2024 Vintage Observations
While the 2024 growing season started off with concerns about too much precipitation too fast for some and not enough for others, a cool spring, and slow start to the growing season, winemakers across Oregon are now celebrating what turned out to be an outstanding harvest season and a vintage that promises excellence.
For the 2024 vintage, growing degree-day accumulations ended higher than average over most of the west, except along coastal zones and within a few mountain-valley areas.
After a cool spring, the first notable heat came to Oregon in mid-to late June when the berries were in the early stage of development, followed by a weeklong heat wave in July that initially elevated some grape damage and fire concerns.
Fruit set in 2024 was a bit variable around the state and by variety but overall was average. The July heat wave likely led to some variance in fruit set, including some shatter and varying averages in quality and quantity of fruit set.
Berry and cluster sizes were variable by variety and region, ranging from average to down in size, with yields coming in either average or down in regions that experienced heat stress in July and/or sunburn in September.
August brought slightly warmer than average temperatures followed by September, which was a roller coaster for temperatures with record breaking heat early and late in the month, sandwiching a very cool period in between.
October continued a run of very nice conditions to end the 2024 vintage. Generally mild to warm temperatures and not much precipitation until late in October made for a vintage with little to no pressure to pick until the fruit was showing its best flavors and acidity.
The state saw all stages of phenology either right on average, or within 1-4 days of historical average in all regions (both early and late). When asked to describe the vintage and the projected quality of the wines, winemakers’ comments were positive across the board, ranging from very good, and wonderful to exciting.
“The quality is very high – excellent year and vintage,” commented Bruce Sonnen of Van Duzer Vineyards and Winery in the Van Duzer Corridor. “[We enjoyed an] extremely long ripening window with minimal pressure windows for picking due to heat spikes and/or impeding rain events.”
Kathy Koball Miller of Tukwilla Vineyard in the Dundee Hills added that the vintage was “Excellent. Enough heat paired with lows in the high 40’s in September makes for good acid!”
Other comments from growers included variable impacts from animal and pest pressure and slightly above average Powdery Mildew pressure. Bird pressure was generally down on average.
Additional comments from winemakers and growers on the 2024 vintage centered around appreciation for the lack of smoke and wildfire concerns (in the end) and a return to normal, or a classic Oregon vintage.
“[It was] excellent across the board here. Slightly lower crop loads, small berries and no disease, along with normal harvest timing, gave us great balance between hang time and retaining natural acidity.” – said Brian Gruber of Jansen Gruber in the Rogue Valley.
This Vintage Observations report included some commentary and information gathered and compiled by Gregory V. Jones, Ph.D. Climatologist. Dr. Jones has verified this report.
State of the Industry
The 2023 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Census Report, published by the Oregon Wine Board in September 2024, showed that there are 1,143 bonded wineries in Oregon, a growth of 2% year-over-year. Similarly, 1,512 vineyards are now growing grapes in the state, also an increase of 2% year-over-year.
The price per ton of Oregon grapes continued to grow in 2023, while production remained roughly flat coming off a record year.
The total number of cases of Oregon wine across all sales channels grew by 5% in 2023, with that growth coming mostly from distribution sales inside Oregon and around the country, as well as wine club sales growth. Overall direct to consumer sales and export sales were down.
Total wine grape production, harvested acreage and value of wine grape production for the 2024 vintage will be addressed in the 2024 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Census Report, scheduled to be published mid-year in 2025.
Regional Overviews
Here’s a round-up of what some of our Oregon winemakers reported with this vintage:
The Rocks District of Milton-Freewater
Brook Delmas Robertson, SJR Vineyard and Delmas Wines
The 2024 vintage was in like a lion and out like a lamb. We hit -4F in January with zero inversion layer. This meant that even if fans were on, there was no warm air to pull down and change the temps at ground level. Detrimental for most, our vines fortunately endured under their winter covering of soil. We saw a modest amount of snow over the winter, with temps in the 30s at night well into April, but by May-June temps were steadily in the mid 80’s during the day. July saw the majority of the month over 90F with 10 days over 100F and a peak of 109F. Temps continued through August and September in the low 90s, which was perfect for extended ripening.
A little rain hit by mid-Sept, but conditions were favorable well into October, and ripening occurred right on time for us to have all varieties picked by the third week of September.
