Riesling Rules Book » It’s the grapes, stupid!

GDD 2011 coming back – feeling good

Nicolas — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:33:30 +0000

Just a quick note to display my gratitude to the sun god for giving us a great end of August. GDD are catching up with last year and last year saw a disastrous September which so far does not look like a repeat this year. We might have a great vintage on our hands…..

Projected Washington State grape harvest 2011

Nicolas — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:26:30 +0000

As we are entering the final stretch of the grape growing season, the growers and wineries of Washington State have published their projected harvest numbers. Below are the top key points:

Total estimated crop is 20% below last year due to a freeze kill this winter – 128K tons vs 160K tons in 2010 – this is the equivalent of 1.8M cases
Red are more affected than whites – reds down 26%, whites down 8%
Among reds, major loser is Cabernet Sauvignon (-39%) and all major red varietals are down
Among whites, major loser is Chardonnay (-17%) and somewhat Riesling (-13%). Pinot Gris is actually projected a good 20% above 2010 due to speculative planting putting pressure on Pinot Gris prices
Looking at the future, 2012 could be as high as 176K tons, 10% higher than 2010 – so there is no long term shortage

Overall this is a pretty decent projection. We should not see any major shortage except Cabernet Sauvignon. If the weather stays above 90F until mid-September we could actually have a stellar vintage with low crop and mild temperatures -> Perfect!

2010 vintage: what did we make out of it?

Nicolas — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:18:52 +0000

Let me remember 2010…

A cool growing season

My first harvest in Washington was 1998 (5^th warmest season on record ) and if you take out 1999 (The 4^th coolest season), it has been the coolest season in many years. The seventies and mid-eighties were very cool years as well but really for the past 20 years we have been used to 2,400 GDD (Growing Degree Days) every year. Well, not 2010. We had to go through a cold early spring and really a uber cool end of season – it almost felt like Burgundy at times. A cool season like 2010 brings its load of challenges in the vineyard especially late ripening, low maturity, low yields and potential for rot.

Winemaking to the rescue

The challenges the season brought us had to be dealt with at the winery, this is what they call a “winemaker’s vintage” – aka I will not sleep for 60 days and chew my fingernails to the bone. In challenging vintages, such as 2010, the trick is to accept that there will be compromises and to choose them carefully. The first compromise we made was to bring some fruit below optimal ripeness and avoid having to pick everything at once (it is challenging to bring too much fruit too fast). The second compromise we’ve made was to accept grapes with far higher noble rot levels than we usually do. The third one was to pick almost exclusively on acid level – we would pick once the acid level would go right below “deadly”. Still this was not enough to get away with such a cool season. We had to get out a few tricks out of our Magic Riesling Compendium book namely leaving grapes on cold soak to enrich the juices in potassium (thereby dropping some tartaric acid out of the wine), selectively de-acidify some lots, decide to not make any dry styles from the 2010 harvest and separate lots with higher botrytis levels for Sweet Riesling.

The wines we’ve made

Now we are just releasing the wines we’ve made from the 2010 vintage. They have in common a great high acidity, some level of noble rot (think about waxy, complexing aromas and flavors) and overall a tid bit more sugar than usual to rebalance the extra acid (and of course de facto lower alcohols). Below is a list of the wine we’ve made in 2010:

- Riesling “Phoenix”: This is our Johannesburg style. We left a tid bit more sugar than usual to rebalance the wine (2.8% instead of 2.5%). Surprisingly close to the 2009 with some added acidity

- Sweet Riesling: OK, this is a very very nice sweet Riesling; it has about the same sugar than usual (7%) but has a layer of botrytis that I have been fighting to get for years. I would say about 20% noble rot.

- Riesling Made from organic Grapes: Watch out, this is our best to date (our first vintage was 1998). With a great natural acidity and the slightly above normal sugar level (3.8%) this is a very pure and somewhat crystalline Riesling – very different in the lineup and very cool.

- Vin De Glaciere – Wallula Vineyard – Made From organic Grapes: A new twist on our quintessential VDG. Now it is made from Wallula so it can carry an organic certification. It was a bit of a challenge to make a dessert wine organically but boy it paid off. Note the 8.5% alcohol on this wine (16% Residual Sugar), it is a great wine in a 375ml bottle.

- Sparkling Sweet Riesling: Well, when you can’t make a dry Riesling, you make a sweet one! That is what the Germans do and what we did. A new bubbly in the lineup dosed at 7% RS – think Sweet Riesling with bubbles

- Solstice Vineyard Riesling: We’ve just bottled this one. It has been a fantastic wine so far though it needs a bit of bottle age. It ended up drier than in past year – this is the acid monster for those of us that like that with total acidity of 0.93 and Residual Sugar of 0.93. This is the wine of legends

- Wallula Vineyard Riesling Biodynamic: This is a very interesting wine because we did not get the sugar we usually do at Wallula. We kept the sugar at around 1.1% as usual but the alcohol is 11.9%. This wine as usual is the best true read on the vintage – untouched from the vineyard to the bottle

- Gewurztraminer: This is one varietal that fared well in 2010. Great concentration, very aromatic vintage and the best for us since 2008 probably (mmm 2008 was cooler too, may be a correlation?)

