2025 Vintage Observations
The 2025 growing season unfolded largely as an accelerated and compact vintage across Oregon, marked by an early start to ripening and a notably swift progression through harvest across many regions. Despite mid-season heat events and occasional concerns about sunburn or variability in fruit development, winemakers across the state describe the year as one that ultimately delivered strong fruit integrity and excellent quality.
Weather during the ripening period played a defining role. Although August and much of September were warm, they were balanced rather than excessive, allowing fruit to reach ripeness with good concentration. Heat extremes during peak veraison caused sunburn in some vineyards, and higher-than-average nighttime temperatures led to expedited fruit development across many varieties.
Phenology tracked earlier than average, with many producers reporting budbreak, bloom, and particularly veraison advancing ahead of typical timing. By harvest, the pace of the season was unmistakable. Many respondents noted finishing primary picking one to two weeks earlier than normal. Harvest windows ranged roughly from August 25–30 through early to mid-October, consistently earlier than average across regions and varieties. As grapes were harvested, winemakers generally reported excellent flavor development and high overall integrity of the fruit.
“[Harvest was] fast, condensed, but overall, a blast to get done with,” commented Bruce Sonnen of Van Duzer Vineyards and Winery in the Van Duzer Corridor.
Disease pressure in 2025 was consistently described as low to average. Powdery mildew appeared at typical levels, although some growers in Southern Oregon noted higher levels. Botrytis was below average for many respondents, even with intermittent rain events late in the season and warmer temperatures promoting more disease growth. Bird pressure was generally down on average across the state.
Fruit set in 2025 was generally described as average, but some comments from growers reported outliers as high as 15-20% higher fruit set. Berry and cluster size skewed average to down in size, with multiple growers noting smaller-than-average berries, low cluster weights, and reduced sizing even where crop estimates had been conservative. Yields consequently varied. Some producers recorded yields near or modestly above normal, while others reported yields down due to factors like heat or a lighter natural set.
Winemakers expressed enthusiastic sentiment about the vintage, ranging from good to “ecstatic.” Small berries, clean clusters, and concentrated flavors point toward a vintage with strong character, impressive purity, and significant promise in the cellar.
“It was a spectacular vintage,” said Scott Kelly of Paul O’Brien Winery in the Umpqua Valley. “The quality of the wines in the barrel are stunning, and we’re really excited to share these wines.”
State of the Industry
The 2024 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Census Report, published by the Oregon Wine Board in June 2025, showed that there are 1,076 bonded wineries in Oregon, a decline of 6% year-over-year. In contrast, 1,537 vineyards are now growing grapes in the state, an increase of 2% year-over-year.
The price per ton of Oregon grapes slightly fell in 2024, while production also slightly decreased by 1% compared to the 2023 season.
The total number of cases of Oregon wine across all sales channels fell by 4% in 2023. The total value of wine sales across all channels decreased by 2%, with the average price per case increasing by less than 2%. DTC case sales decreased by 3% overall, and distribution channels decreased by 5% in Oregon and 4% in U.S. states outside Oregon.
Total wine grape production, harvested acreage and value of wine grape production for the 2024 vintage will be addressed in the 2025 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Census Report, scheduled to be published mid-year in 2026.
Regional Overviews
Winegrowers and winemakers across the state provided their perspectives on the 2025 harvest season.
The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater
Brooke Delmas Robertson, SJR Vineyard and Delmas Wines
This season started out interestingly. We fortunately didn’t have too many extreme freeze days. We didn’t see really any disease pressure. We got a little bit of snow, but not too much, and we got a lot more rain than we were expecting. In June, we hit our first 100-degree day. We had 27 days over 95 degrees and 11 days over 100 degrees, but we did not see any days over 105. The biggest switch-up through the rest of the Summer was that it didn’t really cool down at night with less extreme heat.
