Vintage and Harvest 2009: Oregon

Cellar Rats (ITB)
1

I wanted to start a thread for Oregon for the 2009 season. We may want to split this out into different AVAs at some point, especially for those areas outside the Willamette Valley, but we might as well see how much traffic we get first.

Our vineyard is in the Yamhill-Carlton district in Oregon, about 35 miles southwest of Portland.

The weather so far this season is continuing along the bizarre path of its predecessors. Not a single season in recent memory has been what I would call “normal”. This past winter is reminding me very much of the winter of 1968, although I was much too young at the time to be worried about winegrowing.

We typically prune our vines relatively late here at the vineyard for a number of reasons. Our crew is here today for the first time pruning, perfect timing from a biodynamic perspective. They’ll be removing clips and pulling prunings over the next week or so, then tying when conditions are a bit better.

For any wx geeks out there who may be interested in monitoring conditions as the season progresses, we do have a weather station at the vineyard. It was a mother’s day present from my beloved several years ago. You can find it at http://www.wunderground.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, choose zipcode 97148, and select the Blackburn Road location.

I’m looking forward to hearing the sentiments of other OR vineyards/wineries out there.

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Yes! More Oregon news! [berserker.gif]

3

Golf weather today. Mother nature teases us like this every February, then the flood gates open again until July.

4

Not so much golf weather today, although the rainy day that was forecast for today didn’t materialize. We’ve only had .08" today while we were expecting downpours and thunderstorms. The forecast is for rain the rest of the week.

5

I don’t think we’ve had anything measurable in town.

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Our vineyard report for today:
Our crew is out there tying vines, not loving the weather.

7

Big storm moving through today.

8

Steady rain since noon yesterday until about 2:00 this afternoon, high around 48. Sunshine predicted for the weekend. In Oregon, the weather this time of year is like Mama Gump’s box of chocolates.

9

Oy!

However, is this we’t side, east side, or Cascade weather? As I recall, there is considerable variation as one moves inland and over the mountains? And more wind/rain in the Columbia Gap than you would find further south where western vineyards are protected by 60 miles of landmass?

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Mary, seriously and I’m not trying to be a smartass here. I have NO idea what you’re talking about and, try as I might, I can’t decipher what you’re saying. Would you mind elaborating?

BTW - there is no “Columbia Gap” that I’ve ever heard of.

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No problem, Bob. [smack.gif]

Well, westside Washingtonians frequently refer to the western edge of WA and OR as the “w’et side” because it gets the most rain. We/they have even been known to buy/sell socks with a green line around the ankle, and the words “moss line” embroidered above. The Willamette, Umpqua and Rogue Valley regions would get a lot of rain, due to being west of the Cascade Mountain range.

But Ribbon Ridge and Dundee Hills, which are at the far eastern edge of the Willamette region, might get a little less (or little more) weather because they are further from the ocean and protected by more landmass. Conversely, their proximity to the mountains and their elevation might give them a little more … that’s one of the questions I was asking.

As you know, the east side of WA and OR get far less rain, because the Pacific air movements dump most of their moisture as they approach and pass the mountain range. It’s drier and hotter in the summer, and much colder with more snow in the winter. Snake River, particularly would get far less rain than other regions, right? And Walla Walla, too.

The “Columbia Wind Gap” is perhaps a family/neighborhood colloquialism then … it’s a vague term that I have always heard applied to the wide open wind tunnel that extends from the mouth of the Columbia at Astoria to somewhere east of Cathlamet. I don’t believe it’s on any map, and it refers more to the weather feature than a geographical spot. This region can be very windy in the winter and spring months, bringing lots of rain farther inland than one would see from behind the mountains. The Columbia Gorge AVA might benefit from this feature, and perhaps part of the Columbia Valley AVA as well?

Jacqui’s winery is in Yamhill, so it would get considerably different weather than Walla Walla … I was just wondering if there is any word on vintage conditions from the eastern AVA’s?

12

Okay, I understand more clearly. You were wondering about weather in Twice Walla and the rest of the Columbia Valley appellations. And I’m sorry, but I can’t give you an answer for that.

Now . . . as for the rain . . . it’s true. Everything east of the Cascades is essentially a desert. The Willamette Valley runs between the Cascades and the Coast Range, roughly in a band ranging from 40-80 miles from the ocean. The 40 would be the eastern foothills of the Coast Range and the 80 would be the Cascade foothills.

That said, here in Portland we get about 35 inches of rain a year; a little less than what New York City gets but - because of the Coast Range - way less than the 80+ inches they get in places on the coast. Salem gets a similar amount, whereas Eugene gets about 50 inches. The Rogue/Applegate region is actually in a spot where the Siskiyous, the Coast Range and the Cascades collide, and it’s much, much warmer and - in the case of Medford - drier. Medford gets something like 15 inches of rain in a year whereas the Applegate region gets around 30. The valley floor is also around 1300 feet, which is higher than anything in the Willamette Valley proper.

