Happy summer! It’s coming in strong, so if you’re looking for something enriching to do indoors while you escape the heat, we invite you to spend some time with the seminar recordings from the 2021 Oregon Wine Symposium. June is when we remove the password protection from these videos each year, making dozens of educational sessions available to all.
Another perennial June activity at the OWB is the release of the preliminary grape pricing report. The one-page report is an early excerpt of the full Vineyard & Winery Report that is published in late summer. The 2020 preliminary grape pricing report was released last week and shows the median, average, minimum, and maximum price per ton commanded by variety statewide. Where data were sufficient, prices are also reported at the regional level.
Things up in Canada—Oregon wine’s biggest export market—have been active this month as well. The OWB team has been working with our excellent partners in Toronto to use our federal grant money to deliver a five-part webinar series for buyers in Ontario and a few of our neighbors in British Columbia. The sessions cover a diversity of aspects of Oregon wine and each features a handful of Oregon winery representatives. You can view OWB Education Director Bree Stock MW’s introductory session, “The Dirt on Oregon Wine,” below. As one attendee rightly remarked: “Definitely a lot of love for Oregon.”
While we’re taking July off from our monthly all-industry forum, we would like to invite you to join us in a (camp)fire-side chat with Jeff Miller, CEO of Travel Portland, on July 22 at 10 a.m. We hear from you that impacts of the ebbs and flows of tourism to Portland are felt statewide, and Jeff has agreed to spend an hour answering your questions about the recovery initiatives of Oregon’s largest tourism hub. He’ll also talk about This is Portland, a newly-launched campaign aimed at inspiring overnight stays by leisure travelers from Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Check out the anthem video that premiered over the weekend, then register to join the conversation and submit your questions for Jeff in advance.
Finally, many of you told us you like the new look of this newsletter, so we hope you’ll love the changes coming to industry.oregonwine.org. Starting next week, you’ll notice not only a fresh style reflecting the recently introduced global brand standards for Oregon Wine, but also some improvements that will make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for and get involved with the OWB’s offerings.
New look coming next week!
Prominently featured on the homepage, you’ll find a new PARTICIPATE-EXPLORE-ENGAGE section outlining timely actions to take, relevant resources to help your business, and ways to find out more about the OWB. The Resources page has also been reimagined to make it easier to search, filter, and scan the hundreds of resources available to you on our Industry website. Check it out next week, then be sure to let me know what you think and how we can make this site work even better for you.
Cheers,
Jess Willey
Director of Strategic Insights & Industry Relations
Marketing
2021-22 Oregon Wine Touring Guide available to stock in tasting rooms
The newest edition of the official Oregon Wine Touring Guide is available for complimentary order and delivery in 40-count cases. Request your copies of this comprehensive tourism resource for display in your tasting room. Or, slip copies into your next wine club shipment to inspire visits from enthusiasts around the country.
New Oregon Wine trade education seminar recordings available
This year’s Oregon Wine Month programming featured four master class webinars hosted by OWB Education Director Bree Stock MW. Designed for the trade, these sessions focus on Oregon’s major winegrowing regions. All recordings are available on the Oregon Wine Resource Studio and are great to share with your trade contacts at any time of year.
Research
2020 preliminary grape pricing report available
The preliminary pricing report for grapes from the 2020 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Report is available. It includes median, weighted average, minimum and maximum prices per ton, including breakouts by region and variety where possible, to provide a comprehensive picture of grape pricing around the state.
OWB-SPONSORED V&E RESEARCH UPDATE
Determining optimal irrigation initiation time
Dr. Alexander Levin, assistant professor at OSU and viticulturist at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center, has prepared an update about his research into the relationship between irrigation initiation timing and crop yields and quality metrics.
OWB-SPONSORED V&E RESEARCH UPDATE
Rootstock effects on mature Pinot noir growth
Dr. Patty Skinkis, professor and viticulture extension specialist at OSU, has prepared an update about her research investigating rootstock effects on mature Pinot noir growth and vine productivity under cool climate, dry-farmed conditions.
OWB-SPONSORED V&E RESEARCH UPDATE
Soil moisture and vine response
Dr. Patty Skinkis, professor and viticulture extension specialist at OSU, has prepared an update about her research to characterize soil moisture among three common Willamette Valley soil types and associated grapevine response under drying seasonal conditions.
June 2021 Weather and Climate Forecast
On June 3, Dr. Greg Jones of Linfield University published an updated weather and climate summary and forecast. This report looks back at May conditions and forecasts conditions for June, July and August.
Education
TRAVEL OREGON WEBINAR
How to Create Engaging Social Media Content on a Budget | June 29
Join Travel Oregon on June 29 for a webinar about How to Create Engaging Social Media Content on a Budget. Best suited for small and medium size businesses in Oregon, learn how to maximize your presence on social media, what food and travel consumers are really looking for, and how to create content that resonates with consumers using only your phone.
2021 Oregon Wine Symposium recordings now available to all
Password protection has been removed from all 2021 Symposium session recordings on the OWB’s industry website. Recordings and presentations covering wine business, viticulture, and enology are now available to all.
Opportunities
Wine Media Conference seeking sponsors
The Wine Media Conference will be held Aug. 5-7 at Eugene’s Valley River Inn with 138 attendees registered, most of whom are writers. Want to tell your winery’s stories to a national audience? Consider a Wine Media Conference sponsorship, starting at $500 for the Live Wine Social, or click here for more opportunities.
Other News
New climate normals
In May the new 30-year climate normal values were released after careful calculations by NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI). Dr. Greg Jones of Linfield University recently wrote a piece that describes these normals and how they relate to our lives in a changing climate, which you can read at Science & Wine.
