2025 HARVEST REPORTS
Follow Willamette Valley Wines on Instagram.
Browse reports from previous vintages below.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2025
Angie Reat, General Manager
LOVE & SQUALOR WINE
What a harvest! 2025 will go down as one of the earliest and shortest in my more than twenty years of working with grapes in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. A warm season capped by late-summer heat pushed ripening ahead of schedule, and we started picking on September 9th—nearly two weeks earlier than usual. By the start of October, the bins were full and the fruit was in, something that almost never happens here.
Now, with the last of our Riesling safely tucked away in the cellar, we can finally exhale. The fruit this year was nothing short of spectacular—clean, evenly ripened, and beautifully balanced thanks to the dry, steady growing season.
The pace was fast and the days long, but our crew kept their energy up with plenty of tacos, good music, and a run of golden autumn weather. There’s a deep satisfaction in seeing everything come together so quickly and so well, and we can already tell the 2025 vintage will be one to remember.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2025
Andy Lytle, Proprietor
LYTLE-BARNETT and AUBAINE
A warm and early spring got the growing season off to a fast start. with really no major rain or cool weather events in April and May the 2025 Harvest season was off to the races. There were no start and stops to the growing season, especially after bud break in early April. Flower came to us in some areas end of May, but by the first week of June most all of Anahata and Windfall were in flower. Harvest usually comes exactly 100 days from Flower, however this year with no cold weather and no major heat spikes harvest for our Lytle-Barnett Method Oregon wines began on the Anahata vineyard August 30th, just 92 days post flower, our earliest harvest date in our 13 year history.
We usually get a 7-10 day break between our Lytle-Barnett and Aubaine harvests, but not this year. Just as Lytle-Barnett harvest finished Aubaine still wine harvest began Sept on 12th. By the 24th of September all of Anahata and Windfall for Aubaine had been picked.
It’s early but holy smokes we are optimistic. With just a few brief rain events during harvest that did nothing but knock the dust off the clusters, we view the 2025 harvest as exceptional on every level. Yields were spot on from our lag weights, and the quality and chemistry on the wines are simply fantastic. We are really excited about the potential of the is 2025 harvest from the Anahata and Windfall vineyards for our wine brands Lytle-Barnett and Aubaine.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2025
COROLLARY WINES
This harvest was crazy. 13 days from first to last harvest. 12 picks. 13 press loads.
Thanks to a warm spring, things started off early. Typically sparkling is 90 days from bloom to harvest, so an early bloom means an early harvest. Our first picks were pinot noir on August 29 at Momtazi and Folly of Man vineyards, quickly followed by pinot meunier on August 30 from Ninebark.
The summer was fairly moderate, but a series of 95+ degree days at the end of August quickly pushed things along. These temperatures are a significant challenge for vines. They get desperate for water, sucking up potassium and consequently dropping acidity.
These dynamics are why we focus so much on site selection. Higher elevations, Van Duzer winds, and adjacent forest land help to lower the temperature and stress on the vines. Irrigation is also a great benefit on the hottest days. These factors help preserve acidity and give more time for flavor development.
Getting our pick dates right in these warmer years is stressful, to put it mildly. You’ve got a very short window to pick the fruit when you have the right amount of sugar, but the grapes still haven’t lost their acid. We’re obsessive about sampling, sometimes visiting our vineyards every other day to make sure we’ve got it dialed in.
Thankfully, this year’s weather cooled down significantly right after the heat wave allowing the longer, slower ripening that we love. We believe 2025 will be another great vintage—a bit like 2018, perhaps. More muscular than the very graceful 2024 we experienced last year.
Our primary ferments are kicking along right now. The rosés we made from Cattrall Brothers and Folly of Man are smelling amazing. Over the next couple weeks, we’ll top up all the barrels and snug them up in the cellar for the next eight months, until tirage next year.
In the meantime: we hope you'll join us for one of our upcoming events at the vineyard!