The Umpqua region surrounds Roseburg and has rainfall similar to the rest of the Willamette Valley, but it IS considerably warmer during the growing season depending on elevation and microclimate. That’s why pinot noir and cabernet both ripen there.

Now . . . back to the Willamette. Ribbon Ridge, Chehalem Mountain, Dundee Hills, Yamhill-Carlton, McMinnville and Eola-Amity - in other words all the important pinot noir appellations - are actually on the western (not eastern) side of the valley, west of the river and I-5. In fact, portions of the Yamhill-Carlton and McMinnville AVAs extend into the lower foothills of the Coast Range. They’re also all within about a 15-mile radius of wherever the central point would be - probably somewhere around McMinnville. As a result, the weather doesn’t vary much with one exception - and that’s the Van Duzer corridor effect, which funnels cooler air from the ocean to the Eola-Amity and McMinnville AVAs. It’s not a LOT cooler, just a bit.

As for the Columbia, I don’t personally see any evidence that it funnels any rain past the Cascades. The wide mouth tends to add a bit of emphasis to the fact that the Willamette Valley is a maritime climate, but if one drives east past Hood River, which is at the northern foot of Mt. Hood, the landscape turns to desert almost immediately. In fact, the average rainfall drops in half - from 30 inches at Hood River to 14.5 at The Dalles - in a distance of 22 miles. The gorge is really narrow at Hood River which makes for great windsurfing, but I digress from weather. As far as I can tell, the primary weather purpose of the gorge is to funnel arctic air into Portland and give us ice storms.

Twice Walla, by comparison, gets 12 inches, though that IS marginally higher (in growing terms) than Richland/Kennewick/Yakima where they get about 8 or 9. I don’t know whether to attribute that to the fact that WW is a straight shot out of the end of the gorge where the Columbia turns north, or its proximity to the Blue Mountains on the east. I’m inclined to go with the latter. Either way, you can’t dry farm - or at least I don’t think you can.

So . . . I hope that helps. And yes, I live in Portland about a 40-minute drive from Jacki, so my weather reports are going to be similar to hers. Anything east of the Cascades will be different.

13

Thanks, Bob! Exactly the kind of geeky, data-rich reply I like! [cheers.gif]

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Non-grape weather aside…

That “Columbia Gap” is a new phrase to me, but sounds like you’re talking about the actual Columbia river inlet from the coast at Astoria, rather than the Columbia River Gorge between Portland and fall east side. This “gap” is indeed a sea level corridor that flows through Longview, WA, allowing marine air and clouds to fill in the north and east sides of the Portland metro area, while the westside of Portland (the Tualatin Valley with Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Forest Grove, as well as Yamhill County) protected largely by the west hills due west of downtown Portland. The Columbia River AVA is only modestly affected, if that, by the “gap” because it’s not a straight shot from Astoria to the Dalles. Much of the marine air, such as it makes it to Portland, is flowing south at that point after its 90 degree turn south at Longview. Temps at the east end of the gorge, and rainfall as Bob mentions, are respectively high and low.

Back to grape issues…Jackie’s vineyard in Yamhill is to Walla Walla as westside Paso is to Bakersfield. A long drive, and further still in terms of climate and soil.

One reason you see most vineyards in the Willamette Valley on the west end of the valley is that it’s drier and slightly warmer than eastern slopes, sitting in the rainshadow of the coast range. They also tend to get better morning light, extending the growing day. We do have west facing slopes, but afternoon sun is an issue to deal with.

Bob sums up rainfall issues here in the Willamette Valley pretty well. We don’t get so much. It just comes a bit here and a bit there. Cloudy days are more the issue. Lots of gray, not necessarily so much precip.

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I was going to mention the rainshadow effect, too, Vincent. In the YC AVA, we really do very much experience the effect, remarkable by comparison even to the three surrounding AVAs to the North, East, and South (Chehalem Mt., Dundee Hills, and McMinnville). In fact, the geology of the Chehalem Mountains and the Dundee Hills actually contribute additional weather protection to YC. Somewhere I have the geeky weather data that shows the difference in rainfall. I’ll have to dig it out and post it sometime.

(Been AWOL for a bit here, sorry about that. We’ve moved out of our old tasting room and are doing demo and remodel at our new location, with a tight deadline…)

16

Been cool (high 40s) and raining pretty steadily for the past two days. Today we have partly cloudy skies and should see temps in the lower 50s with maybe a shower or two. Predicted high on Sunday is 66. Wooohooo!!!

17

High 70s today and not a cloud. I was driving by the original Ponzi vineyard in front of their winery and stopped to check the vines. Buds are just beginning to push.

18

Yup! Bud break here on April 22nd. Right on schedule! Except for a few heavy hailstorms that have passed through, we’ve been loving the season so far.

19

Jacki, did that gullywasher storm on Saturday (and to a lesser degree on Sunday) have any bad effect on your vines? That was about as hard as I have ever seen it rain in Oregon.

20

It has pretty much rained cats and dogs for the last four days. ENOUGH!