- Framboise: A short harvest in 2010 though quite flavorful. Intense berry flavors, the only problem is that we did not make enough!

The wrap up

In retrospect, 2010 was a great year for Riesling producers – as long as you focused on sweeter styles save a few sites like Solstice. The only thing I wish is that our yields could have been higher and our quantities available larger. I probably lost way too much sleep on this vintage and lost a couple years of life expectancy – which I can regain by drinking additional Riesling every day in 2011. Please expect high acids in 2010 and trust that we did balance everything out with about 10% more sugar than usual. Enjoy the touch of botrytis on the wines, especially in the Sweet Riesling. Have fun with the results of a challenging vintage, meanwhile we are preparing for an equally challenging 2011 vintage (2011 is so far cooler than 2010!).

Cold cold – where are the warm days?

Nicolas — Wed, 11 May 2011 20:26:27 +0000

Quick update on the growing season (or lack of growing season one might say). The cold weather on the West coast is affecting the Columbia Valley and right now the vine growth is pretty anemic. Check out the growing degree day chart below:

2011 is not even off the ground – 10 degree days total – ouch. We need to see the temperature kick off a bit soon – please? Added to our temperature worries, many vineyards were hit by frost this winter and some vineyards were nailed pretty badly (none of ours apparently -there is a watchful angel for Riesling producers). The combo of winter damage and aa anemic growing season right now will make for a rocky vintage – we can still catch up of course if finally the weather starts cooperating.

2010 one of the coolest year on record for Washington?

Nicolas — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:18:01 +0000

Quick post to show you the last 41 years of cumulative GDD data (Yakima Valley) that I got today:

Year	Cum GDD (ºF)
1984	2,232
1971	2,240
1975	2,240
1999	2,244
1980	2,247
1983	2,271
1976	2,272
1970	2,324
1974	2,326
1978	2,352
1981	2,354
1993	2,367
1996	2,368
1982	2,370
1973	2,406
2008	2,418
1972	2,442
1995	2,475
2007	2,488
2000	2,492
2002	2,526
1977	2,551
1989	2,560
1997	2,568
2001	2,619
1986	2,632
1991	2,645
1985	2,653
2005	2,653
2006	2,660
2009	2,663
1979	2,739
1988	2,751
2004	2,778
1994	2,806
1998	2,877
1990	2,884
1992	2,900
2003	2,910
1987	2,979

Exciting table, no? The warmest years were 1987, 2003, 1992, 1990 and 1998. The coolest were 1984, 1971, 1975, 1999 and 1980. Right now we are trailing slightly behind 1999 so we could have the coldest year on record. What does that mean for quality? Well, it will really depends of night time temperature I believe. If we can hang our fruit without a night time frost for another 5 to 6 weeks, we will have a great vintage like 1999. If not, we will have a repeat of 1984 which, I have heard, was a disaster.

First look at crop size

Nicolas — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:08:20 +0000

Now is the time to look at yields and estimate the size of the harvest. We are practically done estimating at Pacific Rim and we think we will have a normal yield with some vineyards affected with some shatter (shatter = less berries per cluster due to bad fruit set). All in all we are happy with the size of harvest and the cooler weather which will probably delay harvest 8 to 12 days.

I have also received today a crop estimation from the Washington Association of Grape Grower (hence the post) and it confirms the delay in ripening due to cool weather. The current estimate for total crop for Washington is 156,000 tons (10 million cases) which would be flat to slightly up vs actual 2009 harvest. Chardonnay would still be #1, Riesling #2, Merlot #3 and Cabernet #4. All top four varietal would be slightly down except Merlot (be ready for some cheap Merlot out there!). Major growth in volume is projected to come from Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah (Syrah is struggling in the market place, so expect bit of oversupply) and Cabernet franc (what in heaven is going on with Cab Franc +1,500 tons?).

Pacific Rim grape sourcing 2010: the facts

Nicolas — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:20:54 +0000

Harvest is approching and it is time for us to look at our grapes sourcing and make sure all is in balance (i.e. we have just enough of everything for each wine we make). Below is a synopsis of what harvest will look like for us:

- 3,181 tons of grapes or 203,000 cases of wines – our largest harvest yet

- 92.2% Riesling, 97.1% White grapes (Gewurzt and Chenin). We have a little Gamay coming this year (plus our usual Barbeara, Sangiovese and Primitivo blend)

- 1/3 of our Riesling from Wallula 2/3 from the lower Yakima Valley

Next week I will be touring all our blocks to confirm quality and volume. Ready, set, Go!

