Waiting, Watching and Worrying – Anticipating a Successful 2022 Harvest

In anticipation of a successful 2022 harvest, a certain degree of waiting, watching and worrying is in process at Three Feathers.

At Three Feathers and Torio Vineyard, we have reached the stage in the grapes development that the fruit is letting us see its potential. Comparing photos from this same day last year, we can see that we are three weeks behind.

Last year at this time, the grape clusters in our Précoce/Madeleine Block had turned fully purple and we harvested September 16th. This year, our early ripening Précoce/Madeleine Block is just beginning to change color – a process called veraison. During veraison, grape color gradually changes from green to purple and this takes about three weeks.

Our grape clusters are just starting to change color as of August 24th – no surprise, as the 2022 Oregon wine growing season has been later than last year – indicating a harvest time in early October.

In addition, the weather has gone from hot and dry to cooler and dry. The coastal mist has come inland to Chehalem Mountains, causing us to have early morning drizzle and heavy dew and at this point we are concerned about molds and fungus. This year’s crop is heavy and dense, so we must thin excessive leaf coverage to ensure proper spray applications for mildew and mold.

We are truly grateful for our steady and hard-working vineyard management crew during this period!

Vigilant and Attentive to the Finish Line

This is all a delicate balance and I am out in the vineyard daily looking for problems and pulling off excess growth. Our plants look terrific and the fruit is abundant so now I just hope that things continue to go well through harvest. 

Fall Harvest Party Wine Tasting Open House

We have decided to hold our Fall Open House a little earlier this year on Sunday, September 25th. Although we may be harvesting at that point, we will hope to avoid rainfall and enjoy the gardens in their fall glory.  We have just bottled our 2021 Cuvée Virginia and 2021 Pinot Madeleine and are thrilled to offer pre-release tastes of these spectacular new wine. We will also be pouring wines that are last chance buys before they sell out; 2018 Blanc de Noir, 2016 Pinot Noir, etc.  We look forward to seeing you then!