{"id":850,"date":"2012-01-03T19:05:34","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T02:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danthewineguy.com\/?p=850"},"modified":"2013-04-30T19:11:58","modified_gmt":"2013-05-01T02:11:58","slug":"washingtons-2011-wine-grape-harvest-challenging-to-say-the-least","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/?p=850","title":{"rendered":"Washington’s 2011 Wine Grape Harvest Challenging…to Say the Least"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year at this time, I referred to the 2010 Washington wine grape harvest as \u201cone of the wildest, wackiest, and yet most promising years in the state\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, in terms of both craziness and quality, the 2011 harvest may have even topped that.<\/p>\n

The story behind 2011 actually starts in November of 2010, when an early frost in some vineyards damaged the buds that were to be 2011\u2019s harvest. Then Eastern Washington experienced another cool, wet spring that resulted in an incredibly late bud break and an equally belated harvest \u2013 3 to 4 weeks later than normal in some areas.<\/p>\n

Despite the bizarre weather, the consensus among winemakers seems to be optimistic about this strange yet potentially wonderful vintage. Here\u2019s what a few are saying:<\/p>\n

John Morgan of Lost River Winery<\/strong> observes that, \u201c2011 marked the coolest and latest harvest on record in Washington\u2026it definitely was a wild ride. This is absolutely a stellar vintage for Syrah, Malbec and all of the whites we brought in. For the rest, time will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"null\"Forgeron Cellars\u2019 Marie-Eve Gilla<\/strong> (pictured at left) says to expect some very euro-centric wines. \u201cWhite wines will likely be especially lush\u2026with the gentle temperatures allowing for the nuanced flavors to come through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jean-Francois Pellet of Pepper Bridge Winery<\/strong> notes, \u201cSummer really didn\u2019t start until around the Fourth of July\u2026which is unheard of (in Eastern Washington). Nonetheless, after this late start, the grapes ripened steadily and evenly. It appears Mother Nature was reminding us that we are in the agriculture business, not the manufacturing business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The overall forecast for 2011 wines: Lower yields, great acidity, likely lower alcohol levels, and subtle fruit flavors with more emphasis on varietal-specific characteristics such as pepper, smoke, herbs and spices.<\/p>\n

If all this sounds as if Washington wines are transforming into something more closely resembling their European\/Old World-style counterparts, you\u2019d be correct. That means we can expect less fruit and alcohol bombs and more food-friendly wines from Washington wineries on the horizon\u2026a good thing by many wine enthusiast\u2019s standards.<\/p>\n

Of course, we won\u2019t know the final verdict until these wines are released, beginning this spring for the whites and in 2012 and 2013 for many of the reds. But one thing is certain, the 2011 vintage, with all its challenges, will certainly test the skills of the state\u2019s winemakers. The pretenders will be separated from the contenders as Washington wines make their way to consumers, who ultimately have the final word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year at this time, I referred to the 2010 Washington wine grape harvest as \u201cone of the wildest, wackiest, and yet most promising years in the state\u2019s history.\u201d Believe it or not, in terms of both craziness and quality, the 2011 harvest may have even topped that. The story behind 2011 actually starts in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heard-through-the-grapevine","category-from-the-bellingham-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=850"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions\/854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danthewineguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}