WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OREGON

"The first part of the growing season, the budbreak to bloom time frame, has gone by in a flash. Never have we seen such a condensed period between those two growth stages. Budbreak generally happened right around May 1^st, and the vines were in mid-bloom already by June 10^th. The weather was fantastically warm and dry.  We accumulated more Growing Degree Day units (our way of estimating the growth rate of the vines) this May than we ever have, a whopping 350 GDD’s compared to an average of 220. Exceptionally for the Willamette Valley, we also saw 3 days over 90 degrees and less than half an inch of rain. Early cluster counts look good and the clusters themselves look to be slightly smaller than average. Flowers are turning into small berries now and a classic mid-September harvest is fast approaching."

LEIGH BARTHOLOMEW
Director of Viticulture
Results Partners

WILLAMETTE VALLEY, OREGON

"I love farming in the Willamette Valley because every year is so particular and different. This season we had such a cool and wet beginning of spring that made us wonder if buds were really going to break. After a later than normal budbreak, we had a warmer and drier than normal May that helped accelerate growth and led us to have a slightly early bloom. So far we are having great weather conditions, and this season is shaping up to be an amazing one. I’m super excited to see what 2023 brings us!"

LETI CATOIRA
Director of Farming
Jackson Family Wines

BEACON HILL WINERY & VINEYARD

YAMHILL-CARLTON AVA

-We transitioned from a very cool and wet April to the warmest May on record! We essentially went from winter to summer and we are trending closely to the 2019 growing season to date. 

-We saw bud break a little later than average and we recorded 44 days from bud break to flower – which is the shortest we have seen in our vineyard estates in our 20 years of wine growing; we also saw a tight bloom period of only 9 days. 

-We predict a hot and dry summer and we are excited about how things are trending at our Beacon Hill vineyard since it tends to be a cooler site, making it ideal for our white wine program which includes Albariño, Chardonnay, and Riesling. 

CARLA RODRÍGUEZ
Proprietor

PERKINS HARTER WINES

EOLA-AMITY HILLS AVA

Bracken Vineyard is in the Eola-Amity Hills at an elevation of 650'-750' on the Eola Bench: an area in the southwestern Eola Hills that faces west towards the Van Duzer Corridor.  Our site is particularly exposed to wind and so our volcanic soils are transient: eroding downwards and blowing upwards whenever they are given the chance.  Our winter winds blow predominantly from the southwest, but I noted that the seasonal shift to the Van Duzer summer wind currents from the west began three weeks later than usual this year.  This was not surprising after a long, cold winter, but the latency of the shift gave us concern about the possibility of a late harvest.  Thanks to some summertime heat conditions in May, we saw flowering only 42 days after bud break.  This puts us on track to finish harvest by late September, which very well could provide another epic vintage for our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay here at Bracken Vineyard and Perkins Harter Wines.

SHELBY PERKINS
Winemaker