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2025
Jessica Mozeico, Owner/Winemaker
ET FILLE WINES
We’re about 3-4 weeks away from beginning harvest and I'm very excited about the 2025 season to date! There are five key reasons:
1) Our growing degree days, or cumulative measure of heat for the growing season, was running about 20% higher than the 30 year average through July, but 20% lower than the recent warm vintage of 2015. My goal is always to keep alcohol, acidity, and tannin of the wines in balance and we have a better shot of doing so in a year with growing degree days like we’re seeing now than in a year in which growing degree days are either so high that alcohols will be much higher than acidity and tannin levels (e.g., 2015) or so low that alcohols will be much lower than acidity and tannin levels (e.g., 2011).
2) I'm seeing some “hen and chick,” or uneven ripening, in some vineyards. I love this in a warmer vintage because the small green berries within the cluster won't fully mature, bringing acidity into the mix. I was particularly enthusiastic to find this in our Chardonnay block at Fairsing Vineyard. As a side note, I had a proud mom moment when we were walking our block of Pinot at Kalita Vineyard and Gabriella said, “There’s a lot of hen and chick here, Mom- that will be good for acidity.”
3) Crop loads have been reasonable, meaning that they have been around historical averages and not as heavy as we’ve seen in many vintages of the past decade. This is naturally established by the weather at fruit set (usually July), but we “correct” it by dropping fruit in August to ensure that flavor development and ripening is concentrated on the clusters that remain. However, having it established naturally bodes well for the potential concentration of the wines. We will still drop fruit by hand, but we are closer to our yield targets than we have been in many recent vintages.
4) The berries and clusters appear to be moderately sized, which is a good omen for tannin development. This is because much of the tannin comes from the skin, so moderately sized berries have nice skin to juice ratios as opposed to years in which berries and clusters have been huge, resulting in wines that are very juicy but have less tannin structure (e.g., 2015).
5) We had lovely weather when leafy canopies were developing, which means we have nice shade to protect the clusters. This is relevant because late August heat could cause berries to sunburn if they are not protected. All of these factors- growing degree days, hen and chick, reasonable crop load levels, average sized berries and clusters, and protective canopies- make me hopeful that we'll have fruit forward ripeness balanced by retained acidity and tannin structure. Of course, it depends on what happens in the next month, but I'm as optimistic as I can be at this stage!
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2025
Jessica Thomas, General Manager
SWEET CHEEKS WINERY
GROWING SEASON TO DATE
Our growing season, so far, has been shaped by a wetter-than-average spring, which delayed bud break slightly (two weeks behind our average). Despite the slower start, bloom came early and progressed very quickly, setting the stage for a strong growing cycle. The vine canopy is looking average to slightly healthier compared to 2024, with vibrant foliage. Cluster sizes are tracking close to average, suggesting a balanced crop as the season continues to develop.
ANTICIPATION FOR HARVEST
As we look ahead to harvest, there's a growing excitement! If the weather holds warm and dry over the next three weeks, we're likely to see an earlier-than-average start to harvest. The average harvest window is the first two weeks of October (for our still wines), but current conditions are leading to the possibility of picking as early as the last two weeks of September. We are planning to harvest a small lot in the first week of September for our 2025 sparkling program.
LOOKING AHEAD
Something that is exciting for us - is the continuation of family within our company. Leo's son, Ian, has worked in just about every department. When Ian started, we were self-distributed so his first job here was to drive around and stock the shelves in Lane County. After a few years, he began helping in the vineyard. 2014 was Ian's first harvest, joining the production team full-time. This harvest, he will be helping with more of our analysis and lab work.
We also view harvest as an opportunity, particularly with Oregon joining the Big Ten Conference. With an increase of tourism, and overwhelmingly from areas that don't have a "wine country", we can show them firsthand the work that goes into producing the wines they are about to enjoy.
Traditions will continue for us, including Leo pouring a splash of sparkling wine over our first bin of fruit. Our Founder, Dan would do this with Leo every harvest up to his passing - and Leo continues the tradition. Our tasting room and admin teams are also encouraged to work a harvest shift and bring lunch - we find this is a great bonding experience, and also allows more of our team to experience the rush of harvest.
