How the Vines are Shaping Up

Details

After my last blog of July 18, I received the following email from Erica Blue, co-owner (with Tim Blue) of Adams Bench in Woodinville:

 

"It's sure been interesting to see the variation in the fruit set in our various vineyards across the State. Some are boisterously full of shoots and clusters, others are just poking along. We've made a couple of trips now trying to assess the likely load for barrel purchases. Always interesting!"

 

I was thereby inspired to inspect some of the vineyards around Walla Walla. Here's what I found:

 

At Les Collines, south of Walla Walla, just below the foothills of the Blue Mountain, I found fewer than usual and smaller grape clusters, but well spaced and distributed. Further north, however, Pepper Bridge (which was hit hard by the November freeze) showed few clusters, mostly at the bases of the cordons. At the nearby Va Piano Vineyard, the vines were nearly bereft of clusters and much growth had been cut back to prepare for the next growing season.

 

On Saturday, I drove up and around the Blue Mountain Vineyard (Corliss/Tranche) just southeast of Walla Walla. Most vines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) appeared to be healthy with moderately sized bunches hanging under moderate canopy. There, stripping of leaf growth under the canopies was under way to allow optimal maturing of the grapes. Only the lower section of the Sangiovese block showed sparsity of grape growth. A visit to aMaurice, off Mill Creek Road, east of Walla Walla showed small, loose grape clusters.

 

Other sources reported promising outlooks, providing the warm weather holds up through the summer. Brian Rudin (Cadaretta/Buried Cane) told me he saw smaller than normal clusters on looser canopy on Red Mountain, which holds out hope for a smaller, but more concentrated grape harvest. Tero Estates posted pictures on Facebook of beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon vines at the Windrow Vineyard, adjacent to Seven Hills on the Oregon side of the border. So, as I indicated in last week's blog, there is hope for a concentrated, high quality 2011 harvest, except for those areas that were hard hit by freeze.