Stollervineyards's Blog

It’s now very clear that 2011 was a very successful harvest providing us with stellar quality wines. What a waiting game it was. We started our harvest on October 18th, tying by the exact same day as the record for the latest harvest at Stoller vineyards that we set in 2010. Miraculously the weather cooperated and we were able to slowly but steadily bring all our sections of fruit in over a two-week span.
The sugar levels were at an all time low; brix’s for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay averaging 21 across the board with many lower than that.  The alcohol for our 2011 Pinot’s will be under 13 percent, also a record low. Stems were brown, flavors were intense. I think we have what we have always wanted; intense fruit, ample structure, and low alcohol.  I just tasted numerous barrels and am very excited if you can not tell.
The wines are all now in barrel or in tank and we are very pleased with what we have.  We harvested a total of 182 tons of grapes.  154 tons (approximately 8500 cases) of Pinot, 20 tons (1300 cases) of Chardonnay, and 3 tons of Riesling, 3 tons of Tempranillo and 2.2 tons of Syrah. Even the Tempranillo and Syrah came in tasting great and are shaping into lovely wines.
This vintage proves that Pinot Noir loves the cooler temperate growing seasons that Oregon can provide.

International Pinot Noir celebration coordinated the making of this short movie on the Miracle vintage of 2011; I think it sums it up.

http://vimeo.com/33185301

More to come on the wines and also on our plans for growth this year.  Lots of new things on the horizon.

Cheers,

Melissa

Today we started bottling our 4800 case blend of the 2010 JV Pinot Noir.  A perfect bottling day; mid 70′s (nice change from over 100 degrees last year), supplies all here and a solid hard-working crew.   This wine will not see the retail market for another 2 years and will age nicely in the interim.  The 2010 JV Pinot Noir is the style of Pinot I most prefer to drink.  It is restrained.  The nose hints of red fruits wound in earth. The flavors are of berry and some spice, with brightness that is linear throughout the wine.  It is not a heavy, rich, fruity wine however it reveals layers of fruit  in the glass. I am really looking forward to seeing what it will be like in a years time and enjoying it with a nice meal. 

It has been a very similar growing season to last years, the difference is this year has been even cooler.  We experienced bloom in the vineyard over the fourth of July weekend which is approximately 4 weeks later than normal.  The rule of thumb in the vineyard is that harvest will come approximately 100-120 days after bloom occurs so that leads to a late October start for us. Definitely a gamble with the weather.  We made lovely wines in a late season last year so I am ready for a repeat in 2011. 

Across the pond in Burgundy they are anticipating their earliest harvest in history. With months of very warm weather they have grapes with climbing sugars and full color in many sites.  I was lucky enough to visit Burgundy early june and was quite surprised to see clusters in their vineyards with tiny green berries in (much of what we are seeing in our lower plantings currently) while at that time we had not yet much shoot growth.

Ah, the nuances and nuisances  of mother nature.

This weekend is the  IPNC   25th anniversary where winemakers from around come together to pour, discuss and enjoy Pinot Noir.  The ever-changing vintage conditions and the finicky complex nature of this grape  brings people together over the 3 day weekend . I look forward to the inspiration.

Though it might not seem like it, we’ve had just enough sunshine and warmth to signal our vines to leave dormancy and awaken to the coming growing season. Budbreak is upon us, and the vines are starting to grow again. It begins here at Stoller at our lower elevations and slowly moves uphill. 70 degree weather is forecasted for this Sunday, and that should be enough for our season to begin in earnest.

Now that the vines are growing, we have a lot more work to do. We need to begin our powdery mildew prevention program by getting tractors out in the mud and spraying LIVE-approved fungicides. We also need to do manual work as well, “suckering” the vines, which is just removing unwanted growth buds swelling in inopportune places, like on the trunk or too close to another bud. We want the vines to be concentrating their energies growing where we can catch the elongating shoots in our trellis wires and capture the fruit at the end of the season.

Both April and March of this year have set new records for cold and wet weather, and we’re entering our growing season about 7 to 9 days behind the average. This doesn’t mean that with a warm spell we can’t catch up, but all signs at this point to a later-than-average harvest for 2011. If this means that the wines will be as good this year as those made last year, I’m all for these extended winters.

-Rob

Rob was kind enough to give a post this time around on whats happening in the vineyard, he’s a pretty good photographer too!

We have a new member of the team.  We hired Rob Schultz recently to manage our 178 acre and growing vineyard.  We are thrilled to have him dedicated to Stoller vineyards. Rob comes from a viticulture background and has a focused and sustainable mindset for his farming.  He was responsible for several hundred acres of organic and biodynamically farmed vineyards in California prior to moving to Oregon two years ago. He likes to think of farming as working with nature, not against it.  He lives on small farm with his fiancée Ann where they grow veggies and are raising a flock of small sheep that may end up in our vineyard some day. 

We posted a press release today which is here; http://www.winebusiness.com/weather/index.cfm?weatherLocationId=22

Last week I had the opportunity to do and online tasting with Gregory Dal Piaz from Snooth  here at the winery.  He was kind enough to brave the snow storm (luckily he is a seasoned New York driver) and set up in our conference room with his lap top and chat for an hour or so about Stoller wines and other wine topics while several dozen people across the US tasted the wines and joined in online and asked questions.  It was really a neat way of sharing a tasting experience. 

Here is a link to the tasting:   http://bit.ly/h0Vnn0

A big thanks to Greg, and an inspiring idea for the climate of wine tastings.