2024 HARVEST REPORTS
#WVHARVEST2024
Follow the latest harvest tag on Instagram.
Browse reports from previous vintages below.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2024
We are excited to release three new Ambar Estate wines in October: the 2022 Dundee Hills Chardonnay, 2022 Sacra Terra Pinot Noir, and 2022 Lustral Chardonnay. While we’re still busy in the cellar, I wanted to take a moment to sit down, rest my feet, and express my gratitude for what has been a beautiful and memorable vintage. This marks my 21st harvest and my 4th with Ambar Estate, and I can confidently say I’ve seen the full range of what Oregon’s seasons can offer. But this year, Mother Nature has been the perfect co-conspirator.
The 2024 growing season brought us a cooler summer, allowing the fruit to ripen slowly and evenly, preserving the fresh acidity that defines our wines. This led to a slightly later harvest than usual, starting with our sparkling program on September 6th. The moderate weather continued into early fall, providing an ideal window for our Chardonnay a couple of weeks later, and then Pinot Noir about a week after that. The combination of daytime warmth and cooler nights is exactly what makes the Willamette Valley such a renowned wine region, and this vintage is the quintessential expression of classic Oregon.
We wrapped up the harvest on September 26th, bringing in the last clusters from the vineyard. With each stage, we watched the fruit develop remarkable complexity and elegance. The cooler evenings maintained vibrant acidity, while the long, steady ripening period gave the grapes deep, expressive flavors and refined tannins.
Now, as our attention turns to winery operations, I’m thrilled by what I’m seeing in the cellar. The sparkling base wine has finished fermentation and has been tucked away until we start preparing for tirage bottling. Our Chardonnays are continuing to ferment both in barrel and in our concrete cube, and our Pinot Noirs are just starting to kick off fermentation. The winery is alive with buzzing forklifts, heady fermentative aromas, and a harvest playlist that keeps us moving. These are the harvests we dream about and the ones we will continue to talk about for years to come!
KATE PAYNE BROWN, Winemaker
Ambar Estate
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2024
When the vines flower in June, we expect that it will take about 100 days to ripen Pinot Noir and thus we can forecast a harvest period. This year we were pretty certain we would be busy picking grapes the week of 23rd September and this appears to be likely.
We will begin harvest with Chardonnay and a little Pinot Noir for Rosé. Chardonnay will come from Gran Moraine and our Aegrina Estate, Pinot Noir for Rosé also from Aegrina. Among our Pinot Noir vineyards, we will likely start in the Dundee Hills (Thoma), then Yamhill Carlton, Aegrina (Mac), Xomni (E-A) and likely finish at the North Valley Estate (YC).
Thus far, 2024 has been a fine growing season with a modest crop load and moderate August temps. A couple of 100F degree days last week escalated grape sugars, which we can already see “recalibrating”. The weather forecast has my attention. We will see measurable precipitation during this evening and into tomorrow. That’s fine. But it looks like more rain may be on the way early next week. This scenario is not bleak, could be better. My apprehension builds if we start looking at cycle of rain events like these. Hence, we watch the weather.
Stay tuned.
In the coming days, after the rain and some time to dry out, we will begin rigorous sampling of grapes from all vineyards. With data and the experience of tasting the fruit we will refine our harvest decisions.
The goal is to achieve meaningful ripeness without things getting too sweet; we want to avoid "over ripeness" as much as "under ripeness". This requires patience... and faith.
JAMES CAHILL, Winemaker
North Valley Vineyards / La Biblioteca
26th Harvest in the Willamette Valley
Events
From harvest dinners, grape stomps, open houses, and more, harvest is a...
Q & A
We catch up with some of our vintner friends every fall to find out how they...
Harvest Reports
Harvest reports from every corner of the Willamette Valley. Get the latest on...
Playlists
Listen like the cool kids! Browse the music mixes that keep harvest crews...
Recipes
Wineries share the recipes that fuel their crews and entertain visitors. This...
Harvest Stories
Take a deep dive into the unique challenges of growing and harvesting grapes in...
