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What a difference a decade makes in Oregon

I just found a couple of great reports on the National Agricultural Statistics Service Web site (does this make me a geek, a procrastinator - or both?). One of them looks at several statistics for Oregon vineyards and wineries for the past decade.

What we see is some startling growth for the United States' fourth-largest wine-producing state.

Examples:

Price per ton: In 1997, a ton of Oregon Pinot Noir cost $1,310, cheaper than Merlot at $1,420. In 2007, Pinot Noir averaged $2,290, while Merlot prices have gone, er, sideways at $1,640.

Acreage: In 1997, there were 7,800 total acres of wine grapes planted in Oregon. Today, there are 17,400. Back in '97, Pinot Noir made up 3,039 acres. Now, it's 9,858 acres.

No. of wineries: In 1997, there were 103 wineries crushing grapes. Last fall, it was 254. I am not exactly sure how to interpret this number because there are way more than 254 wineries. In fact, another report I found indicated there are 370 wineries and 442 labels in Oregon. I suspect the count of 254 wineries is by crush facilities, and a lot of small wineries don't have their own crush pads. Additionally, guys like Laurent Montalieu and Joe Dobbes "consult" for dozens of little wineries. By "consult," I mean they make the wine for the client, bottle it, label it and perhaps even warehouse and distribute it.

Grapes crushed: In 1997, there were 18,669 tons of wine grapes crushed in Oregon. Last fall, it was 37,000 tons. In 1997, there were 7,140 tons of Pinot Noir crushed vs. 20,317 tons last fall. Syrah went from not being counted individually in 1997 to 842 tons crushed in 2007.

Case production: In 1997, Oregon made 827,312 cases of wine. That went up to 1,711,532 cases in 2007 (which is slightly more than half the production of Columbia Crest, just to put things into perspective). In 1997, there were 292,213 cases of Pinot Noir made in Oregon vs. 854,536 in 2007.

Interestingly, the biggest jump was between 2004 and 2005, when production of Pinot Noir increased by 242,586 cases. Hmm. Sideways came out in 2004 and sent American Pinot Noir sales skyrocketing. Hmm. Oregon suddenly made a lot more Pinot Noir. Hmm.

Rise of Pinot Gris, decline of Chardonnay: In 1997, Oregon made 181,956 cases of Chardonnay and 81,634 cases of Pinot Gris. In 2007, it made 83,944 cases of Chardonnay and 310,231 cases of Pinot Gris.

That last statistic is the most staggering of all and deserves closer inspection when I have more time later.

By aperdue at Feb 28 2008 - 12:23am | history | news | Oregon | aperdue's blog | 777 reads

Judge, jury and executioner

So you judged more than 110 of these wines and "all of which" were water ...

I sense that you've discredited yourself by using the term "all." It's difficult for me to believe that someone who claims to enjoy wine and wants to serve as a competition judge would not find at least two or three recommendable wines in a category of that size.

However, I've witnessed the West Coast/New World vs. East Coast/Old World palate on judging panels. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, but eventually we can find some wines that we agree are well made.

I can only assume that when it came to the wineries such as Adelsheim, Bethel Heights, Chehalem, King Estate, Ponzi, Willamette Valley Vintners to name a few -- they ALL decided not to enter that competition.

And maybe Eric Asimov of the New York Times had it ALL wrong when he wrote about Oregon Pinot Gris earlier this winter.

Or perhaps the quality has increased dramaticALLy in the two years since your trip to Oregon.

By Degerman at Sat, 03/01/2008 - 11:49pm | login or register to post comments

Rise of Pinot Gris

The growth in Pinot Gris is a curious thing. A couple years ago I was a wine judge in the commercial division of the Oregon State Fair. One of the most tedious things was tasting over a hundred and ten Oregon Pinot Gris all of which were water white, sulfurous, vaguely fruity and unanimously thin. (Except for one pink one and another redolent with oak.) If I didn't know better I would have guessed Oregon achieved this quick growth by the addition of acidified SO2 water to their existing grape supply. Though I did manage to keep these thoughts to myself I unfortunately stated to the other judges that I thought the State Fair should sponser free trips for Oregon Pinot Gris winemakers to visit Alsace. Curiously, I wasn't invited back and, humorously, Oregon State sent a demand for income tax on the expenses the State Fair paid me for my hotel stay. :)

By wineglut at Thu, 02/28/2008 - 3:07pm | login or register to post comments

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