The Wine Knows

I do not pretend to be an expert in viticulture. In fact, I started growing wine grapes in my backyard specifically to learn about and understand the agricultural side of the business. Thus, this post is more of a fact-finding mission than anything else.

Thursday's missive explored one of the primary reasons for Oregon's rising alcohol levels. The simple fact is that Oregon has to crop its Pinot Noir low to get it ripe in normal vintages. The problem is "normal" has been remarkably warmer since 1998 with a couple of exceptions (primarily 2005 and 2007).

As the Washington Wine Commission will tell you, Washington has the perfect climate for making wine. This is my 19th year living in the heart of Washington wine country (after spending my first 23 years of life in rainy Kitsap and Whatcom counties). Personal experience affirms that this is the dry side of the state. We get 5-8 inches of rain per year, most of it between November and April. It is not abnormal to go through all of June, July and August with nary a drop from the heavens.

Getting back to the question of alcohol: Washington growers and winemakers have tremendous control over their fruit. They can spoon out irrigation water. They know what the weather will be like in September and October. Yes, there are variations, but they are extremely small. Thus, it would seem that they would also have greater control over how sugar levels accumulate in those grapes.

I have chatted at length with some of the state's most experienced winemakers, many of whom believe vineyards can carry a higher crop level. While Willamette Valley growers must crop down to two tons per acre to ensure ripeness, Columbia Valley growers generally do not. Yet many do get under four tons per acre. The lower the crop level, the higher the concentration of flavors and sugars, which equals higher alcohols.

We've gotten pretty used to seeing Syrah and Merlot picked on the Red Mountain and Wahluke Slope benches soon after Labor Day, often at sugar levels higher than the optimal 24 brix. In other words, growers are having no problems getting ripeness. Usually, veraison (when grapes start to change color) starts three to four weeks prior and growers do some green thinning (this is when green grapes could be collected for making verjus, but that's a subject for a different time). Thus, many growers are making crop-level decisions in late July and early August.

What would happen if growers and winemakers collectively decided to leave a little more crop on the vines? Instead of three tons per acre, what if they left four tons per acre - and so forth? Wouldn't that mean the grapes could hang longer without accumulating sugars so quickly? Yes, everything would ripen more slowly. That could mean the grapes would gain those complex flavors everything seeks without sugars shooting into the 26-28 brix levels.

Interestingly, Eric Dunham of Dunham Cellars in Walla Walla rarely makes wines over 14% alcohol. Yet his wines are consistently some of the greatest coming out of Washington. He isn't pulling any reverse-osmosis tricks in the cellar to accomplish this. He's simply picking his grapes when the sugars are lower. Is he using higher crop levels? That's a question I need to ask.

It would seem to my simple mind that slightly higher crop levels do two things: They could lower alcohols and provide more money to growers and winemakers.

There is a slight risk/reward in this strategy. If you have a year like 1999, you might not get ripe. That year was relatively cool all summer. By Labor Day, growers weren't sure the grapes would ever ripen. But a long, warm autumn brought a miracle end to the vintage, one with lower alcohols and some of the greatest wines to come out of Washington.

There are few places in the world that could get away with higher crop levels with little to no risk from weather. Washington is one of them.