-how have matured. If I’m ranking domestic pinot makers, the top 25 list probably has 24 from Oregon. But I will admit that I don’t drink enough from CA to have followed whatever new guys have appeared. If someone wants to recommend a Santa Rita Hills pinot comparable in finesse to, say, Eyrie, I am all ears. I’ve never had one anywhere close.

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Well, it would help to know what you’ve tried, my friend. There are a lot of producers out there.

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Adam mentions Santa Cruz in this article.

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I was referring to Roy’s post, not the article.

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I commented elsewhere on Adam’s article that, among the many debatable points in his piece, day length isn’t changing. And come harvest time things are rapidly changing, so unlike many places in my native California where you could literally picnic on dry ground in vineyards there weeks after picking, in the Willamette Valley the season pretty much ends with picking. Fall rains set in and any growing ends. And as Marcus shows, alcohols aren’t super high here unless you really want to push for that. We pick Temperance Hill Pinot Noir last every year and usually in the 12% range. There’s usually no more to be had from the growing season at that point. Suggesting that somehow Oregon’s prospects are somehow dimming vs California’s is wild. I’m making wine from California too, and damn the heat pressure is so great there. Late season heat spikes that we simply don’t/can’t get in September or October (I’m talking 100F+) when day length and sun angle just don’t allow it. Not to mention how we’ve been limited to about 800 ft elevation for viability in the WV and that’s changing, people are planting higher (and those high sites tend to give some pretty nervous wine still). I don’t know, maybe it’s just being provocative to stir the pot but I was surprised that’s how he’s using his platform. It’d be one thing if it was like really true, we’re all looking at massive changes up here. But it’s simply not. We’re all seeing changes but if you think the WV is somehow not a great place for grapes going forward, I’d love to see some money placed to back up those words. My money is literally on the opposite.

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I like the AI Slop image at the top of the article, seems commensurate to the level of effort and thought that went into the text.