24 Oregon, 25 Washington, 26 New York

Question 1

Describe

Oregon Climate Soil Vineyard

Answer 1

W of Cascade Mountains just inland from Pacific

• Cool/mod - Cool breezes from Pacific Ocean cold currents
• Hi rain – most in winter grow season = dry
• Long day hours summer autumn = long ripening season
• Dry, warm sunny days cool nights – >> for Pinot Noir

Soil

• Free drain, marine sediment /volcano & loess
• e.g. Dundee Hills - are volcanic hills runnin N-S with EW ridges for growing

Vineyard

• Dry + wind = low dis pressure & sustainable farm practices (+-50% cert)
• Varieties PN, CH and (PG becoming less pop)
• Clonal selection is a thing for suiting the grow env. – both PN and CH
• (local [Wadenswil, Pommard]+ Dijon which ripens earlier) some producers mix; others use 1 clone
• BUT climate change – Dijon ripening toooo early -so back to the California clones

Question 2

3 factors contributing to successful viticulture in Oregon.

Answer 2

• Long sunny days, cool summers long autumn, and mild winters.
• Protection from maritime influence by Coastal Range.
• Cool, temperate climate provided by being in a valley, Coastal Range to the west, Cascades to the East.

Question 3

Describe

Oregon Typ Winemaking

Answer 3

Winemaking

• Pop: whole bunch, ambient yeast, experim with vessles e.g. amphorae

Styles

• PN: Most mat in oak, use of new – decreasing
  
  • m+ acid, m/m+ tann, often hi alc
  • range of flav red cherry/rasperry>>black cherry plum (G to OS , prem – sprem)
• PG: dry, off dry trend to dry. Cool ferm SS fruity.
  
  • Skin cont, old barrels, lees for compl+text. m/f body, m/m+ acid, pear, peach, melon.
  • Age -honey, melon. G/vg m price
• CH: m+ acidity, m+body, lemon, peach.
  
  • whB press, ferm+mat in oak (most old). Full malo + lees for flav, text

NO LEES STIRRING to get struck match aroma (sulfur comp) g/vg, up to prem price.

Question 4

Describe Willamette Valley

Answer 4

Willamette Valley AVA – 80% PN ~ 70% Oregon’s vineyards

• Coast range to west – some protection
• Cool, wet, winter, warm dry summer long sun hrs
• Diurnal range in grow season hot air up – cold air fm Pacific pulled in – esp in “Van Duzer Corridor AVA”
• Low humidity, temps fall quickly
• no irrig – prohib from irrig with river water
• build dams to collect winter rain
• soil allows dry farming some areas
• Valley floor fertile loam -good for PG,but PN too vig needs Scot Henry to manage
• Higher – volcanic basalt, loess less fertile , cordon or guyot + vsp

Question 5

Describe Dundee Hills

Answer 5

Dundee Hills AVA most well known (part of Willamette)

• Volcanic hills N-S with E-W ridges
• Pinot Noir grows 30m above valley floor to alt 350masl (diurnal range)
• Coastal range(W) and Chahalem Mntns (N) prot fm cold wet weather ensuring PN ripens
• Red, iron rich clay stores water, avoid stomata shut down, ripens grapes

Question 6

Describe Southern Oregon

Answer 6

Southern Oregon AVA ~25% Oregon’s vineyards

• warmer** than Willamette but diurnal range from alt and funneled through river valleys
• mix soils – sediment, volcanic, clay – hold water, while alluvial soils free drain
• irrig essential – permitted with water fm river for RANCHERS
• PN (40%), PG, Syrah, Tempranillo (!)
• Where no irrigation is permitted Rhone varieties are dry farmed

Question 7

Describe Oregon Wine Law / Market Structure

Answer 7

• Wine Law
• 100% grapes from Oregon State, 95% from appellation
• Multi-state >> 100% from two states
• Variety on label = 90% in bottle (CA = 75%)
• “Estate Bottled” = 100% grown in winery’s AVA & finished on estate
• Small fam owned wineries <5000 case/yr

25% BtC, 16% Retail, Hosp, 60% USA, 2.5% exp CA UK JA

Question 8

What does it do…. affect of wind, particularly on this side of the USA close to the cold Pacific - but refers to other similar also!

Answer 8

What does the Wind Do?

• EArly in season – disrupt fl & fr set – lowers yields
• Later – cause stomata to shut down and slow ripening
• Cool wind slows ripening process, helps retain acid, slow sugar accum, while flav and aroma develop
• Reduces disease pressure.

