Harvest 2021

The tension began to build when temperatures peaked at 115º on June 28th and the Willamette Valley winemaking community held its breath. What would the heat do? The drama continued as we got closer to ripeness with everyone watching new waves of the coronavirus spread through our communities. What would it mean for our picking crews? Everyone was thinking about last year and waiting to see what Mother Nature (and man) would do next.

Then, it broke. Harvest 2021 took off in earnest with winemakers calling for their fruit starting September 5th! (The earliest pick date ever for Tukwilla was in 1992, August 25th.) The fruit was beautiful, no smoke in the air, and the weather patterns gave everyone breaks between deliveries of grapes. We were giddy. After the drama of 2020, we had forgotten what harvest could be. It was like falling in love again.

Every harvest has a human story behind it and 2021 was no exception. With all the gains, there was also loss and heartbreak when a wonderful, strong wine-woman, Maria Stuart departed this earth on October 13th. This sharpened our attention to the fact that we all have an unknown number of vintages to celebrate in our lifetimes. The sweetness of each vintage shouldn’t be rushed past but savored.

At the end of Harvest 2021, we shift our focus inward to the cellar. Wines do weird things when they’re left alone in the dark. Will there be redemption for our trials this year? You’ll have to wait until these new wines make it all the way to their bottles to find out!

P.S. False alarm on the vampires this harvest.