By the middle of September, things almost hit a wall, where things weren’t sugar ripening. So, you saw a lot of later picks than what people normally do, and things ripened at a weird pace. We picked Syrah first, and two and a half weeks later, we picked Viognier and Grenache on the same day, which has never happened before.
2025 was a bit more of a challenge than previous vintages, but the wine quality that’s coming out of The Rocks District is really going to knock people’s socks off. The fruit expression is super intense, the acidity holds on well, and the malics were high this year.
Columbia Gorge
Robert Morus & Lauren O’Brien, Phelps Creek Vineyards
On the growing side, it was a season that began early, two to three weeks earlier than average. I’ve seen a lot of variation in the last five to six years where we’ve experienced crazy early beginnings to late beginnings. But then the rest of the growing season was a very relaxed one. We had a nice amount of warmth, with only one week of hot weather. To me, as a grower, it was almost like a Goldilocks year. Everything seemed just right. Not too much heat, not too much weather, but a little bit of weather to knock the dust down, and good-looking fruit at the end.
– Robert Morus, President and Director of Winegrowing
Because we were able to pick things as they were ripe, everything is where we want it to be, chemistry-wise. Concentration is good this year. We dropped a decent bit of fruit at the vineyard, so yields are low, which helps with concentration. And because we started early, by the time we were getting to our late pick varietals, like our Gewürztraminer and our Riesling, it was still the beginning of October. We weren’t worried about things freezing or November rains. We could just let them sit there, get just right, and get better flavors. There’s a lot of good fruit. Aromatics on the Gewürtz are nice, and I really like the acid balance on our Chardonnay this year.
– Lauren O’Brien, Winemaker
Portland
Kate Norris, Division Winemaking Company
On the heels of a lovely 2024, it’s always a pleasure to receive a second vintage in a row that is so nice. We had an average start to the growing season, no huge incidents with frosts in the spring. Going into the summer, it was consistently warm but not overly so. There were a few periods with a little bit of rain. We saw an increase in heat at the end of August into the beginning of September, which made the beginning of harvest start a little fuller than we expected. I was a little bit worried with that heat that we would see a decline in pHs and a raise in sugar, but we had a really great crew to get harvest done.
This year, we saw what I considered two harvests. That first harvest window was compressed. Fruit started arriving in earnest at the end of August. We were able to pick about two-thirds of our fruit during that period, and then we had about a week and a half of no picking before starting round two. We were done much sooner than we normally are because we started in earnest in August.
I think there’s always years where you’re thinking maybe the picks weren’t perfect or the weather wasn’t perfect for one variety or another. But everything has tasted great. We have good ripeness and great acidities this year. I’m especially impressed with the acidities coming out of our Southern Oregon fruit.
Willamette Valley
Bill Sweat, Winderlea Vineyard & Winery
We had a dry winter; we got about 19 inches of rain when we normally get 35-40. Budbreak came at a normal time, and from there, things moved to pace. We had one or two heat events during the early part of the summer, but then the weather really cooperated a lot after that. It was an early harvest for us. We started on September 1, which is our second-earliest harvest ever, and it was a very compact harvest. Our entire harvest was done in just 15 days.
Yields were lower, but fruit quality was outstanding and clean. We’re extremely happy right now. I think we started the year cautiously optimistic because we started with less water in the soil than we would have hoped for. But by the time the season ended, I think we were very optimistic about the fruit that we had gotten and the wine we’re going to be able to make with it.
Gretchen Boock, Benton-Lane Winery
The growing season was lovely. It was mild and steady throughout the whole summer. We started to see flavor showing up the third week of August, and harvest started early. We got back from Labor Day, and our harvest window was 16 days.
Yields were down, but from a quality perspective, we’re very happy. The fruit was clean, we had very little disease pressure, and we had a couple days of rain, just enough to get the leaves a little wet.
The wines are showing beautiful, early, and complex. Especially the Chardonnay, we are super thrilled. We picked every single berry, and I wish I had more.
I think it’s going to be a profound vintage. A good combination of complex, full, big flavors and lower yields across the Valley is going to help add to that concentration.