Question 9

Describe

Washington Grow Env, & Soil

Answer 9

Grow Env, Vineyards (essentially describes Columbia Valley ~90% of Washington Vineyards)

• East of Cascade Mountains > prot from Pacific weather, create dry(arid) warm cond (climate change is a concern – cooler sites being sought)
• (Puget Sound is west of… cool, wet) - small plts
• Continental clim, hot summer rapid cooling in autumn
• Sugar accum fast in grow season, cool autum allows phenolic ripening to catch up – long grow season
• Long sun hours ~ sugar accum & good ripening >> hi alc
• High diurnal – acid retention
• Low rain (Cascade rain shadow)
• Irrig from Columbia river/aquifers – most drip
• Cold winter > winter freez, spring frost biggest hazards (frost drains off slopes)
• sandy soil = no phyll threat, ungrafted vines
• Main var CS, Mer, CH, Ries, Syr

Soil

• Complex, basalt bedrock, sand, silt, loess, allluvial on top
• Ridges of basalt rise to surfact create slopes, + aspect + alt
• Majority of vineyards in the Columbia Valley AVA

Question 10

Describe

Washington Var, Wmaking, AVA’s

Answer 10

Var & Winemaking

• CS 26%, Mer = CH = Ries 18% and 8% Syr
• Most hi alc,m/m+ acid
• oftne hi % new oak – some using old/large esp for Syr
• Ries > off-dry recently more dry / sweet > ferm in SS standard
• (techniques such as skin cont, amb yeast, lees, old oak for character)

Columbia Valley

• Columbia Valley AVA – 99% of VY Plantings
• CS most. Also Mer, CH, Ries, Syrah

Yakima – has many cool sites

• CH, then CS.

Red Mountain – warmest, poor soils, irrig, low yields, high conc

• Black dom > CS (ripe, hi alc, f body, diurnal >> hi acid)

Walla Walla > shared with Oregon

• Plantings on Blue Mntn foothills alt 600m (does not drain frost >> hazard)
• East cool and wet
• West warm dry
• >> diff var
  
  • CS, Mer, Syr , Cab Franc, Malbec
  • CH, Viognier

Business

• 2nd biggest US producer after California.
• Over last 40 yrs from Riesling to Bdx and Rhone var.
• Over last 20 yrs 10x number of wineries and 2x ha under vine
• St Michelle Wine Estates dom the market approx 50% of prod
• Most sold in state , cellar door nb rtm - some in Seattle tb close to customers

Question 11

Describe

New York Grow Env, Law

Answer 11

Finger Lakes area

• Sits below Lake Ontario (CA border)
• Cont climate, warm summer cold winter
• Extremely deep 5 lakes some fail to freeze in winter
• Most plantings on surroundling slopes – cold air, frost drains. Low down it warms up and rises sucks more cold air down…. draining the frost
• Moderates by cooling temps in spring – delay budburst, reduce risk of frost
• Keeps warmer in autumn extends growing seasong
• Creates lake snow in winter to protect vines, prod also hill up to above the graft.
• Warm cond, and adeq rain - planting is low density (large vine)
• Scot Henry splits canopy > exposure to light, circ air, prevent fungal disease
• In winter vines “hilled up” above graft for protection
• Riesling and CF both withstand the winter, CF can ripen despite cold temps

Wine Law

• AVA on label – 85% from the design area
• Vintage – 95%
• Variety – 75%

Question 12

Describe

New York Ries, CF Winemaking

Answer 12

Ries Winemaking

• Different styles – dry to sweet
  
  • hi acid, m- to m body, fresh apple, lemon, peach
  • Low to med alc dep on style
  • Protective cool SS
• Some use cold soak few hours before press for flav, text
• some keep on lees after for texture.
• Sweeter styles – LH, BBR, or int ferm. VG to OS

CF Winemaking

• Mid ripe, winter hardy
• WM – less oak than in the past, more FR or Hungarian (more subtle than US)
• Most make one style unoaked.
• m-/m body, m-/m tannin, red cherry, cranberry, bl plum, sometimes herb.
• G/VG

Vidal used for icewine.

Question 13

Describe

Long Island AVA

Answer 13

Long Island

from Manhattan East to Atlantic Ocean

• Surrounded by water – water keeps VY warm well into Autumn allows Bordeax var esp Mer to ripen.
• Also CH and SB.
• Very wet, maritime. high humidity– fungal disease !!
  
  • Spray, leaf removal, sorting to manage

Winemaking -Standard winemaking approaches here

• Mer, CS, CF are made as single var /blends
  
  • Reds matured in Oak (FR or HU), some new oak for clove in the Bord var.
• CH - unoaked, oaked
• PG, Ries, SB - protective SS