Welcome everybody to my 2010 Harvest Journal! Over the past several years I have posted my thoughts, ideas, photos, gastronomic adventures and other activities surrounding the Bergstrom Wines’ harvest. Harvest is our most sacred time of the year. It is what completes the circle of agricultural work that has been tirelessly and precisely executed since pruning started on January 3rd. After nine months of tending to our vines and soils and environs, and bottling the previous year’s vintage, and travelling all over the United States to show off our wares, it is now time to turn our focus to the new vintage and all that it promises.
It is fun to look back and see what we were doing on which days in past vintage years. And it is even more exciting to look forward to this harvest which is definitely going to be a doozy!
2010 thus far has been cool and wet across the board. 2010 is actually in the running for the coolest vintage-year on record. Compare that with last year’s (2009) hottest year on record and you have yourselves “global weirding.” Last year at this time we were gearing up to bring in our first fruit of the harvest. This year we won’t look to bring in a single grape until the second week of October. That is; if things go as planned, which they never do here in the Willamette Valley. We are currently experiencing wet weather with warm temperatures (high 60’s and low 70’s.) Most of our younger vines are 100% colored up but we have several blocks of Pommard and Wadenswil clone vines in older vineyards that are mostly green at this point. We have dropped crop severely this year, passing through each block twice already and a third pass may be needed. Yields will be low to try and maximize concentration in a challenging year. Will the fruit ripen in time? Will we harvest old vines at all this year? Will this be the greatest or most troublesome vintage in Oregon’s history? Only time will tell. We know from experience that the vintage quality is never written in stone until all of the wine is in the barrels.
But that’s why you are here, and together we will share this vintage and all of its ups and downs as it unfolds. It is surely going to be a wild-ride regardless of the outcome.
The good news is that it is now officially Oregon Chanterelle season, and in this part of the world, you have to roll with the good news. So I am sure that in the coming weeks we will grab our buckets and our rain boots and head to the Oregon coast range for a Chanterelle excursion. There is nothing quite like Oregon Chanterelles and Oregon Pinot Noir; a match truly made in heaven.
Cheers to a great harvest! Cheers to my crew who are eager to begin! And Cheers to you for all of your support!
Here we go.