Canopies held through the heat and the balance of flavors in the fruit has been truly amazing. Not a large yield, but one in balance. At the press the intense perfume of each lot was stunning, our Grenache has a floral underpinning that has remained from berry to barrel, and we are particularly excited about the prospect of making a 100% varietal wine for that one. The wines are safely to bed and resting in large format barrels (500L and above), now it’s time to turn our focus back to the vineyard, prepping the cover crops, and tucking in our vines for the long winter slumber.
Willamette Valley
Drew Herman, Alexana Winery
This vintage has all the farmers high fiving each other and walking around with a little extra swagger in their step. Oregon winegrowers are some of the most collaborative people I know. The sharing of ideas and data, paired with ideal growing conditions, has birthed a bountiful vintage of pristine fruit across the valley. At Alexana, we welcomed the largest crop we have ever harvested from our estate. The crop load was very balanced with the canopy, and we were able to beautifully ripen everything.
There is no shortage of complexity in the 2024 vintage. The cool start to the season helped higher elevation blocks remain dormant a little longer than we anticipated, while also keeping the shoot growth contained to a manageable pace. Bloom came and we were stunned by the potential yield – it was too much. In 2024, the perfect amount of rain fell right in the middle of bloom, decreasing our yield potential to something near perfect.
Planning for a rainy end to the season, we experimented pulling leaves from the fruit zone on both sides of the canopy immediately after fruit set. The results were fascinating – when the few days over 100F came, the heat scorched the basal leaves that still remained in the fruit zone, but the fruit was unphased and able to get a better view of daylight and even more fresh air. After the heat, summer rain fell like we haven’t seen in years. The canopy rejoiced and the vines flushed sugar out of their roots driving the microbes in the soil crazy. We watched the vineyard flourish while awaiting veraison.
We harvested 97 acres in a 13-day window. Our crew of interns are some of the most loving and empathetic people I’ve had the pleasure of doing harvest with. The workload was intense and compressed. Still, lots of late nights were filled with lots of laughs. Every once in awhile you get perfect weather, and it pays off with fruit so beautiful you could plan a picnic around it. I know that 2024 will be a celebrated vintage among my peers.
Rogue Valley
Scott Steingraber, Kriselle Cellars
My opinion on our 2024 vintage is that we had an excellent year. We started bud break about two weeks earlier than normal and the growing season benefited from consistent daily temperatures with very few heat spikes. There was very low bird pressure and minimal smoke, which will only enhance our wines’ quality.
Picking started on September 10th and finished on October 16th. Our harvest window benefited from warm, mild temperatures with very little rain. Our options for scheduling our picks were easier than normal because we weren’t dodging or scheduling around any weather events. Additionally, we benefited from great wine chemistry when the fruit was picked. Great sugars and bright acidity.
Time will tell as the wine is made and aged, but for us here in the Rogue Valley we are off to a terrific start in 2024. I look forward to tasting this vintage after we’ve been able to put some time on the wine.
Portland
Kate Norris, Division Wine Co.
We had a bit of a late start, with a cool beginning to the growing season, and the heat spikes we received this summer came at moments that did not negatively impact the grape growth. While [the heat spikes] were on the longer side and felt a bit scary in the moment, they did not affect us negatively.
We also had a relatively low fire season throughout the Northwest. Any smoke that did occur came earlier in the summer rather than later, which was helpful. Props to the fire service teams for controlling everything.
We had rain in August, which is really rare. It was a nice amount of rain, and it gave the vines a lovely amount of liquid to continue down the ripening path and to do it without stress. We had a gorgeous September and an October to remember, allowing for hang time to get to beautiful flavor ripeness and ideal sugar-to-acid ratios. I am especially excited about the Chenin and Gamay from Southern Oregon.
They way it paced out was almost comically relaxing. It was still harvest with a couple of big pushes, but the avalanche never came. It allowed me to appreciate the beauty of the vintage in the moment (vs later in harvest as we’re wrapping things up). The pacing of how mother nature gave us ideal water, hang time, and tempo, meant I got to love it in the moment. An incredible treat!
Wrap-Up: Comment from Gina Bianco
“Despite some lower-than-expected yields, Mother Nature smiled upon Oregon with exceptional fruit in a near idyllic 2024 growing season,” remarked Gina Bianco, Oregon Wine Board Executive Director. “While our industry continues to face market challenges, we’re thrilled for our winegrowers and winemakers whose passion and hard work will soon be realized in the bottle.”
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