2006 Willamette Valley / Oregon Vintage

2006 started the way Oregon growers hope it will. Favorable weather at bloom gave a good berry set, and Eric Lemelson of Lemelson Vineyards told Wine Spectator it was something they had not had in the past few years. From there the season stayed warm and dry with little precipitation. Wine Spectator records only brief heat spikes, in June and September, with warm temperatures otherwise prevailing through summer and fall, and the Willamette Valley Wineries Association notes 2003 was the only vintage in recent times warmer than 2006 as measured by heat unit accumulation. Disease pressure was modest by the association's account and absent by the Oregon Wine Board's. Then, just before harvest, a hot dry wind out of the east caused dehydration at many sites, which pushed both acid and sugar levels up. That is the twist in the year. Sugar readings climbed fast, and some growers panicked at the numbers and picked before the grapes had developed full physiological maturity. Wine Spectator also records cooler and slightly wet conditions arriving across much of the state in late September, just as sugar levels were soaring. The Oregon Wine Board's harvest report, dated November 6, 2006, describes a harvest already largely complete.

• Favorable weather at bloom gave good berry set, per WVWA, the Oregon Wine Board and Wine Spectator
• Warm and dry season with little precipitation; WVWA records only 2003 as warmer in recent times by heat unit accumulation
• Wine Spectator reports only brief heat spikes, in June and September
• Modest disease pressure per WVWA, no disease pressure per the Oregon Wine Board
• A hot, dry eastern wind just before harvest dehydrated fruit at many sites and boosted acid and sugar
• Some growers picked on high sugar readings before full physiological maturity was reached
• Cooler and slightly wet conditions arrived across much of the state in late September as sugars were soaring

After two short harvests, 2006 filled the bins. The Oregon Wine Board reports overall yields well up from 2004 and 2005, where smaller fruit sets and other weather pressures had produced lower than average yields. Matt Novak of Results Partners in McMinnville gave the clearest figure: historical yields in the Willamette Valley had run between two and two and a half tons per acre, and 2006 was looking at about three tons per acre on average. Wine Spectator puts the statewide harvest 15 percent to 20 percent above normal and calls 2006 a boon year for growers and winemakers in Oregon after several years of small crops. Ted Farthing, then executive director of the Oregon Wine Board, called the harvest a rare combination of greater yields and ideal flavor development, and noted it would help restock shelves left empty by a marketplace shortage.

• Yields were well up from 2004 and 2005, both years of smaller fruit sets and weather pressure
• Matt Novak of Results Partners reported about three tons per acre against a two to two and a half ton historical range
• Wine Spectator puts the statewide harvest 15 percent to 20 percent above normal
• Ted Farthing of the Oregon Wine Board called it a rare combination of greater yields and ideal flavor development

The Willamette Valley Wineries Association puts the year down to a rare combination of a plentiful crop, a warm and dry growing season with little precipitation, and modest disease pressure, and describes the wines as rich and hedonistic, with higher than average alcohols common. Harry Peterson-Nedry of Chehalem made the same observation with a caveat, saying sugars and the resulting alcohols were a tad high and required good balancing in winemaking, but that compared to 2003, the only vintage warmer than 2006, the natural balance and flavors were better. He read 2006 as a combination of 1998's ripeness and 1999's depth and three-dimensionality, and called it close to perfect. Dai Crisp of Temperance Hill Vineyard in the Eola Hills AVA, winemaker for Lumos Wines, predicted a stellar year for Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. Wine Spectator graded the Oregon 2006 vintage B+.

• WVWA describes the wines as rich and hedonistic, with higher than average alcohols common
• Harry Peterson-Nedry of Chehalem found sugars and alcohols a tad high but natural balance and flavors better than in 2003
• Peterson-Nedry read 2006 as combining 1998's ripeness with 1999's depth and three-dimensionality, close to perfect
• Dai Crisp of Temperance Hill Vineyard predicted a stellar year for Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc
• Wine Spectator graded the Oregon 2006 vintage B+