Vintage 2023 – The late summer perspective
As we pen this article, the 2023 vintage is a wrap. It’s been another unique year. The cold wet spring led to a late bud break. Following that, the vines made up for lost time with vigorous growth. Then, a dry and hot summer set in. This is the kind of summer where the mature vines with established roots that are able to tap moisture deep in the earth pay off.
At this point, Tony Rynders has characterized the yields as “normal” and tracking toward an early-to-mid September harvest, usually associated with very good grape quality.
Tony qualifies his observation with “…but there’s a lot of ball game left.” What could go wrong? Just use your imagination. A giant asteroid could strike the Earth. If it hits Yamhill, that would be bad. A second Missoula flood could come roaring down the Columbia Gorge. This will result in a stellar 2400 vintage wine but require some mucking out over the next century or so. The possibilities are endless. Tony doesn’t want us to talk about them. But frankly, Tony could make stellar wine out of Welches Grape Juice.
In any event, by late September and before you read this, Tony will be hard at work with his crew with all the stomping, punch-downs, barreling, and karate kicking that goes into making a fine wine. By early October, we will know a lot more about the grapes than we do now. In the meanwhile, we are certain that Tony will have much better juice to work with than Welches Grape Juice and are hopeful that 2023 will be a fine vintage indeed.
Just keep your fingers crossed for no asteroids.
