Winemakers optimistic even with threat of wet fall

People in Oregon’s wine industry are nervously eyeing the sky, and if it doesn’t dry out soon it could be a terrible year for wine. At Bethel Heights Winery, inside they’re bottling their 2008 grapes now. However, like every other Willamette Valley winery, the concern now is over the grapes growing outside.

“The Mother’s ripening her babies now,” said owner Ted Casteel. The trouble is Mother Nature is wreaking havoc in the nursery. A wet spring, and a blip of a summer, mean the “babies” are nowhere near where they should be. However, “it’s too early to do the gloom and doom dance," Casteel said. "I learned a long time ago, you can’t really tell until it’s over.

Casteel knows this year’s grape harvest could go one of two ways. If it stays cool and dry then the vintage could turn out to be fantastic and prices for a bottle would be as expected. But if it stays cold and wet, consumers would have to cellar the bottle for a few years before it’s ready to drink. The upside, however, is a bottle will likely cost less money than it normally would.

If it turns out to be a bad wine year, the owner of Illahee Vineyards – Lowell Ford – said wine buyers will need to be patient with the vintage and give the wine time to mature.

It’s something he said consumers aren’t always good at doing.

“Americans, they want to buy it and drink it right way,” Ford said. “If they can’t pour it when they get home that night – that isn’t the typical.”

If Oregon wine country is lucky, this year’s vintage could end up like 2008’s. Growers were in the same spot then, but the fall stayed dry and thus beautiful “babies” were born.

“08, probably, was the – in my opinion – was the best vintage ever,” Ford said.

If it turns out to be a bad wine year, consumers can expect to see less reserve wine as winemakers focus on making quality table wine over more expensive reserve bottles.