Tag Archives: @allorovineyards

Vineyards reflect climate change reality

09 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by in Oregon, Uncategorized

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Steve Lutz in his Lenne tasting room last October

If you don’t believe in climate change, ask a farmer. Few farmers see the more immediate impact of warming temperatures than winemakers and vineyard managers across the country.

In normally cool-climate Oregon, the vineyards are warming. But just like the different terriors across the 150-mile long valley, the impact varies from vineyard to vineyard. But winemakers seem to agree something is happening.

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Fitzpatrick

“I don’t think it necessarily meaning warming for everyone at every time of the year,” said Alloro Vineyards winemaker Tom Fitzpatrick. “I think what we’re seeing is wide swings in the temperatures and weather during the ripening period, which is really an important period of time.

“So the last couple of years (2016-2017) were fairly warm and fairly early harvest in September. Then in 2018 things were a little bit more typical at harvest. We but had a really dry and really warm summer. We were lucky to get these really cool temperatures, 60s and 70s, through early September for harvesting.

The state’s legislature ordered a climate assessment that concluded with a 160-page document. The report says that even if emissions are reduced, average temperatures will rise 3 to 7 degrees by 2050. That number may or may not seem significant but the state’s leading crop, delicate and thin-skinned Pinot Noir grapes, does not do well in intense heat.

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Bailey

“I typically talk about global change instead of global warming,” said Youngberg Hill Winery and Inn owner and winemaker Wayne Bailey. “I think what we’re seeing is a lot more extremes. There is extreme rain in the Midwest, extremes in terms of cold and warm and extremes in terms of hurricanes. It’s all over.

“More specifically to growing, over the last 4-5 years we’ve had consistent warmer temperatures. But I’ve been in agriculture all my life and know weather patterns to in 20-year cycles. I’m here to say in 5-6 years we’re still going to have warmer and cool years. I’m going to suggest there is going to be more extremes instead of less extreme weather events because of global warming.”

Steve Lutz, owner/winemaker at Lenne Estate, agreed its all about the timing of the state’s hotter spells. “We’ve been a really fortunate,” he said. “This year we had a huge cooldown at the end of August and beginning of September.  We had 10 days of no sugar movement in the vineyard at all. My take is we have to be very careful how much fruit we drop (which allows remaining fruit to ripen better).”

Lutz’s point is cutting grapes aggressively, followed by a warmer fall harvest season, could substantially reduce a winery’s ability to reach normal production levels. More heat means more sugar in the grapes which results in wines with a higher alcohol content while the industry is largely moving to lower alcohol wines.

One logical step might be the increased planting of varietals other than Pinot Noir. Tempranillo, gamay, syrah, and even some cabernet has been planted in recent years.

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Bellows

“Don (Hagge) is way ahead of the curve as usual and we’re already making estate tempranillo in the Chehalem Mountains AVA,” said Vidon winemaker David Bellows. Hagge owns the boutigue Vidon winery. “Other people are only going to plan more similar grapes. Tempranillo is a good illustration of how to cope because I can’t think of a more hot plains varietal. It’s ripened here three years in a row and ripened just fine this year.”

All of the winemaker agreed there will be years of bigger wines – Pinot or different varieties. Bellows said the 2018 crop went through higher temperatures than the 2017. “So the 2018 had more sugar than we would want so we worked on more extraction, move body to balance off the alcohol. Those are the kind of things you have to do. We’re going to make a bigger darker wine than last year. We hope more extraction will balance the alcohol.”

So will there be years where Oregon Pinot is closer to the mouth feel of Pinots from California? “There will be years,” Bailey agreed that is possible. “In 2012 and 2014 the wines were bigger, more robust, more red fruit. But consistently I think not for the foreseeable future. We’re not growing on the valley floor where it’s hottest.”

Fitzpatrick  takes a similar view. “To me a great Pinot is a balance between a warm year and much cooler year, concentration density and roundness, very cool delivers aromatic complexity and more expression. To me a great vintage is one where weather conditions are such you get both of those.”

All four winemakers agreed they’ve spent a career watching the weather. With temperatures rising, watching the thermometer is fine but more adjustments in  winemaking will be necessary as well.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This feature store first appeared in Madison Magazine – a niche publication of the Anderson Herald Bulletin. Contact these wineries through the links embedded to buy their wines.

Small wineries just can’t charge big price

16 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by in Oregon

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Smaller Oregon wine producers feel some pressures to keep their wines moderately priced. While some of the better known Willamette Valley wineries are pushing the ceiling of $100 a bottle and beyond, the smaller producers don’t want to gouge their base customers.

Domaine Serene with its bevy of awards and media accolades has several bottles over $100. A top bottling at wineries such as Beaux Freres, Bergstrom, and many others have a bottle or several selling at $100 or more.

The smaller producers struggle with distribution because they simply don’t make enough wine to sell in multiple states. They like staying in the $35-$60 or $70 range so wines are affordable for club members and through their tasting rooms.

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Bailey

“The competition really hasn’t been price competition,” said Wayne Bailey, owner at Youngberg Hill Winery. “It’s been beneficial (to be moderate in price) in that it’s made a whole lot more Willamette Valley Pinot available for people to try.

