Washington embraces another warm growing season

Talking about the 2014 growing season in Washington, winemaker Josh Maloney of Milbrandt Vineyards summed it up by quoting the movie Biloxi Blues: “Man it's hot. It's like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot.”

 Indeed, 2014 has been another warm growing season in Washington. Most markers from budbreak through veraison have been approximately one to two weeks ahead of historical averages due to the warmth of the year. “Things started early and never slowed down, pretty much across the board,” Maloney said.

Growers and vintners didn’t have to look back far to find a comparable year. “The 2014 season started out as a repeat of 2013 in terms of early, warm spring, near record breaking heat in July and early August,” said Wade Wolfe of Thurston Wolfe Winery, who sources fruit predominantly from the Horse Heaven Hills and Yakima Valley. “But then it shifted to the 'average' mode for most of August and so far into September.”

As one might expect, the largest impact of the warm temperatures has been on sugar accumulation. “Super high sugars,” said Hillary Sjolund of the winemaking consulting service Enomama. Sjolund, who also has her own winery Sonoris, works primarily with fruit from Red Mountain – typically Washington’s warmest appellation.

“I went through 70+ vineyard samples yesterday and, for reds, I couldn’t even find one under 25 Brix right now,” Sjolund said, referring to a measure of sugar accumulation. Sjolund said that, to compensate for the higher sugars - and the potentially higher alcohol levels that would result – many winemakers will saignée their fermenting tanks, a process of bleeding off some of the juice. They will then add water back to bring down the alcohol.

While a common practice in warmer regions and in warmer vintages, Sjolund noted that this could be challenging when berries get dehydrated, as has been happening recently on Red Mountain. “You’re getting more sugar release from dehydrated berries,” she said. “So you think that you’re watering back to 24.5 Brix when in reality you might be watering back to 25.5 or 26. I think some people are going to have higher alcohols than they are going to anticipate.” 

Winemaker Trey Busch of Sleight of Hand Cellars agreed many winemakers would take the route Sjolund described. “We prefer to make the wine in the vineyard but in a warm vintage when sugars are going up so quickly and you’re waiting for flavors, you’re waiting for seed development, and you’re waiting for tannin development - and you’re dealing with high Brix - those are the things that you have to do,” he said. Busch noted, however, that if done properly, the concentration of the resulting wine is not affected while quality is improved.

“It’s definitely a winemaker’s kind of year,” Sjolund said. “It’s a great growing season in the sense that everything is getting ripe. But we’re going to have to work more with this ripeness to make sure we make a balanced product.”

While most people I spoke with reported higher sugar accumulations, in some areas, the results have been more variable. Maloney works with fruit from across the Columbia Valley. “Like last year, the excessive heat doesn’t seem to have as much impact on ripeness and timing of our warmer sites, but we are seeing higher Brix and lower acids in the cooler sites for this time of year than we would normally expect,” Maloney said. “Whatever normal means now is anyone’s guess.”

Wolfe also noted that the warm season has decreased differences between cooler and warmer areas. “Cooler sites, such as the Yakima Valley, are ripening at the same time as traditionally warmer sites, such as Horse Heaven Hills,” he said, noting that different varieties have shown different effects as well. “Bordeaux varieties, especially Cabernet Sauvignon, seem to be ripening sooner than usual compared to other varieties.”

Differences have also been reported from 2013 in cluster and berry size, with some reporting that they have seen smaller sizes and others larger. “Our own count at Seven Hills, we’re running 20 berries per cluster over last year,” said Marty Clubb of L’Ecole No 41. “We’re also - at least at Seven Hills - seeing berry sizes inflated about ten percent from last year.” Clubb, who attributed this largely to a good fruit set at bloom, said the result has been as much as a half ton more fruit per acre than originally forecast.

 On Red Mountain, however, Sjolund, said berry sizes have been somewhat smaller, at least in the vineyard samples she has been receiving. “The Cabernet berry sizes are small,” she said. “Compared to 2013, at this level of ripeness, I did not see the hardness of those berries like I’m seeing this year.” 

Despite the warmth of the year, many winemakers are pleased with how the growing season has progressed to date. “We are very excited about the quality of what we have so far,” Maloney said. “It looks like we’ve got some great conditions for the foreseeable future. We think we might be looking at another banner vintage.”

Picture of Red Mountain Merlot pumpover courtesy of Sleight of Hand Cellars (Follow on Facebook). 
Picture of the first rack and return of the year courtesy of Long Shadows (Follow on Facebook). 
Picture of Merlot bin courtesy of Robert Ramsay Cellars (Follow on Facebook). 

