We are testing out this new harvesting machine this year

Last week, we heard from Bill Kremer, Olsen Family Vineyard’s wine maker. This week, Dean Underwood, our vineyard manager weighs in. In addition, check out Olsen’s new “harvesting machine.” We are testing this new machine this year, and will ask Dean to give us all the details. Personally, I think it looks like something out of Star Wars. In the meantime, this is what Dean has to say about the 2008 grape harvest so far:

Greetings from the Vineyard!!!

As I write this update we are well over half way through with harvest and feeling a bit tired but also invigorated by the quality of the fruit we are harvesting. We start picking at 7:00 am and Dave my assistant delivers the bounty by 8:00 -10:00 pm to the winery. These are long days but this is what we look forward to all year long and I get a sense of accomplishment with every cluster we harvest.

This has been a year of challenges with a very late bud break which in turn makes this a later than usual harvest. The late harvest has brought in birds by the thousands that desire the ripe fruit as much as we do so much of our time is spent driving from vineyard to vineyard chasing the birds out.
Our fruit quality is exceptional this year. The flavors have developed very well and I believe 2008 will a red letter year for us. Having Bill Kramer our new wine maker helping judge when and how to harvest has been a huge advantage for us. He has been out in the vineyard with me tasting and sampling on a daily basis for the last several weeks. The juice we have in the tanks was picked at the optimal time and the flavors show this.

The crop this year is lighter than expected. This is due partly because with the late bud break we dropped more of the fruit on the ground to assure ripening before the winter cold and rain shuts the vines down. This has had a payoff in quality but at the expense of some quantity. I believe the biggest thing the Oregon wine industry has going for it is the world class wine we produce and without that quality Oregon couldn’t compete with other regions which produce a high volume of wine. Quality is the name of the game for us.

I’ll check back in later and report on how the harvest ends.

Cheers,

Dean