Home | Wine Vintage | 2000
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2000 Harvest Report In 1998, we were blessed with the greatest Pinot noir vintage in Oregon's history. Bloom was so late in 1999, we prepared for a harvest in the rain. The rains never came and 1999 may be better 1998. After these exceptional harvests, I was willing to accept whatever Mother Nature gave me in 2000. Expecting three in a row would be bad karma. I was ready. This would be my first harvest with all my energy focused at St. Innocent. I was on leave from the pediatric office, the wine shop had sold, and Michael Stevenson was in charge at Panther Creek.
The vines budded out normally in April. Things looked good, then we had a significant frost. The bottom half of Shea Vineyard froze and many new shoots died. The Pinot gris was more affected than the Pinot noir block. The lower section of Seven Springs had frost damage, as well as Vitae Spring Vineyard and much of the sparkling Pinot noir at O'Connor Vineyard. We waited to see if the secondaries would push. They did and looked healthy. The problem with secondaries is that they only have half the crop of the primary shoots and are 2-3 weeks delayed in ripening. This means that the grape cluster on those shoots would bloom and potentially ripen at two different times. Managing the vines to get everything ripe would be the challenge of 2000. We needed exceptional weather to make this happen.
Bloom occurred at a very normal June 20th, the set was good, and the rains stopped July 4th. So far, so good. The summer was wonderful. Temperatures never went above 100 degrees and there was no rain for seven weeks. The only problem was some mildew in mid-August. That cleared with several well timed sprays. We received 3" of much need rain at the end of August, a touch again the next weekend, then the sun came out again. Perfect so far. Now the only question was, would the rains hold off long enough for the delayed, frost affected vines to develop flavor. We needed two more weeks. The first grapes, Pinot noir used for our Brut, were picked 9/18. After that, I began visiting the Pinot noir vineyards hoping that we might begin picking a week or so later. The flavors were slow in developing and it was not until 10/3 that we picked the Pinot noir from Shea Vineyard. Somehow the frosted vines had caught up and even surpassed the ripeness of the unaffected vines. The fruit had lovely spicy flavors with thick, richly flavored skins. I was very happy. And still the sun was shinning. On the 4th we picked all the Seven Springs Pinot noir, the Brickhouse Pinot noir, and the Seven Springs Dijon clone Chardonnay. All the Freedom Hill Pinot noir and Dijon clone Chardonnay was picked 10/5. Two days later we picked the Pinot blanc. At that point we had picked 65 tons in 4 days, two-thirds of the total fruit we would harvest in 2000. We were very tired. The only fruit left to pick was the Temperance Hill Pinot noir (usually two weeks later than the rest of the Pinot) and the three Pinot gris vineyards. Everything that the rain could destroy was in. It was a good thing. On 10/9 it started to rain, not much in Salem, but there were thunderstorms 30 miles north in McMinnville. Not willing to tempt fate, we picked both the O'Connor and Vitae Springs Pinot gris before the rain could affect the fruit. Both were beautifully ripe with sugars above 23 brix.
This left two vineyards to pick, Shea Pinot gris and Temperance Hill Pinot noir. Both were healthy and both needed further flavor development. Unfortunately, no sun was predicted. The question was, wait for flavor and risk major rot or pick now and play it safe. I waited. Four agonizing days later we picked both lots. The Shea Pinot gris had gained 2 degrees brix with a big increase in flavor concentration. The Temperance Hill developed darker fruit flavors and was finally ripe. Both came in with no rot.
In the end, the vintage was much better than average. All of the Pinot noirs pressed out with very dark color and concentrated flavors. The whites were picked at the peak of flavor development. We made more Pinot noir, Pinot gris, and Pinot blanc than in any previous year. Best of all, my energies were concentrated at St. Innocent doing what I love - making wine. Thanks, |
