Really, I just need to write this on a regular basis, but it's always difficult to get started. Here's my new goal - write a little bit every day regardless of what's happening. Edit and publish the next morning.
For those of you not in Oregon, we just went through the longest, coldest winter snap on record. It's warmer now, but here's a quick indication of how cold it was here (those of you in cold climates, pardon our whining about the cold):
We finally started to heat up the winery this week in order to push the '09 Pinot Noirs through the malolactic fermentation. Most years, we would be well on the way to finished with ML by now, but we delayed the start a bit this year in order to get the winery a bit more cleaned up before the giant shuffle.
At the end of harvest, all the wines are in one barrel room, tightly packed together in the chilly (hopefully) ambient temp. That's all the current vintage Pinot Noir and whites and previous vintage Pinot Noir. Before we start to warm up the barrel room, we have to move all the previous vintage Pinot Noir out to the frigid wintery unheated side of the winery (the fermentation side during harvest). In deference to good winemaking practices, this means that we have to get the ferment side cleaned up, get the floors scrubbed and get the drains cleaned first.
More later on how we use temp control in the winemaking. ...Hopefully some more on native ferments, unfiltered wines, and "natural winemaking"
Wow. OK. So my blogging never quite recovered from my sales trip to NYC in the middle of harvest. Lots of grapes, more than we've ever done before. Fantastic!
Here's the final story on Boedecker Cellars Harvest 2009 by the numbers:
First grapes into the winery: Hirschy Vineyard, Block C - Sep 22nd
Last grapes into the winery: Momtazi Vineyard, Block C - Oct 12th
In comparison, 2008 - PN 44 tons, Whites 14.5
We barrelled down the last Pinot Noir on Nov 6th. White wines are still ticking away.
Vintage of the decade?
Strong words and bold pronouncement, I know. But this was a fantastic year for ripeness. We did more whole cluster Pinot Noir ferments than ever before, as we had great phenolic ripeness. Every bit of PN going to barrel was ripe, complex, and like a sea of bing cherries. Most importantly, warm, even ripening weather allowed us to procrastinate and pick each site at the peak of distinctiveness. In two years, this could be called the vintage of the decade.
2009 White wines will set a new benchmark in Oregon. Flavors were ripe without excessive sugar, and deep, rich stone fruit flavors dominated everything. We took advantage from our "experiment" in 2008 and switched over to 12-18 hour skin contact on all of our Pinot Gris this year. The complex, interesting and overwhelmingly cool aromatics that resulted converted me from a "Oh yeah, Pinot Gris, whatever" person to a "Wow! I love Pinot Gris" fanatic. You'll see later this spring...
The folks at the Oregon Wine Board were kind enough to send out some seed questions for all of us. Below are a few of my reflections from this fall:
2009 Harvest Reflections
How did this year's weather affect you?
The heat spike in August pulled a few things forward in ripeness, so we started on Sep 22nd, about one week ahead of normal. Our last pick came in on Oct 12th, right before the big rains started. (pretty close to average timing for our last pick.) The generally even warm weather through the summer pushed phenolic ripeness with more brown stems and seeds than I've seen in years. We used a lot more whole cluster fruit this year in ferments due to the fact that everything came in looking very clean and nicely ripe.
How are acid and sugar levels?
Sugars on some younger blocks came in a little high due to some raisining induced by the last big heat spike. Overall, the acidity matched the ripe flavors very well, providing crispness and freshness but not hiding the dark, bing-cherry-like flavors in the Pinot Noir. Based on initial analysis of malic levels, these wines will pick up significant richness as they progress through malolactic fermentation this winter.
What are the emerging flavor profiles for the fruit?
White wines are spectacular this year, with everything showing ripe stone-fruit flavors. I'm espcially excited by Pinot Gris (which rarely excites me) and Pinot Blanc. Regardless of site, these wines are showing some beautiful apricot and peach notes. The heat did not seem to affect the acidity much in the whites. Even though the flavors are ripe, the acidity is bright and balanced. 2009 should be a standout year for white wine in Oregon.
Pinot Noirs are inky, dark, and very layered coming out of ferment. Fruit notes are very dark and ripe overall, but the vintage is not as prone to black-fruit and plum notes as, say 2006. Dark cherry and black currant aromas and flavors jump out of the glass right now. Tannins are firmer than 2008, which is a good thing given the overall "bigness" of the wines. Overall, these wines will drink well on release in 2011/2012 and are built for aging , as well.
How would you characterize yields? What is your forecast for tonnage this year?
