Harvest at Domaine Drouhin by Easton Richmond

Oregon’s 2025 growing season was warm and otherwise uneventful. The result was a relatively stress-free growing season with high quality, approachable wines that are expected to be well-received by consumers.

“We got a lot of concentration, a lot of flavor,” said Brent Stone, co-CEO and winemaker at King Estate Winery in the Willamette Valley. “I think, in the end, it’ll be a very consumer-friendly vintage. That can be very good for Oregon as a region when you’re talking about selling.”

A warm growing season

The growing season started with a slightly early bud break. Throughout the growing season, markers remained ahead of historical averages.

“We had pretty average key phenology steps. They leaned a little bit on the earlier side, but only by a bit,” said Gina Hennen, director of winemaking and viticulture at Adelsheim in the Chehalem Mountains appellation. “It was relatively smooth sailing throughout the growing season. We just didn’t have any major weather issues.”

Erath sources fruit from across Willamette Valley and from Southern Oregon. Head winemaker Leah Adint said that the 2025 growing season was unremarkable in the best possible way.

“It was like continuous ripeness,” Adint said. “We didn’t have a lot of rainfall, which is unusual for us here. We just had those perfect 85 degree days throughout the entire growing season.”

“It was just a beautiful summer,” said Wynne Peterson-Nedry, winemaker at Ridgecrest Wines in the Ribbon Ridge appellation.

Generally speaking, 2025 had few heat spikes compared to recent warm years. Spring and summer were particularly dry. Even though it was warm, the dryness didn’t seem to have a significant impact on viticulture for most.

“We didn’t really need to use irrigation this year, even with the dryness,” said Jason Tosch, vice president of vineyard operations at Stoller Wine Group.

A compressed bloom

Gina Hennen, Adelsheim, courtesy of winery

Though there were not many heat spikes in 2025, there were warm temperatures during bloom. As a result, bloom was compressed.

“[The heat] sort of propelled bloom all into a seven day window,” said Tosch. “That’s not just in the Willamette Valley but all the way down to fruit we purchase from Medford as well.”

Bloom also had showers in some locations. That lightened the crop.

“It doesn’t take much for Mother Nature to do some natural thinning,” said Alex Sokol Blosser, president of Sokol Blosser in the Dundee Hills appellation. This also meant that growers did very little thinning later in the season.

The condensed bloom and naturally thinned crop set the table for two of the other notable factors of the warm 2025 growing season. The first was a relatively compressed harvest, where many locations achieved ripeness simultaneously. The other was a lighter-than-expected crop.

A compressed harvest

Harvest began for some producers in late August. Erath started picking fruit in the Umpqua Valley on August 27^th.

“It’s only the second time that Erath has ever picked in August,” Adint said.

Warm temperatures in early September