We had a lovely Spring, much more sunshine than ‘12, ‘11, or ‘10! All was pleasant until mid June, when cool, wet weather moved in. This caused our bloom to go on and on. It seemed like grape flowering would never end. And it was really difficult to determine when the midpoint of bloom occurred. Fruit set across the valley was all over the place, with differences showing in a very pronounced manner from clone to clone, low elevation vs. high elevation. The period of June to say, mid September was darn near record dry. This may be a pattern for vintages of the future? We were set up with classic 3rd week of June (Solstice) fruit set, leading to end of October harvest, with no expense to drop green clusters in August. Things were dang chirpy. We got a normal shot of rain in early September, that actually helped dry vines get through Veraison. Then, September 21st the tables turned. A cold and windy weekend of the 22nd got snow to about 5000’. It stayed wet with monsoon-like conditions the weekend of 27th. Then rain burst after burst each day to the 2nd of October. The Willamette Valley received almost 8” of RECORD rain from September 1 to October 2!! For ROCO, we got white wines for still and sparkling in before the 22nd. Then, a majority in before the 27th. Waited out the wet, and chipped away picking the days after the 2nd. Fruit came in with surprising cleanliness. We had NOT farmed in a complacent manner and had gotten our sprays on at the correct intervals, with good coverage. We also kept the canopies especially open in Fall, with hand leaf pulling and cane positioning several times. “Riders of the Storm” The wines are a COMPLETE surprise and joy to us. Deep, inexplicable color; rich fruit depth; and lovely youthful minerality. The whites are true cool climate wines and convey a richness in palate even before Malo. If Wine Pundits will keep an open mind, you are all going to enjoy the 2013’s.
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