Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/230154
vintage in Oregon in my now-26 years that winemakers sat down together and talked about strategies to help slow down vineyards." A somewhat damp August followed by a record heat spike in early to mid-September led into harvest. For many, crush in Willamette Valley started between Sept. 11 and 13. For Harry Peterson-Nedry of Chehalem Wines, harvest started at his sites in the Dundee Hills and Chehalem Mountains on Sept. 19 – his earliest harvest ever. While some worried that the heat units might keep piling up, throwing the resulting wines out of balance, the second half of September was unseasonably cool and somewhat wet, stalling Brix accumulation. What happened next, however, was entirely unexpected and became the defining moment of the growing season. The remnants of a typhoon from the western Pacific brought in a storm that drenched the Pacific Northwest in what was referred to as a 30-year event. Areas of the Willamette Valley received a shocking 5 to 7 inches of rain from Sept. 28-30. "It was just a river of water in the vineyard," one grower said. "Biblical downpours," agreed Kevin Chambers of OVS, a vineyard management service in Willamette Valley. "I've never seen anything like that." Whereas the warm temperatures had been the preoccupation all year long, in a moment, that changed. "We went from, 'Oh yeah!' to 'Oh no!'" Erath's Horner said. "It was such a slap in the face." Many growers and producers had already brought in substantial amounts of fruit prior to the rains – between 30% and 50%. Some tried to pick through the rains in an attempt to spare their crop, while others waited for things to dry out. Once the rains finally ceased, their impacts were felt differently across the valley, depending on aspect, elevation, soil type, vine age and viticultural practices. For some, the effects were relatively minimal; for others, they were devastating. "The best growers applied their 52 V I N E YA R D & WINE RY MANAGEM ENT | Jan - Feb 2014 w w w. v wm m e d i a . c o m