Washington’s growing season and harvest in 2013 was a two part story.

As I have written before, 2013 was a warm year – the second warmest on record behind 2003 in terms of Growing Degree Days. However, as the chart below from Washington State University shows, the season actually ran ahead of 2003 throughout the growing season and into the beginning of harvest before things took a sudden turn.

“The above average heat during the growing season will define the 2013 vintage,” said grower Jay Dewitt of Dumas Station in the Walla Walla Valley. “I don’t recall a summer that was so consistently hot day after day. Usually we get a break at some point, but not in 2013.”

The warm season provided a challenge for growers. “Proper irrigation and nutrition management were absolutely vital as it became apparent that 2013 was a marathon for the vines and we wanted them to cross the finish line as champions rather than quitters on the side of the road,” said Red Mountain vineyard manager Ryan Johnson.

“Vines can tolerate heat pretty well if they are not in a stressed situation, so this would not be the year for getting behind irrigation or stressing the vines very much,” said Mike Sauer of Red Willow Vineyard.

Johnson said that they were up for the challenges 2013 presented. “Unlike the baking summers of 2003 and 2005, we seemed to be prepared and equipped to deal with it,” he said. “We grew bigger canopies for more shade and protection, kept adequate nutrition levels in the vines to avoid unnecessary stress, and carried a crop load that was appropriate for the conditions.”

Winemaker Mike Macmorran of Mark Ryan Winery noted that getting the vines to shut down after precipitation earlier in the season provided some difficulties. “Many of our growers had to manage not only extremely high temperatures in the vineyards but vines that were more interested in shoot growth than shoot lignification,” he said.

The warm season not only challenged growers, it also challenged winemakers. “One of things I noticed in a few of our blocks was how quickly the fruit changed from having unripe qualities to suddenly being ready to pick,” said Macmorran. “This was very apparent in Merlot and Syrah.”

“It was the kind of vintage where, if you weren’t in your vineyard tasting fruit, I could see people getting burned pretty easily this year,” said Trey Busch of Sleight of Hand Cellars.

While winemakers were worried that the warm temperatures would compress the harvest season, especially after record heat in the middle of September, unseasonably cool weather came to eastern Washington for the remainder of the growing season and caused harvest to take an about face.

“After the middle of September, the season pretty well ended in terms of heat accumulation,” said Sauer. “I think we only had two days that even slightly exceeded 75 degrees.”

“By mid August I expected everything to be done by probably the beginning of October,” said Trey Busch. “I thought it was going to be fast and furious, and then the last two weeks of September cooled down and we got that rain. That pushed most of our Bordeaux varietals back a few weeks to allow a little more hang time and flavor development. It was almost like two harvests really.”

The cool temperatures had a direct effect on Brix levels. “I was surprised to see how the abrupt weather change the end of September really stalled sugar accumulation,” Macmorran said. “While I expected things to slow down after the rain and cooler weather I was surprised by how long it took to see Brix levels begin to rise again.”

The change in temperatures allowed for a more even pace to harvest compared to the last few years. “Unlike the last few vintages in which some varieties have ‘piled up’ on each other for Harvest scheduling, 2013 was quite sequential,” Ryan Johnson said. “Whites, Merlot, and Syrah were followed by Cab Franc and Cab Sauv. Italian varieties, late-ripening Rhones, and Petit Verdot all fit nicely across a range of pick dates. What more could a manager ask for?”

“We never ran out of picking bins. We never ran out of fermenters,” Busch said. “It was truly an eight week harvest. You go back to 2011 and it was a four and a half week harvest.”

Those who waited until the second part of the harvest season were happy that they did. “I saw lots of people picking reds in September based on sugar,” John Bigelow of JM Cellars said, “but that sugar was like Fool’s Gold because the acids were still high and the plants still had more energy to put into the flavors of the grapes. The week of rain in September slowed everything down and allowed those of us who were patient to have a fantastic October picking Merlot, Cab Franc, Malbec, Syrah, Cab and finally Petit Verdot.”

