Vineyard Visits: Momtazi, Stoller, Cherry Grove

Here are my first experiments with using my new Flip Video camera to document the developmnt in the vineyards. I need to work on my steady-cam stills (scenes are a bit Cloverfield-esque) and naration, but I'm still pretty excited about what I'll be able to do throughout harvest this year.

For the first post, I captured bits of my walk-throughs of Momtazi, Stoller, and Cherry Grove vineyards. I hope you enjoy. I'm going to try to give a fairly continuous stream of updates through the end of harvest this year.
-sb

The June and July heat pushed the vines forward by 3-4 weeks, and now most of Oregon is actually running a little ahead of schedule for the year. If the warmth persists, we'll pick our first Pinot by mid-Sept.

All the vineyards look fantastic. Canopy health has never been so even across the entire valley, and fruit set is very even. Berry sizes are quite uniform, and clusters are quite sizable. We've already been dropping a good amount of fruit across all sites, and we'll continue with that as August progresses.

Momtazi Vineyard - McMinnville AVA

Stoller Vineyard - Dundee Hills AVA

Cherry Grove Vineyard - Willamette Valley, just outside of Gaston, OR