Rogue Valley
Brian Gruber, Irvine & Roberts Vineyards
It was very average in terms of budbreak. It was a warmer year, but it wasn’t a function of heat spikes. The vines liked that a lot. We dropped almost no fruit but had a little bit lower yield than normal.
We had more rain events this year than any year I can remember in a very long time, including four during harvest. But I’d say here at Irvine, we had no issue at all with disease. Our harvest window was a little earlier than normal, with a lot of compression in September, but then the last parts just sort of stretched out due to rain.
I’m really excited about the fruit quality. It was a beautiful harvest with great concentration and ripeness without being excessively ripe, but just beautiful ripeness of the phenolics and the flavors. With that steadier warm weather, we had a little bit more warmth at night, which is what led to lower acidity and a little bit riper fruit this year.
Umpqua Valley
Greg Jones, Abacela
The winter was wetter than previous years. It came to an abrupt ending on March 16th following a major flood. We got almost four inches of rain in 24 hours. After April 1, we saw almost nothing. We started irrigating earlier than we normally do because of that.
Budbreak was a little bit short but consistent across varieties. Flowering was early but very good on top of a very good fruit set. We didn’t see a lot of powdery mildew or any botrytis, and bird pressure was much lower than normal. The only thing that really impacted us was right at the peak of veraison, we had three really hot days, but harvest was easy. Because there were no weather pressures, I could time out my 30-day harvest ideally. I could bring fruit in when I wanted to, and it wasn’t overripe or underripe.
It was one of the driest growing seasons that we’ve ever had and the second warmest year that we’ve ever had, but extremes were limited. Vine growth and the resulting fruit and fruit quality were all good.
Scott Kelly, Paul O’ Brien Winery
It was a very interesting start to the year. Our last rainfall, we had 10.5 inches of rain over three days in March, a little bit in April, and then that was it. I think the major story of the vintage was how dry it was. Even though we really didn’t see any measurable rainfall into mid-September, it was amazing how resilient the vines were. It was a hot vintage and drove sugars up before flavors.
We were early throughout the growing season. I had projected that we were going to probably be shooting around the 17th of September, but the heat accelerated things to where we were even ten days earlier than that. We had great weather during flowering and a consistent set across all varieties. We brought in a lot of fruit the first ten days of harvest, and then things tapered off from there. We started a couple weeks early and finished three weeks early.
We pride ourselves in the Umpqua of having this incredible tension between power and elegance. And our wines this year speak to that more than ever. There is an incredible nerve and acidity and femininity to the aromas, but then there’s a depth of fruit and concentration in the mid palate.
Oregon Vineyard Management Organizations
Jason Cole, Pacific Crest Vineyard Services
We started off the season mild. It was not cold but not overly hot. It started off a little on the early side, but no big heat spikes. A little bit of rain, but nothing too bad. And that pattern continued throughout the middle of the growing season. It was very steady.
The result of that was a quick and high degree-day accumulation. The grapevines really like this, but one of the downsides is powdery mildew and disease pressure.
Harvest started very early, and it stayed steady the entire time. But unusually, we didn’t have any harvesting in November. So, it was early but very compressed. It was a good vintage for quality, and I would say that goes extra for a lot of the later-season picks like Cabernet or Mourvèdre.
We had plenty of crop and really great quality. But the challenges came during harvest when we had to figure out exactly when to pick that fruit to get that ideal ripeness and navigate a very compressed harvest where a lot of things were getting ripe all at the same time.
Wrap-Up: Comment from Gina Bianco
“The 2025 Oregon vineyard harvest exhibits yet another year of extraordinary fruit quality thanks to Mother Nature and our skilled winegrowers, which will undoubtedly result in world-class wines crafted by our talented winemakers across Oregon,” noted Gina Bianco, executive director of Oregon Wine Board. “We are excited to enjoy these beautiful wines and share them with Oregon wine lovers, new and devoted, across the world.”
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