Smoke from California and Oregon fires means many grapes will go unpicked.
The Glass Fire that has destroyed 18 wineries so far is the tip of the iceberg, with many producers planning to not pick grapes because of smoke taint. Read more »
Oregon's Grapes: Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir (pronounced PEA-no NWAHR, the grape that produces Burgundy's finest red wines, is one of the hardest to grow. This thin-skinned variety is generally an early budder and ripener, so it is best-suited to cool, marginal climates - 40 to 50 degrees latitude - and only produces good wine when the fruit is controlled to very low yields. It has the problem that it mutates easily and is also particularly susceptible to leaf roll, and to rot because of its compact grape bunches. Pinot has no single recognisable flavour or style. Young Burgundy, however, can be reminiscent of raspberries or strawberries, while mature French Pinot tends to evolve into anything from violets, game and truffle to farmyard aromas and compost. Despite its difficult temperament, Pinot Noir is hardly just a French phenomenon. It crops up in Northern Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Eastern Europe as well as California, Australia, New Zealand and even South Africa and Chile. It�s a successful ingredient for sparkling wine and is one of three grapes used in champagne, bringing good acidity, structure and body. Pinot Noir goes by a long list of names, which include Spatburgunder and Blauburgunder in Germany and Klevner in Switzerland.
Wine Regions for Oregon
- Willamette Valley
Oregon
Key Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
Oregon in America’s Pacific Northwest is perhaps best known to wine lovers for its Pinot Noirs. Wedged between California and Washington, it’s a very different beast to its neighbours, with a more marginal propensity to ripen its grapes. For exactly that reason, some people think Oregon could hit the pinnacle of winemaking in the US as grapes that struggle to ripen achieve more complexity.
Most of Oregon’s vineyards are exposed to the marine influence of the Pacific Ocean, resulting in milder winters but cooler and wetter summers than Washington with frost rarely a problem. With vineyards generally between 250 and 750 feet and the climate varying within the state, it means some 72 grape varieties can be grown, though the focus for winemakers is on 15, which make up 97 per cent of Oregon’s acreage. These, apart from Pinot Noir, are Pinot Gris and Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, Syrah, Gewurztraminer, Viognier, Tempranillo, Muller-Thurgau, Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc.
The Willamette Valley is Oregon’s best-known wine district and also the largest AVA at 150 miles long and up to 60 miles wide. It runs from the Columbia River in Portland south through Salem to the Calapooya Mountains outside Eugene. The area has a temperate climate influenced by its coastal proximity and enjoys more daylight hours during the growing season than any other part of the state. It has six sub-appellations – Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton District and Chehalem Mountains
Southern Oregon, in the southwest, only became an AVA in 2004. It stretches 125 miles from south of Eugene to the California border and is 60 miles at its widest between the Cascade Mountain Range to the east and the Coast Range to the west. It has the state’s oldest history of grape growing, dating back to 1852, the warmest growing conditions in Oregon and encompasses four sub-AVAs – Umpqua Valley (with its sub-appellation Red Hill Douglas County), Rogue Valley and Applegate Valley.
Eastern Oregon has three AVAs, including a small part of the very large Columbia Valley AVA (the area that stretches from The Dalles to Milton-Freewater) and its sub-appellation of the Walla Walla Valley, as well as Snake River Valley.
Finally, just 60 miles east of Portland, is the Columbia Gorge wine region, in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge, a dramatic river corridor straddling the Columbia River for 15 miles into Oregon and Washington. The climate here changes drastically – the west is cooler and more marine-influenced while the east, like generally the Columbia Valley in Oregon, has a continental climate.
Oregon soils aren’t particularly fertile and until the early 1990s most of the vines were planted on their own rootstocks, making phylloxera a worry. Since then, however, new Dijon clones, planted on phylloxera-resistant rootstocks, have become the norm for new plantings and replacements. These lower-yielding, earlier-ripening clones have the potential to produce more complex Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays, which is just what the predominantly small-production wineries want to achieve.