Oregon & Washington Wine Specialists Since 1988
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Bergstrom Winery
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About the 2004 Vintage The 2004 vintage was bizarre from the very get go, starting actually in 2003 with one of the hottest and driest years on record. The extreme heat dried out the soils to very deep levels, and the grapevines' roots weren't able to absorb their usual water supply. At the beginning of the 2004 season, the vines were still stressed from the p read more
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About the 2004 Vintage The 2004 vintage was bizarre from the very get go, starting actually in 2003 with one of the hottest and driest years on record. The extreme heat dried out the soils to very deep levels, and the grapevines' roots weren't able to absorb their usual water supply. At the beginning of the 2004 season, the vines were still stressed from the previous hot season and from a relative lack of water during the winter. While the summer of 2003 was incredibly hot, the winter was marked with extremes of mild warm spells and frigid ice storms. In March 2004, we had several uncharacteristic hot days with temperatures climbing up over 90 Fahrenheit. The conditions pushed early bud-break and started the season before the usual date. When the shoots had reached 2-4 inches in length, cool weather returned and the vines' growth ground to a halt. The vine shoots were pale green bordering on yellow -- they could not get the nutrition they needed, with the cold wet ground and miserable weather.
People feared the worst, believing there
might be heavy frosts or hail. Fortunately, neither happened.
At the same time, we noticed that several of the vines' shoots on each plant were shorter by 1-2 feet than the other shoots, leaving the canopy looking like a “W” instead of a solid curtain of vine leaves. This retardation of growth meant that several clusters per plant were at least one week behind the other clusters of the same plant in maturity and ripening. We had to act fast to eliminate the green clusters at color change to ensure a homogeneous ripening of the vineyard's fruit. In August we endured several small but drastic storms which dropped close to 3 inches of rain in some areas. This rainwater quickly saturated the soils and was taken up by the vines' feeder roots, resulting in bloated berries. In some clusters, several of the smaller “shot” berries exploded under the bloating pressure, leaving a perfect environment for mold to grow. And mold did grow. The burst berries quickly became host to several species of molds, mostly aspergilla and penicillin -- blue and green molds similar to those seen on an old loaf of bread. At this point, with rain on the horizon, we had to enter the vineyard quickly and spray, to try and stop the mold from growing and creating a perfect environment for the development of botrytis and grey rot. As if this were not enough, the forecast
again changed for the worse, and it proceeded to rain steadily and
sometimes quite heavily for 15 days straight. For most of us it felt
like the apocalypse. But great wines come from great patience, and many Oregon wineries were rewarded by waiting through the rain, because on September 20th , the sun came out and it stayed out for another two and a half weeks, with temperatures staying in the high seventies and low eighties. The fruit recovered beautifully with sound acids and decent sugars. Some vineyards' fruit ripened so well that it tasted like the rain had not happened, and the grapes continued their ripening process in the Willamette Valley's "Indian Summer" to yield magnificent fruit. It was not all gloom and doom during 2004. In fact it was once again one of the hottest summers we have seen in decades. We had at least 15 days where the temperature peaked over 95 Fahrenheit and at least twice that many where the temperature was at least 90. It goes to show, though, that wine quality and vintage character are made up of a series of averages marked by several extreme and well placed weather events. You never know what you have until the day of harvest. Luckily this year we found ourselves once again harvesting under sunny skies with very nice fruit. The 2004 wines will be lovely pinot noirs with high acids and very respectable alcohol levels (13-14.5%) They will smell and taste like Pinot Noir with crisp and well-delineated red fruits. This will be a vintage for medium to long term cellar potential and reminds me of a hypothetical blend of the 1999's and 2002's. copyright 2005 Bergstrom Wines Inc reprinted with permission
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