A cool spring in the Northwest

Nicolas — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:45:42 +0000

Spring should almost be over on the West coast of the United States but we are witnessing a fairly cool 2010 influenced by the infamous El Nino slowing down our growing season – this is a particularly good thing for us Riesling producers (we like cool germanic weather). Physiologically our vines are now blooming and we are probably about two weeks behind a normal season – This is also great for Riesling because delayed maturity promote long hang time and long hang time = better flavor development. I still expect harvest to be starting in 14 weeks or so.

Below is the GDD chart (for more on GDD http://rieslingrules.com/the_book/winemakers-blog/vineyards/2009-vineyard-update/ - you will also see the 2009 chart in comparison)

Ancient lava flows from Eastern Washington

Nicolas — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:42:26 +0000

From the tri-city herald — Lava flows that helped shape the sprawling Columbia River Plateau occurred faster than geologists previously believed and likely contributed to massive climate changes, said a Washington State University researcher.

Steve Reidel, research professor of geology at WSU Tri-Cities, British researcher Tiffany Barry and others studied so-called Grande Ronde basalt lavas in the plateau region, which covers much of eastern and central Washington, northeastern Oregon and parts of western Idaho.

Their studies indicate the Grande Ronde flows, which include at least 66 percent of the basalt in the Columbia River plateau, occurred over a period of about 420,000 years and between 15.6 million and 16 million years ago.

That’s faster than what geologists previously believed. And at least 110 eruptions occurred during that time frame, according to a paper Reidel co-authored with Barry for the international geological journal Lithos.

The researchers said the frequency and size of the eruptions likely had a widespread impact on the environment. Just one of the lava flows could have covered much of Washington with nearly 10,000 cubic kilometers of lava, which is about 10,000 times the volume of ash produced by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, according to WSU.

“We realize with the eruptions of these basalts that there was a lot of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and chlorine that went into the air that had big environmental consequences,” Reidel said.

A single flow could have been as hot as 2,000 degrees and could have taken up to 50 years to cool. Reidel said that could have created monsoon rains in the Northwest and emitted plenty of heat and sulfur to alter the climate.

One result could have been the extinction of some plants and animals that lived at the time, although there has been little fossil evidence uncovered from lava flows to date aside from petrified wood.

“People are now starting to look for extinctions in the rock of this period in the Pacific Northwest,” Reidel said

Reidel said the flows likely were slow-moving enough for animals to outrun it and escape to higher ground in the Blue Mountains or Cascades.

“This was a golden age for horses, but there haven’t been any fossils found yet,” he said. “Petrified wood couldn’t run, but horses could.”

The belief that species were extinguished is based on evidence from other lava flows that occurred in the world millions of years ago, Reidel said.

For instance, a large extinction occurred during the end of the Triassic Period about 200 million years ago that coincided with lava flows coming from what is now northeastern South America and eastern North America, according to WSU. And gases from lava flows on India’s Deccan plateau initiated a mass extinction about 65 million years ago.

Reidel, who has been studying local rocks for years, and Barry — of Great Britain’s Open University — began collaborating more than five years ago. They got basalt samples from Hanford and outcroppings between Vantage and Lewiston, Idaho.

Grande Ronde basalt lavas were found stacked on each other with little or no accumulation of sediment, suggesting the succession of lava flows occurred quickly geologically, according to the manuscript to be published in Lithos.

Barry also compared argon isotopes in the oldest and deepest levels of the basalt to younger and shallower levels, and used the decay rate of the element to determine the relative ages of the rock.

Measurements of Grande Ronde basalt show it ranged from about 1,640 feet thick in some areas to almost 2.4 miles thick in others, producing enough basalt to sink the earth’s crust and create the Columbia River Plateau, according to the manuscript.

Shake and Spill in Chile

Nicolas — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:09:52 +0000

Obviously one cannot be sad enough for the terrible quake that shook Chile this week. It is all more important to me because the earthquake hit a wine producing region in the middle of their harvest. I just cannot imagine the added chaos at all those wineries. I was listening to my favorite podcast while on my bike ride this morning, and the topic of the amount of wine lost last week in Chile came up: 125 million liters. Once in the office I took my calculator to put that number in prospective, that is 33 million gallons or about 194,000 tons of fruit. Well, that is more grapes that we harvest in Washington in a whole year (we’ve harvested 156,000 tons in Washington in 2009). If that is not enough to put things in prospective, the interviewed person from the Wines of Chile association mentionned that it was “only” 12.5% of the wine they had on hand at that time. We are just a drop in the bucket, aren’t we?