2017 Washington State Vintage

The season is documented here through press reporting rather than a grower body vintage overview, and every step below carries the outlet that recorded it. Wine Spectator reported a cool, wet winter followed by a cool spring, which put budbreak behind historical averages and significantly behind the recent warm vintages of 2013 through 2015. Bloom, per the same report, was also slightly delayed. Early summer brought average temperatures to the Columbia Valley, then July and August ran above average, and Wine Spectator noted that heat accumulation for the season ended up a bit above average despite the cool start. The wildfire picture arrived in July. Wine Spectator reported that wildfire season started that month and lasted for months, burning hundreds of thousands of acres in Washington and Oregon and blanketing Seattle and Portland in smoke and ash, with flames coming within a few miles of some vineyards but inflicting no damage on them. Harvest began on schedule. What changed the finish was the second half of September, when Wine Spectator reported temperatures cooled considerably, delaying ripening and extending hang time, and picking stretched into the first week of November. Northwest Wine Report's Sean P. Sullivan, writing in retrospect, summarized 2017 as relatively warm overall but with a very cool start and also a very cool finish. No tonnage or yield figure for the 2017 Washington crop was located in either source, so none is given here.

• Wine Spectator: cool, wet winter and cool spring, with budbreak behind historical averages and well behind 2013 to 2015
• Wine Spectator: bloom slightly delayed
• Wine Spectator: average early summer in the Columbia Valley, then above-average July and August, leaving season heat accumulation a bit above average
• Wine Spectator: wildfire season started in July 2017 and lasted months, with flames within a few miles of some vineyards but no vineyard damage
• Wine Spectator: harvest began on schedule, then the second half of September cooled considerably and pushed picking into the first week of November
• No 2017 Washington tonnage figure was located in the sources consulted

Smoke was the season's open question rather than its verdict. Wine Spectator reported that plumes lingered over vineyards in the Columbia Gorge AVA during veraison, the point at which grapes change color, prompting extra precautions there, and that there were scattered reports of smoke taint in some areas. The same report held that Washington's largest growing region, the Columbia Valley, dodged the worst of the smoke. Wine Spectator also reported no indication that smoke influenced the finished wines, despite vintner concern about the wildfires burning in central and eastern Washington through the summer.

• Wine Spectator: smoke plumes lingered over Columbia Gorge AVA vineyards during veraison, prompting extra precautions
• Wine Spectator: scattered reports of smoke taint in some areas
• Wine Spectator: the Columbia Valley, the largest growing region, dodged the worst of the smoke
• Wine Spectator: no reports that smoke influenced the finished wines, despite vintner concern during the season

Both outlets landed on the same structural read. Wine Spectator reported that sugars were slightly down in 2017 while acid levels were up, and that the wines combined the richness of fruit that Washington's warm summers deliver with heightened acidity compared to many recent years. Sean P. Sullivan of Northwest Wine Report, revisiting the vintage later, described the same combination of richness and elevated acidity, said the whites were among the best of his career covering Washington wine, and pointed to reds with notable aging potential, citing the 2017 reds from L'Ecole No. 41 as an example. Neither source consulted offered drinking windows or cellaring guidance, so none are given here.

• Wine Spectator: sugars slightly down and acid levels up versus recent years
• Wine Spectator: richness of fruit from a warm summer alongside heightened acidity
• Northwest Wine Report's Sean P. Sullivan: whites among the best of his career covering Washington wine
• Northwest Wine Report: reds with notable aging potential, citing L'Ecole No. 41's 2017 reds
• No drinking windows were offered by either source consulted