Cameron Winery -- sustainably farmed, non-irrigated, Oregon pinot noir and chardonnay

It’s a miracle! The first two weeks of October were pure rain and seemed to signal a disastrous harvest ahead. Indeed in most years such an event would have rotted the fruit and sent us scurrying for a positive message to be gleaned from it all. And, indeed, I was at that point as recently as October 15th.

But then a wondrous thing occurred: the sun came out, the temperatures warmed up and I happily discovered that the fruit had, in most cases, been so far from ripeness earlier in the month that botrytis had not seen fit to start its attack. Slowly, very slowly, I found my optimism returning. By the 20th of October when, incredibly, we picked our first grapes www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTB41_tvOaA, the long-term forecasts were turning increasingly in our favor.

And now as we hit the end of the month we are seeing gorgeous Pinot noir filling our fermenters, Pinot noir with firm acidity and moderate sugars (hooray for 12.5% alcohols) and, wonder of wonders, ripe full flavors. Meanwhile the white grapes continue to sit in the vineyards slowly losing acid and gaining flavors (the working descriptor here is slowly!). But still the long-term forecasts are holding in there and our first picking of Clos Electrique Blanc yielded pommace from the press that smelled of cloves, a very good sign!!

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