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See information on the Washington State Growing Degree Days here.

See monthly forecast for Yakima Valley (Sunnyside), Red Mountain (Benton City), Walla Walla, Paterson, and Mattawa.

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The information in the table below is aggregated from personal correspondence with growers and winemakers, as well as information posted on Twitter and Facebook. It is not intended to be comprehensive but rather is intended as a snapshot of what is going on around the state. If you wish to send data for your grapes or vineyards (or correct any of the information below), please email me at wawinereport@gmail.com, leave a comment here, or leave a comment on the WWR Facebook page.

Winery	Grape	Vineyard	Date	Notes
Columbia Valley
Three Rivers	Chardonnay	Bacchus	8/25
	Chardonnay	Sagemoor	8/25
--	Sauv Blanc	Sagemoor	8/25
DeLille	Sauv Blanc	Sagemoor	8/27
--	Syrah	Wooded Island	9/1	First red
Tamarack	Chardonnay	Bacchus	9/2	First grapes
L’Ecole	Merlot	Candy Mt	9/5	First red grapes
WWalla Vintners	Merlot	Sagemoor	9/8	2.5 tons
Vin du Lac	Chardonnay	Stillwater	9/9
Gordon	Chardonnay	Estate	9/11
Guardian	Chardonnay	Conner Lee	9/14
Rasa	Syrah	Bacchus	9/15	2 tons
Saviah	Chardonnay	Stillwater	9/16
Three Rivers	Malbec	Sagemoor	9/16
Long Shadows	Merlot	Candy Mt	9/16
Convergence Zone	Riesling	Bacchus	9/17
--	Sauv Blanc	Lawrence	9/18
--	Chardonnay	Lawrence	9/18
L’Ecole	Cabernet Sauv	Bacchus	9/18	Old block
Yakima Valley
--	Pinot Noir	Canyon Ranch	8/23	For sparkling
Sleight of Hand	Chardonnay	French Creek	9/1
Tamarack	Chardonnay	French Creek	9/2
--	Sauv Blanc	Skyfall	9/2
EFESTE	Sauv Blanc	Boushey	9/4	10 tons
Treveri	Chardonnay	Beeman	9/4	For sparkling
--	Chardonnay	Willow Crest	9/4	For sparkling
Gramercy	Syrah	Red Willow	9/5	Chapel Block
Treveri	Pinot Noir	Marchant	9/9	For sparkling
Sleight of Hand	Cabernet Franc	Blackrock	9/10	For rose
--	Syrah	Skyfall	9/11
Wind Rose	Sangiovese	Lonesome Spr	9/12	For rose
Wind Rose	Dolcetto	Lonesome Spr	9/12	For rose
--	Pinot Gris	Art Den Hoed	9/12
Gramercy	Syrah	Red Willow	9/14
Sleight of Hand	Merlot	Blackrock	9/15
Stottle	Merlot	Marcela	9/15
--	Merlot	DuBrul	9/16
Wind Rose	Orange Muscat	Lonesome Spr	9/16	4 tons
--	Syrah	DuBrul	9/17
Adams Bench	Merlot	Red Willow	9/17	1989 block
--	Merlot	Skyfall	9/17
--	Cabernet Sauv	Skyfall	9/17
Lady Hill	Syrah	Red Willow	9/18
Cairdeas	Marsanne	Boushey	9/20
Bartholomew	Malbec	Painted Hills	9/22
Red Mountain
L’Ecole	Sauv Blanc	Klipsun	8/27	First grapes of harvest
Auclair	Sauv Blanc	Artz	8/30
Auclair	Sauv Blanc	Artz	8/30
Cadence	Merlot	Cara mia	9/4	Earliest harvest ever, yields down
Cadence	Merlot	Taptiel	9/4
--	Sauv Blanc	Red Heaven	9/4
Seven Hills	Merlot	Ciel du Cheval	9/5	1976 plantings
Vin du Lac	Merlot	Klipsun	9/5
Vin du Lac	Syrah	Klipsun	9/5
Sleight of Hand	Merlot	RMV	9/11
Obelisco	Merlot	Estate	9/12
--	Syrah	Red Heaven	9/15
Obelisco	Cabernet Sauv	Estate	9/16	Off south facing blocks. Three weeks earlier than usual.