“We’re such a small piece of the pie. Pinot is only 5% of what is sold in the US. The valley produces one-hundredth of one percent of all Pinot grown in the country.”

Bailey has an entry-level Pinot for $35.

Price discussions have to include increases and on some occasions decreases for some producers. “We talk about price in both directions,” said David Bellows, winemaker at Vidon Vineyards. “Don is resistant to raising prices. We’ve had people come in and say ‘your wine should be more expensive.’ We have a hard time selling what we make.”

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Bellows

Don Hagge’s Vidon has sold wine at wholesale prices to internet sites which provide instant income and cash flow. Vidon’s signature 3-Clones wine, his lowest priced bottle, sells for $45 at the winery.

Bailey points out that there is lots of market research showing people east of the Rocky Mountains want  Willamette Valley Pinot but they can’t find it. The exception, he notes, is big producers. He adds that the small producers can open up a much bigger world to Pinot fans but they may have to search for smaller-production labels or come visit.

The backbone of these winery’s income is direct sales out of their tasting rooms and wine club memberships. “Some of our pricing reflects that,” said General Manager and Winemaker Tom Fitzpatrick, Alloro Vineyards.

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Fitzpatrick

“We want to be accessible. We don’t want to be where no one could buy them. Even our estate Pinot Noir ($40 SRP), which is the lowest price point of the three we make on the property, is not a lower tier wine. We focus our winemaking on producing the very best wine we can make.

But Fitzpatrick states the obvious that the sales have to support the winery. The estate Pinot was bumped from $35 in 2017 for the first time since the winery opened its doors.

Tasting these wines: A side note, I tasted all of these wineries wines twice in 2018. I received samples early in the year I shared with wine drinking friends solicited their opinions. I visited these producers in October. The wines easily hold up to or surpass the bigger Oregon names you may know. Reach out to the wineries, I’ve linked each site, to see if they can ship directly to you.

Fun comparing small-production Pinot

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Oregon, Uncategorized

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There are lots of ways to enjoy wine with friends but when you want to add some twists and turns put the wines in a paper bag and try to identify or rank them.

Try a night of all one varietal or from different growing region. My small wine group, frequently referenced on this blog, has played about every wine game in the book and made a few others up.

Back in December three of us tasted three, small production, Oregon Pinot Noirs and ranked them. All three wines were from the much-praised 2014 vintage. Youngberg Hill‘s Natasha Block, Ghost Hill’s Prospector’s Reserve, and Alloro‘s Estate Riservata were the three Pinot Noirs. Alloro was our favorite. Here is that blog post.

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Tom Fitzpatrick, Alloro

All three tasters that night were pretty experienced wine drinkers and big Pinot fans. We repeated the exercise April 8 with a group of 8 regular wine drinkers. We had three wines from the same wineries but different bottlings: Youngberg Hill Jordan Block, $50, 87 pts Wine Spectator; Ghost Hill Bayliss-Bower Pinot, $42, 91 pts Wine Spectator; and Alloro Vineyards Estate, $35, 93 pts Wine Spectator. The marketing firm had sent me an additional small-production wine, Lenne Estate’s whereI have previously visited. We included the Lenne Estate Pinot, $45, 92 pts Wine Enthusiast, in our Sunday night tasting.

 

These four wines represented the Willamette Valley AVAs McMinnville, Yamhill-Carlton, and Chehalem Mountains.

We tasted the four wines, and made comment, in a random order. Then we reversed order and tasted again. I would describe the group as three very serious wine drinkers, including myself, who have consumed their share of Oregon Pinot, two more guys who have tasted great Oregon Pinot but probably not quite as geeky, and three guys who are new to the geeky side of wine.

We ranked the wines simply by personal palate preference. Lenne was a strong new entry to this round. When all was said and done, our bigger group picked Alloro as the clear cut favorite for the second time in a row. I might add the four new tasters didn’t know the results from our first effort. And another note, as the wine writer here, I agreed with the ranking both times. But it was tougher this last batch

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Steve Lutz, Lenne

Alloro and Lenne were the picks with seven winos picking one or the other as the best with Alloro having a fairly sizeable margin of victory. Ghost Hill picked up one first-place vote. Youngberg Hill was one of the wines most debated.

 

There are a couple points to be made here. First, my palate or any of my friends’ palates have nothing to do with your wine choices. If you like it, it’s great wine. But we all rely on recommendations, particularly from friends. Second, these are small to very small production wines and are not easy to find outside of Oregon with a few exceptions.

The bigger point might be if you travel to any wine country leave time on your schedule to seek out a few of the really small wineries. You’ll find great choices and those little guys really appreciate your business. Most personnel tasting room employees are anxious to share recommendations. I’ve found some great wine by asking “who else should I go see?’ in Oregon and Napa.

BLOGGER’S NOTE: I’ll have comment from all four of these winemakers, plus Vidon Vineyard’s Don Hagge, in a couple of upcoming newspaper columns. Of course, those columns are always posted here as well.