Archived Harvest Reports

Vintages

Weather
Today

Cloudy, but bright... sunshine sneaking through after 0.18 inches of rain last night. Not enough to get into plants. Expect 65+ high today (73 average high so far in October).

in general...

Thanks, to whoever brought September's weather!

In August all of us in the Willamette Valley were girding for a very late harvest and the possibility of underripe fruit. September saved us!

Whereas bloom was exceedingly late, June through August very cool, and total heat units (a grower?s nerd term for how much heat has been accumulated over time) the lowest on record, September was perfect:

moderate to warm temperatures
average 79 degree highs at our Stoller Vineyards site
sunshine the entire month
only 4/100ths of an inch of rain

Harvest 1999 October 9, 1999

Brent Park on a tank of pinot noir No fruit picked yesterday or today, but we're planning for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.The 0.36 inches of rain this month still does not impact fruit, so things look great!

In the winery we are finishing the detailed preparations for harvest, trying to get a rhythm going in attending to tanks, making anaylses of pressed or destemmed fruit for minor adjustments to acid/pH and nutrient additions--some analysis done here, some FedEx'ed to labs in Baja Oregon (aka CA).

Cheryl agrees 90% of winemaking is washing things
Yesterday was also a day to give harvest help a breather--the three Kiwis working at Chehalem from New Zealand wineries heading for Portland and shopping.

Columbia Sportswear, REI, GAP, Abercrombie & Fitch, and others were invaded. The job yesterday was to pick out Harvest Wear 99. We get everyone on the permanent crew serious logo wear to commemorate the vintage and show people back home. It also saves on clothes bills for us at home.

Stoller Vinyards Pinot Gris"Going to Press" Today we sample the next blocks to be picked, to determine exact harvest timing. We walk the blocks, taste fruit, pull sample berries or whole clusters for pressing back in the lab and evaluation of sugar, pH, and total acid. The decision is usually made by balancing flavors with weather forecasts. We'll let you know what we find.

Harry