Oregon Pinot noir fruit set


Most Oregon vineyards have an excellent fruit set this year. This reverses a light fruit set in 2004 and 2005, and is great news for Oregon wine lovers.

Many Oregon wine grape growers target harvesting 2 tons of Pinot noir from each planted acre. This is the quantity of grapes that most sites can fully ripen before the fall weather gets too cool and wet.

The previous 2 harvests saw many vineyards yield 1-1.5 tons per acre, with some vineyards below the 1 ton per acre mark. Since most vineyard expenses are the same regardless of the fruit volume harvested, low yields directly impact the cost per bottle of wine.

This, in turn, limits the amount of wine on the market and places upward pressure on retail prices. Therefore, low yields are a bad thing for everyone.

The generous fruit set this year means that growers can have more input into the final yield levels. Vineyard crews will be thinning grape clusters in the coming weeks, leaving around 125% - 150% of the desired final cluster count. These extra clusters are insurance against Mother Nature’s whim. Once we’re confident that the fruit is safe, we’ll go through and drop additional fruit to get each vine in balance.