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2008 Winemaker's Harvest

At the beginning of October we were looking at a disaster and right now at the beginning of November we are looking at a triumph. We were blessed with weeks of beautiful weather, low yields and fruit (for those who were patient) that will make some truly beautiful wines. This was a long harvest (picking began on September 25th and stopped on Halloween); it is also one of the finest.
Tanks are at all points of readiness from going to barrel, fermenting, just starting and cold soaking. We picked uniformly colored fruit this year anywhere from 23 – 27 brix and all had very balanced acids. The weather was perfect (50 – 70 degrees and sunny every day) making this is a vintage very much about the vineyard, not the weather. Although all the wines are concentrated, deep and easily extracted, every tank is different and each vineyard really shows their pedigree and heritage.

After the cold soaks we backed down to only one punch down or less per tank, down from the normal three or four. The wines have plenty of stuffing and tannin. We have, however, for the first time in years, felt that we could wait to press until the cap fell, maybe 20 to 25 days in tank. The wines build in a balanced way with the extra time on the skins as the fermentation finishes out. Also for the first time in years, the natural acids are balanced, pure and give focus to the wines. Unfortunately, we are down 15% - 20% in quantity as we had yields of 1.5 to 2 tons per acre almost everywhere and in some cases less.

The vintage seems to be a cross between 1999, 2000 and 2002. The wines have all the lush fruit and elegance of the 1999 vintage, the structure and concentration of the 2000 vintage and the natural balance, acidity and sense of place that so characterized the 2002 vintage.

Ahoy Matey!

September 19th marked 2008's International Talk Like a Pirate Day. A to Z celebrated in true pirate form to mark the launching of A to Z to cyberspace on PinotNoir.com. Complete with Pirate's Booty, frothy non-alcoholic grog, Jack Sparrow and skeletons; A to Z's launch in to cyberspace was a bang.

Hawk Release

Rex Hill Vineyards was the site for the release of two rehabilitated Red-Tailed Hawks. Throughout the year, the Audubon Society of Portland's Wildlife Care Center releases rehabilitated, injured or orphaned wildlife back to the wild. These two birds were found in our area and we were delighted that the Audubon Society chose the Rex Hill gardens as the release location so that the birds were able to come back to familiar surroundings. Cellar club members were invited to come watch on Monday, September 15. Although the birds were certainly the stars of the show, we poured some wines to celebrate. Deb Hatcher was invited to release the juvenile. The site proved ideal and will be used again this fall for rehabilitated, migrating hawks.

Picnic

The heat wave began to break for the annual all-company A to Z picnic in the Rex Hill gardens on Sunday. The Jesse James Gang presented a great barbeque dinner capped by brownies and sundaes with fresh blackberries. Fun and games galore for all ages!

Waiting for Veraison

Summer Events

Summer is in full bloom and we are enjoying the many visitors to the Willamette Valley.





June 24, we kicked off the summer events with the annual Grower’s Appreciation Dinner held in the Rex Hill gardens and catered by Haagenson’s BBQ of Carlton, OR. The only requirement for attendance from our 70 growers was drawing a pig… with their eyes closed and never lifting the pen.





July 25-27 was the 22nd annual International Pinot Noir Celebration. Rex Hill hosted a luncheon with Craig Hetherington of Taste in Seattle, WA. Excellent dishes including Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho were served. Troops of flamingos led guests to environmental features such as our insectary and employee's organic garden to help them complete their sustainable scorecard.





August 2-3, the Rex Hill, A to Z, William Hatcher, Francis Tannahill conglomerate had the pleasure of hosting Plate and Pitchfork’s first vineyard dinner at Jacob Hart Vineyards. Miraculously in a matter of hours a restaurant appeared in the midst of the vines, without so much as running water.





Nadine Lew and Michael Davies each led a tour around the biodynamic crown jewel of Rex Hill, Jacob Hart Vineyards. Saturday night, Portland chefs Vito Dilullo of Ciao Vito and Rich Meyer of Higgins cooked a wonderful meal. On Sunday chefs Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon and Eric Moore of Victory teamed up to cater for 112 people, with dishes such as lamb’s tongue nuggets and pickled pig’s ears.
Many thanks to Erika and Emily of Plate and Pitchfork for their hard work. Also thanks to Leslie and Manuel of Viridian Farms and Casey and Katie of Oakhill Organics for their delicious, organic produce.