We came in ~ 10% over projected tonnage. Some was due to larger than forecasted cluster. Some was due to extra fruit coming on the market. When Dick Shea asks if I want more fruit, generally my answer is "Yes, how much can I have?"
Extras Oh yeah. Here's a quick flic. of my ferry ride from NJ to Manhattan. While I was enjoying this view, Athena and the crew were sortion our last 10 tons of PN, pressing a bunch of Pinot Gris, and barrelling down the first Pinot Noir ferments.
Sometimes we hit the middle of harvest and, well, just don't quite have time to do laundry. Athena was the first to launch high fashion week in the winery this year.
Seriously, we hit the middle of fruit processing and it's non-stop Pinot Noir every day. All the fruit's looking fantastic, but there are always a few leaves to pluck out of the bins.
Sometimes, the whole cluster ferments can be impossible to punch down with anything other than feet. Seriously...we tried for 20 mins to get through the cap of this fermenter before someone just went in and took care of it.
Yeah. So I fell a little behind. It's been busy around the winery over the last couple of days. Lots of picking and picking decisions...More details later today.
Last walk through Shea Vineyard on 9/27. Finally decided to pick on Friday morning. Even with this little misting, the fruit is ripe, tannins are great, and it's ready to come in. I'm glad I pushed my original pick date so far out.
On the same day, I took a quick trip down to Holmes Gap Vineyard, too. The vineyard looks great, and we'll be pulling in all the Pinot Noir and the Pinot Gris by the end of this week. On the winery side of the equation, I took some quick snaps of the sorting line crew while we were sorting fruit from Cherry Grove, Hirschy, and Shea vineyards. In both the Cherry Grove Pommard and the Shea 777, we decided to go with a 30% whole cluster ferment. We still sort the fruit, but you'll see how we pull the destemmer back to let the whole clusters fall straight into the fermenter.
Yeah. So I fell a little behind. It's been busy around the winery over the last couple of days. Lots of picking and picking decisions...More details later today.
Athena and I took a little break from the action last night and poured some fantastic Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris sangria cocktails at the Jupiter Hotel's Indulge fundraiser for the Ecotrust Farm to School program. Fantastic food and bevs from everyone there!
On the winery side, we brought in another block from Hirschy vineyard yesterday. Fruit is now quietly cold-soaking in the winery.
We'll be busy this afternoon with fruit from Shea, Cherry Grove, and Hirschy. Look for some new pix and videos tonight.
OK, so change of plans. This is where I drive my ever-patient growers crazy, but it's where we make the difference between good Pinot Noir and great Pinot Noir.
After sampling through Cherry Grove Vineyard last night, I was somewhat sure we were going to pick Block 8 on Friday. After bringing the samples back, however, Athena and I both agreed that the flavors just weren't ready. Since this is such a fantastic block, and since Bob Van Steenberg has kept the vineyard looking very clean, we're going to leave Block 8 for another 5 days or so.
Here's a quick video of me talking smack about how it's ready to go....before I got back to the winery and changed my mind.
It looks like next week is going to get very busy. There is a small amount of Botrytis in most vineyards, and we now have some cold weather and rain/showers in the forecast for mid-week.
Here's my new picking forecast:
Today, Sep 24th Hirschy Vineyard, Block D (667/777) Friday, Sep 25th Cherry Grove Vineyard, Block 3 (Pommard) - Picking just every other row here Shea Vineyard, Block 30 (777) Monday, Sep 28th Stoller Vineyard, Block 61.3 (115) Wednesday, Sep 30th Stoller Vineyard, Block 61.1 (667)
Up in the air (sometime Mon-Wed) Shea Vineyard, Block 11 Carlton Hill Vineyard Cherry Grove Vineyard, Blocks 3, 7, & 8
Abbreviated update again today, as I'm mobile more than not.
Great first day of Pinot processing yesterday with 1.65 tons of fruit from Hirschy Vineyard. Athena posted some good pix on the Boedecker Cellars Facebook page.
I headed up to Buttonfield vineyard late yesterday (great sunset) to check out our Old Vine Pinot Gris. The vineyard looks fantastic (I'd expect nothing less from a vineyard owned and managed by Stirling Fox). Sugars are at ~ 25 Brix, which would usually scream "Pick now", but the flavors are still pretty green. I think we'll try to put off that pick until early next week. I'll head up to resample on Sunday.
Today I'm headed to Stoller and Cherry Grove Vineyeards. More pix, vids, and numbers later today. Athena's in the winery all day with our first fermenter full of fruit!
