Joe the Winemaker – The Official Blog of Oregon Winemaker Joe Dobbes

Veraison is continuing, and in the Pinot Noir, perhaps 80%of the berries have turned a deep purple hue. The Pinot Gris is at around 50%, and the Blanc remains behind at 5. In the darker berries, the varietal flavors are beginning to appear as the sugar accumulates.

As veraison continues, so too does lignification, and the shoots which were once green are turning into wood, hardening off for the winter.

As this occurs, vines show their colors, and we’re able to pinpoint areas of the vineyard with perhaps shallower soil by noticing where vines are showing a bit of stress by the changing color of the basal leaves: pale yellows in the white varieties and blood red in the Pinot Noir.

We’ve finished dropping excess fruit, and we’re now simply waiting for the grapes to mature. We’re spending this downtime trapping gophers, and though we’re more successful and less entertaining than Bill Murray’s character in Caddy Shack, the comparison isn’t too far off.

Our neighbors have plowed the hay and grass fields all around us, and hawks sit on the fenceposts, scouting for easy prey. Elk stroll slowly through the fields to the south. Coyotes jog past in the fields to the west. The Blackberries alongside the creek are fat and juicy.

The vineyard is happy, healthy, and the grapes are getting sweeter and darker every day.

It’s with happiness and relief that I relate the good news that Veraison has begun and all around our vineyard, berries are beginning to blush with color and promise. The danger of powdery mildew is still present, but an end is in sight to the vigilance we’ve had to show.

Unfortunately, the color change is some sort of signal to the birds that the seeds are mature and the juice is getting sweet, so while our battle against mildew is ending, soon will begin our struggles to discourage the ravenous flocks of starlings from eating our crop. Starlings are an introduced pest with incredibly discerning taste: they love Pinot Noir. One the one hand, you have to respect their palates; on the other, they’ll eat the whole crop if you let them.

Since the last update we had a significant rain episode followed by the past few days’ excessive heat. The vines have responded by continuing to grow, a good thing to help us get the fruit ripe in the next two months. The heat is probably also helping to speed veraison along. It was around 100 degrees today afternoon, and we sent home the vineyard crew early to avoid the danger of working in the heat. 

We’re still engaged with balancing the crop load by removing excess fruit from all the vines that need it, but we should be done soon enough. It’s a job that requires a good and empathic sense of vine physiology. One needs to understand by looking at the strength that a vine demonstrates how much fruit it will be able to mature. It’s required a lot of personal attention in training our staff, but I think the hard work will pay off with riper fruit for a tastier wine.

Last year, harvest began on this vineyard on October 15, so we’ll be planning for on that date or earlier to be ready to pick.