Sleight of Hand	Cabernet Sauv	Scooteney	9/16	Clones 2, 8, 21, and 24
EFESTE	Syrah	Angela’s	9/17
JM	Syrah	Ciel du Cheval	9/17	Old vine
Cadence	Cab Franc	Taptiel	9/17
Cadence	Petit Verdot	Cara Mia	9/17
Cadence	Cabernet Sauv	Cara Mia	9/17	Clone 8
Native Sun	Merlot	Red Mountain	9/18	First fruit
Walla Walla Valley
Woodward Canyon	Sauv Blanc	Estate	9/3	First fruit
Woodward Canyon	Chardonnay	Estate	9/4	Wente clone.
Tranche	Viognier	Blue Mountain	9/4
Waterbrook	Chardonnay	Waterbrook	9/9
Woodward Canyon	Merlot	Estate	9/10	First red grapes
L’Ecole	Semillon	Seven Hills	9/12	Last pick of Sémillon
WW Vintners	Merlot	Seven Hills	9/13	Block 17
Kerloo	Grenache Blanc	Blue Mt	9/15
Woodward Canyon	Dolcetto	Estate	9/15
Rasa	Syrah	Seven Hills	9/15	Only Les Collines to pick
Gifford-Hirlinger	Pinot Gris	Estate	9/17
Burnt Bridge	Syrah	Les Collines	9/17
Tertulia	Tempranillo	Whistling Hills	9/17
Sleight of Hand	Merlot	Seven Hills	9/17	4.4 tons
Three Rivers	Cab Franc	Estate	9/17	For rose
Sleight of Hand	Syrah	Stoney Vine	9/18	Experimenting with lower pH pick
J&J	Merlot	Seven Hills	9/19	Block 24
J&J	Merlot	Middleton	9/21
Wahluke Slope
Three Rivers	Chardonnay	Weinbau	8/28
Cadaretta	Semillon	Rosebud	9/4	First day of harvest
Seven Hills	Merlot	Clifton	9/4	First grapes of 2014. Earliest Merlot in 27 years
--	Syrah	Clifton	9/9
--	Syrah	Clifton Bluffs	9/10
--	Merlot	Clifton Hills	9/11
McKinley Springs	Chardonnay	McKinley Springs	9/12
--	Tempranillo	Wahluke	9/12
--	Grenache	Clifton Bluffs	9/13
Milbrandt	Viognier	Clifton	9/14
Columbia Crest	Merlot	StoneTree	9/15
Cadaretta	Syrah	StoneTree	9/16
Wind Rose	Primitivo	StoneTree	9/16
Kerloo	Tempranillo	StoneTree	9/17
Horse Heaven Hills
Canoe Ridge	Unknown	Estate	8/21	Via Facebook
Mercer	Chardonnay	Estate	9/3	First fruit
Coyote Canyon	Viognier	Estate	9/9
Columbia Crest	Merlot	Coyote Canyon	9/9	First red grapes
Coyote Canyon	Merlot	Estate	9/10	Machine picked
Waters	Roussanne	Alder Ridge	9/12	4.51 tons
Waters	Merlot	Canoe Ridge	9/12
McKinley Springs	Chardonnay	Estate	9/12
Waters	Merlot	Canoe Ridge	9/13
McKinley Springs	Syrah	Estate	9/14
Coyote Canyon	Albariño	Estate	9/15
Tertulia	Malbec	Phinny Hill	9/16
Ch Ste. Michelle	Sauv Blanc	Horse Heaven	9/16
WT Vintners	Syrah	Destiny Ridge	9/16
--	Syrah	Phinny Hill	9/17	174
Long Shadows	Syrah	The Benches	9/17
Angel Vine	Primitivo	Coyote Canyon	9/17	4 tons
Robert Karl	Merlot	Andrews	9/17
Robert Karl	Malbec	McKinley Spr	9/17
Robert Ramsay	Syrah	McKinley Spr	9/17
Robert Ramsay	Syrah	Phinny Hill	9/17
Syncline	Grenache	McKinley Spr	9/18
Buty	Syrah	Phinny Hills	9/18	Clone 174
Bartholomew	Primitivo	Coyote Canyon	9/19
Snipes Mountain
--	Sauv Blanc	Upland	9/6
--	Pinot Gris	Upland	9/6
--	Canelli	Upland	9/8
--	Grenache	Upland	9/10
--	Syrah	Upland	9/12
--	Pinot Noir	Upland	9/14	Sparkling
--	Tempranillo	Upland	9/15
--	Chardonnay	Upland	9/15
Rolling Bay	Syrah	Upland	9/16
Rolling Bay	Merlot	Upland	9/16
--	Cab Franc	Upland	9/17
Vin du Lac	Chardonnay	Upland	9/18
Vin du Lac	Syrah	Upland
Vin du Lac	Cabernet Franc	Upland