Josh Maloney at Milbrandt Vineyards said that the second part of harvest was noticeably different from the first in terms of the fruit. “I noticed a big increase in flavors after the nights started getting cool, and the overall concentration on the flavors increased as well,” he said. “The wines we made during part one are good, but they aren’t as exciting as the wines we’re making now.”

However, the September rains did lead to some challenges. “The sporadic rains we’ve had over the past month have caused a big problem with rot in Riesling,” Maloney said last month. “We are being forced to test every load for two things – minimum Brix and rot…For some reason they haven’t increased in sugar hardly at all over the past month.”

Despite the change in temperatures, 2013 still ended up as a warm year. “We had 3,270 heat units in 2013,” Sauer said. “That’s by far the most we’ve ever had.” In contrast, he had 3,100 heat units in 2003 and 2,400 in 2011, a cool year. “This was the hottest year since we started our winery in 1989,” agreed David Larsen of Soos Creek, who added, “Brix were also lower than expected, given the record number of Growing Degree Days.”

Indeed, many noted that the Brix levels were lower than anticipated considering the warmth of the vintage but still ended up somewhat high. “Our alcohols are going to be on the higher end, just based on the vintage,” Busch said, adding, “We make wine in eastern Washington. It’s a desert.” Busch said that acidities were mixed. “It just depends on the site really,” he said. “Even in a warmer vintage like this, the good sites hold onto their acids without getting ripe too fast.”

“Brix were really not that high considering the warm vintage, kind of funny really,” said Bob Berthau, head winemaker at Chateau Ste. Michelle. “Acids were certainly lower, but sugars were all in all on the reasonable side.”

Maloney said that 2013 wasn’t too different from 2012 at his sites. “All the sugar levels this year for all of our fruit were either very similar to their levels last year or in some cases even lower, both in Wahluke Slope and Yakima Valley,” he said. “Acid levels were also very similar to last year, which is to say that they were pretty low for the most part.”

In general, many said that whites and early ripening varieties, such as Merlot and Syrah, bore the brunt of the effects of the heat. “Syrah came off earlier than anything else for us this year,” Busch said. “All three of my Syrah vineyards were earlier than we’ve ever picked them before. Merlot certainly came off earlier than what a normal year would provide.” Busch noted however that flavor development was good in both.

Berthau in particular was excited about Syrah in 2013. “Two words: Oh my…Okay, maybe a third. Wow!” he said. “Syrahs loved the heat this year, got to the jammy stages without having excess shrivel that can happen in more marginal years. Cooler, perfect finishing weather allowed this to occur in my opinion. Look out for big, rich, concentrated wines down the line.”

Despite the heat, John Bigelow and many others were quite pleased with the results. “Usually there are a couple of picks each year that go into wine that I bulk out to volume producers, but I don’t see that happening with this year’s fruit,” he said. “Customers are going to see very big, very rich red wines out of this vintage.”

With the warm growing season and its dual harvests at an end, vineyard manager Ryan Johnson looked back and said simply, “The biggest challenge was keeping my refrigerator stocked with cold beer!”

NB: This is my last harvest update of 2013. My sincere thanks to all of the growers, winemakers, and others who contributed their thoughts and insights throughout this year’s harvest season. 

All pictures by Richard Duval. 

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See information on the Washington State Growing Degree Days here.

See monthly forecast for Yakima Valley (Sunnyside), Red Mountain (Benton City), Walla Walla, Paterson, and Mattawa.

The information in the table below is aggregated from personal correspondence with growers and winemakers, as well as information posted on Twitter and Facebook. It is not intended to be comprehensive but rather is intended as a snapshot of what is going on around the state. If you wish to send data for your grapes or vineyards (or correct any of the information below), please email me at [email protected], leave a comment here, or leave a comment on the WWR Facebook page.