Here’s a detailed vintage summary by Jessica— good overview and insights. I’m super happy with the quality this year. We picked just before the Sept. rains for Pinot and I just got my labs showing ABVs in the 13 to 13.5% range for destem and 12.2 to 13% for whole cluster fermentations, with good acidity ranging from 5.2 to 6.1g/L titratable acidity depending on the clone/block. But most importantly, tastes great with good structure and spice.
2023 Willamette Valley Vintage Summary
Jessica Cortell, Ph.D., owner/manager, Vitis Terra Vineyard Management Services, owner of Cortell-Rose Vineyard and Carlile’s Crest, and owner Cortell Collection Wines!
“In 2022, we had a very dry August, September and October with October being the hottest on record with 80-degree F. days all the way to the end of the month. We needed this to get the grapes ripe as it was a late season. However, this combination of 1) very dry soils through October limiting nutrient uptake to refill the vines reserves, 2) the late harvest which pulled nitrogen, potassium, and carbohydrates away from the storage organs, and (DP editor’s note*) for some, 3) a large crop, resulted in some vines starting the 2023 season in a deficit. The first 6-8 leaves are supported by the nutrient reserves in the trunk and roots so if these are depleted it can result in weak shoot growth and low yields. There was a lot of early season Boron stunting throughout the valley as well as weak areas in the vineyards. While yields were moderate to high due to sunny weather during bloom, some vineyards ended up with very low yields such as 1 ton/acre due to this impact of the 2022 season.
2023 saw a very cold and wet spring so we had one of the latest budbreak events ever around April 27th through May 1st. In 2011, we also had a May Day (May 1st) budbreak but then it stayed cold and rained all the way past the 4th of July and the valley hit bloom around July 10th to 15th. In 2011 we finished on Nov 4th, and we were picking frozen grapes.
While in 2023 budbreak was similar to 2011, after that it was completely different with a sudden shift in weather. After budbreak, the weather was suddenly warm and sunny and there was only one rain event in June. The June rain event was late enough that most sites were through bloom and had good fruitset. There were a few a higher elevation sites that hit bloom during the rain and suffered lower fruitset.
In the phenology of the grapevine, the period from budbreak to bloom can be the most variable as it is controlled by temperatures not the number of days between phenological events as seen between bloom to harvest. Typically, there are about 65 days from budbreak to bloom but in 2023 it was record short with only about 38 to 45 days! One effect of climate change we are seeing is having the growing season get more condensed. This means we have to do all the canopy management in a shorter amount of time…40 days versus 60 or more days. This has an impact on both the labor supply and risk of diseases.
The dry weather from budbreak to bloom kept mildew pressure down during this time but we did see a surprising amount of mildew popping up right around veraison. The mildew showed up in both organic and non-organic vineyards where spray programs were similar to previous years. There was discussion about whether some products failed. My take on it is that we needed even tighter spray intervals than normal as the vines were transitioning through growth phases rapidly and the crop load was large. The prebloom to fruitset period is the highest risk phase. When it progresses rapidly, you might need a 5-day interval to catch the flowers and then small green berries that are at the highest risk for powdery mildew. Add in large clusters that closed up quickly and a large crop load where spray coverage was inadequate due to clusters blocking the spray from other clusters, mildew got started but wasn’t really obvious until veraison. Luckily it was late enough that it did not cause significant issues but did cause clusters to be more susceptible to botrytis later during ripening.
The weather was just ideal all summer… nice 80’s until one hot snap in August from the 13th through the 16th where temperatures ranged from 102 to 107 degrees F. This was toward the end of veraison when the grapes are sensitive to high temperatures. This caused some heat damage in the form of shrivel. Many of the heat damaged grapes dried up and fell off so overall there was not a big impact on quality other than more Botrytis rot in some vineyards.
The fruit quality was great overall with harvest starting at the end of August for sparkling wine then moving into Pinot noir for white and rose wines and Chardonnay in the first week of September. Around 80 percent of the Pinot noir was harvested the second week of September when rains moved in. It rained 2.26 inches between September 24th through the 29th. This delayed picking on the remaining grapes with harvesting continuing in bursts and spurts. Grapes that were harvested in the first two weeks of October included Pinot noir from late sites as well as other varieties including Gamay noir, Tempranillo, Dolcetto and Chenin blanc. Harvest wrapped up around October 15th.
The fruit from several vineyards was very balanced with moderate to low sugars, good acidity, and pH with enough nitrogen to support the fermentation. This was particularly observed in the deeper soils with a higher water holding capacity. In shallow soils with low water holding, the vines started to shut down before the fruit was fully ripe, so sugars stopped accumulating and potassium moved from the leaves into the fruit at a higher level causing the pH values to go up. These blocks also had low YAN and needed nutrient additions during fermentation.
Overall, there was a trend for lower Brix levels as the soil was very dry and the vine’s photosynthesis was shutting down. The rain on September 24th – 29th, while frustrating as it was during the week the bulk of Pinot noir in the valley should have been picked, had several benefits of reducing drought stress and minimizing the risk of forest fires and smoke issues. The general rule of thumb for Pinot noir is that it is 100 days from 50 percent bloom to harvest. I checked the phenology dates for one representative block that was harvested before the rain, and it was exactly 100 days from bloom to harvest! Some of the fruit picked after the rain likely picked more than 100 days from bloom but it is debatable whether there were any improved quality benefits to waiting until after the rain.”
