DUNDEE, Ore — The Oregon grape harvest of 2024 will go down as a spectacular year with great weather and ideal picking conditions.
The head winemaker at NW Wine Company in Dundee called it a perfect year since they haven’t had to adjust any of the wine before barreling.
“The hardest decision,” said winemaker Ann Sery, “was to wait and be patient — and not pick too early.”
Sery said crews were able to harvest the grapes at the most opportune time since rain at the end of the growing season didn’t force their decisions.
Often, Oregon’s rainy Septembers and Octobers force them to process grapes before disease or bloat affects the grapes.
“From the color extraction, to tannin extraction, to body, to mouthfeel, we truly have just a couple weeks to make the wine,” Sery said.
A large vat of mechanically picked pinot noir grapes came into NW Wine Company Monday morning. The winemaking crew expects its final vat Tuesday.
Sery explained some grapes are picked by hand for higher-end specialty wines. Less expensive wines, created at the custom crush facility, are often made from mechanically picked grapes.
“A lot of times, people think harvest is picking clusters by hand, but it’s very much a process you see everywhere,” Sery explained, discussing how winemakers in Europe rely on mechanical picking more than winemakers in the United States.
Mechanical picking involves a “harvester” driven through the vines with robotic “fingers” to shake the grapes from the vines. The grapes are brought to the winery in massive vats which can be processed much more quickly than smaller bins.
Family-run and other smaller wineries often rely on the more traditional method of grape harvesting by bins. Pickers load their buckets of grapes into the bins, which are then trucked back to wineries for processing.
For nicer wines, Sery said they like to keep the vineyard blocks separate, so they can identify certain characteristics and flavors from different vineyards and clones.
Based on her recent tastings, Sery said, this will be a fabulous vintage.
“So far, it’s one of the most concentrated and elegant vintages we’ve had in a long time.”
The juice and grape skins sit in the tanks for a couple weeks for the wine to develop color and begin the fermenting process.
Workers spent time Monday “punching down” the skins by hand, or by mechanical arm, from the top of the tanks. Once the liquid is drained, the crew shovels and sweeps the grape skins out of the tanks for pressing.
The “emptying of the tanks” is a favorite end-of-season activity for the crew. Everyone climbs inside for a turn.
“It’s good exercise,” Sery said. “It smells good and keeps us connected to the product.”
Oregon winemakers have faced multiple challenges in recent years. Fires in 2020, and earlier years in southern Oregon, tainted vineyards with smoke particles. Some wineries lost their entire crops to smoke damage.
Since the pandemic, the wine industry is also facing lagging sales and decreased interest from young adults.
NW Wine Company’s new chief operating officer, Robert Moshier, said the emphasis needs to be on Oregon’s world-class pinot noir and moderation.
“What we’re experiencing now is the buildup and whiplash from what went on in 2020,” Moshier said. “Consumers also feel the squeeze of inflation and high rates, especially small businesses."
Moshier said winemakers are well-positioned for a rebound, but it may take some adjustments.
“Oregon is all about exploration,” he said, in reference to responding to younger generations' more moderate interest in drinking. “Wine will find its place at dinner … at celebrations."
For those who make the wines, the harvest may be over, but the winemaking process is only beginning. Sery and the other three winemakers have a big list.
“Maybe 60 or 65 types of wines, and for each of them, even more in that label,” Sery said.
Wines which are expected to be fermenting in the facility’s 4,000 wood barrels by the Thanksgiving holiday.