2011 Willamette Valley / Oregon Vintage

Everything in 2011 ran late. The Willamette Valley Wineries Association reports that a very cold spring delayed bud break and then produced the latest bloom in Oregon's history, arriving in early July. The association records the year as the latest and coldest vintage ever recorded in the state at that point, and notes that for four months the vintage looked like a disaster waiting to happen. Capital Press reported that the cool spring and summer together held back sugar accumulation in Oregon Pinot Noir. Summer was the one break growers got. Measured against that cold spring it ran warmer than normal, which built good canopy and kept disease pressure lower than normal through that stretch. The problem was the crop. By late summer vines were carrying very large clusters, often two to three times normal size, and David O'Reilly of Owen Roe told Wine Spectator he feared the fruit would never fully ripen. He bought 1,000 pounds of sugar for chaptalization as insurance and reported afterward that he hardly used any of it. Veraison came in September, and at some sites the grapes were not fully colored until early October. Rain was forecast for late September and early October but, per Wine Spectator, only a few showers arrived. Early October did turn cloudy and wet and disease pressure rose. Then the weather cleared and turned sunny into early November. Sam Tannahill of A to Z Wines and Rex Hill called it an Indian summer, and it is the stretch both the Willamette Valley Wineries Association and Wine Spectator credit with saving the vintage. Most wineries did not start picking until after October 15 and were still picking into the first week of November, the latest harvest on record for most Willamette Valley sites at the time, with most of the fruit brought in under warm, sunny skies. Bird pressure, which had been severe in 2010, was better managed: John Pataccoli of Redhawk Vineyard told Capital Press he lost 20 percent of his 2010 crop to birds against only 3 percent in 2011 after netting and active deterrence. No specific final yield figure for the Willamette Valley against a five-year average was located in the sources for this vintage.

• A very cold spring delayed bud break and pushed bloom to early July, the latest in Oregon's history
• Summer ran warmer than the spring, building good canopy and keeping disease pressure lower than normal through that stretch
• Clusters ran two to three times normal size in late summer, raising real doubts that the crop would ripen
• Veraison in September, with some sites not fully colored until early October
• Cloudy, wet weather in early October raised disease pressure before the weather cleared and turned sunny into early November
• Most wineries started picking after October 15 and were still picking into the first week of November, under warm, sunny skies

The Willamette Valley Wineries Association summarizes 2011 as low sugar, solid acidity and decent flavor development, a combination that gave surprisingly generous wines from the better sites, especially those picked late in October and into early November. Wine Spectator reported that alcohols came in low, about the same as 2010, but that color and flavor depth surprised vintners, and that winemakers informally dubbed it a miracle vintage. Sam Tannahill described the wines as having fine color, great elegance, fantastic depth and moderate alcohol. Alex Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser Winery in Dundee told Capital Press that the cool spring and summer challenged vineyard managers, and credited modern viticulture, aggressive pruning, altered spray timing and rot-prevention work, for letting the winery succeed where an earlier generation might not have. He reported final Brix at harvest running low, typically around 21.5.

• Low sugar, solid acidity and decent flavor development, generous from the better sites picked late October into early November
• Alcohols came in low, about the same as 2010, with unexpected color and flavor depth per Wine Spectator
• Sam Tannahill of A to Z Wines and Rex Hill described fine color, great elegance, fantastic depth and moderate alcohol
• Alex Sokol Blosser reported harvest Brix running low, typically around 21.5

Assessments split. Harry Peterson-Nedry of Chehalem called 2011 one of the top four or five vintages he had seen since 1979, comparing it favorably to 1993, 1998 and 1999, and 2008, in comments reported by both Capital Press and Wine Spectator. Wine Spectator's own Oregon Pinot Noir vintage chart is more cautious, scoring the vintage at 85 with the description that the wines are light, bordering on fragile, and tantalizing if flavorful enough, and listing the drink window status as past peak. Coverage of this vintage is thinner than for the years around it. No dedicated Oregon Wine Board harvest report for 2011 matching the 2010, 2013 and 2014 pattern was locatable, so the account above rests on the Willamette Valley Wineries Association vintage review, Wine Spectator and Capital Press.

• Harry Peterson-Nedry of Chehalem called 2011 one of the top four or five vintages he had seen since 1979
• He compared it favorably to 1993, 1998 and 1999, and 2008
• Wine Spectator's Oregon chart scores the vintage 85, calling the wines light and bordering on fragile, with a past peak drink window
• No dedicated Oregon Wine Board harvest report exists for 2011, so primary coverage of the season is limited