It’s a quiet time in the cellar for our 2010 wines, but quite the opposite for us people in the cellar and surrounding vicinities here at Stoller.  There is a sense of a fresh new start that comes with the new year that has us inspired to work and plan just what we are going to do with 2011.  For us production folks, over the next few weeks we will be examining some work we did last year in the cellar with our 2009 Pinot Noir.  For instance, we hand bottled 42 individual barrels from several different sections of the vineyard, which were specific coopers (brands) of  new french oak barrels.  We will be tasting through these wines to see just what a qualities each new oak barrel imparts on the wines. It will be helpful to make decisions regarding barrel purchases for 2011. 
Also in the area of wine tasting, we will be looking as a collection of tempranillos from Spain and from as local as Oregon, throwing our Stoller 2008 vintage tempranillo in the mix to educate us on the diversity and similarities.

We also have an intensive winery “retreat” at the end of the month that will be all about planning our strategy for sales, growth, and change. 

After this month ends, February will bring travel.  Early February I am headed to North Carolina to attend events and work with our distributer, Grapevine.  Mid February Noah is off to NYC to pour wines along with 49 plus other local wineries to promote Oregon wines and then to Ohio to work the market. 
More updates to come, wishing you all out there a very wonderful 2011!  And hey, please chime in once in awhile…..it would be great to hear some comments, questions, anything.   

 Paper chromotography showing the malolactic progression in our 2010 Pinot Noirs.  Almost done.

2010 vintage Pinot Noir is all finally resting in barrels in the cellar, the white wines and our Pinot Rose slowly finishing fermentation in tank.  What a wave of activity; a condensed harvest where all was picked at once, fermented at once, and pressed at once.  Whew.  The results are impressive.  The wines are full of bright and intense fruit flavors, the Pinots have incredible  color and possess a nice balance already.  We are delighted with the quality of this vintage despite the stress and doubt associated with the late / crazy growing season. 

Overall our production is lower than usual; mainly because of the hungry birds taking 10 to 15 percent of our crop.  We ended up with 138 tons of Pinot Noir, 24 tons of Chardonnay, 2 tons Riesling, 3 of Tempranillo and 2 of Syrah.  Fortunately we had a ample and wonderful harvest crew this year to get the job done.  They are home now to their respective countries and areas.  Here is a run down of the all-star team;

Lisa Burner

Lisa came to Stoller with a background in Fisheries and worked for 7 years with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife before having her son Sam in 2001.  After taking time to spend with him at home, Lisa opted for a new career focus and enrolled in Chemeketa community college’s enology and viticulture program and plans to graduate with a degree this spring.  She worked with Stoller this harvest to attain work credits and what a blessing that was for us.  She was more than willing to jump in and do any job at hand wether it be checking Brix or digging out a fermentation tank.  I think she is a natural fit for winemaking; harvest didn’t deter her one bit.  She lives in Newberg with her son and her husband Mike, so we will get to see her around.

Natalie Christensen

Natalie is the assistant red winemaker at St. Claire winery in New Zealand and she came to Stoller through a mutual friends recommendation.  She was a great asset to our crew this year with her positive attitude and energy.  I think she dug out more of the fermentation tanks than any one person I have seen!  Besides winemaking Natalie enjoys spending time with family and friends and traveling.  She took a stop in Cuba, then spent some time in Las Vegas and California before finally arriving in Portland before harvest. She now has a place to come stay and visit any time across the globe here at Stoller. 

Kevin Martin

  Kevin also came to Stoller through a recommendation, his brother Greg worked a couple of years at Chehalem and we heard only good things about the Martin brothers. A native Pennsylvanian, he moved to the Northwest several years ago and pursued the art of brewing beer and making wine. He has since traveled to New Zealand and Australia to do vintage as well as crafted many batches of artisanal beers.  He was a natural fit for  us at the winery and his  hands on skill was helpful as well as his contribution of delicious home brews. His breakfast beer, an espresso porter, was a huge hit one morning with the biscuits and gravy he brought in.  Kevin also plays music with a band in Portland. We tried to keep him in the northwest but he plans to return to Pennsylvania to start a brewery, look out!

Ryan Powers

We met Ryan last spring when he visited the winery while touring the area.  He was just finishing up his course work at UC Davis and was determined to find a job for harvest in the Willamette valley.  He spent some time with us looking at the winery and barrel tasting and we quickly agreed he would be a great fit for the team and offered him the job.  His enthusiasm to learn and his great attitude were both very appreciated.  He and his family live in Newberg, so now that he has graduated from Davis he is home until early spring when he will travel to New Zealand to work with Natalie at St. Clair for vintage.  The wine world is small that way.  In addition to making and learning about wines, Ryan coaches soccer here in town and has played the sport for most of his life.  Hopefully he is around in a couple more years as I will be sending my sons to learn the sport with him.

Nikkos Nikiforidis

Last but not least we have Nikkos who came to us from Portugal.  Nikkos originates from Greece and has been traveling the world studying Agriculture, Viticulture and Oenology.  He had been writing his thesis in Portugal before he came to work harvest with us. Nikkos also was a third-party recommendation (friend of a friend) and we were lucky to have him.  His straightforward, hardworking attitude and jovial nature helped us get through the long days.  Even if he was grumpy he would look at us and laugh about the jobs at hand.Besides studying and making wine Nikkos likes to cook (he asked us to find him a octupus to saute) and skype with his girlfriend.   He returned home recently after presenting his thesis in France.

Today we brought in some fruit.  No more talking about it, no more waiting.  8.5 tons of Pinot from young vines planted in 2007 and 8 tons of chardonnay also planted in 2007.  All week we will pick around 25 tons a day.  We of course had to celebrate with a glass of sparkling wine from our neighboors Soter winery.