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October 19th  The
rain is now falling steadily and the temperatures are struggling to reach
60º F. Hard to believe that less than a week ago we were enjoying
the tail end of almost 3 weeks of warm weather with temperatures in the
low 80's. Now it feels like fall. The leaves turned color weeks ago and
are now falling to the ground with the rain. The only consolation to bad
weather this time of year is that the cellar is filled with new wines
of outstanding quality.
 We
harvested our last fruit on the 6 th of October. The last few days of
harvest saw the white wines arrive at the winery: Pinot Gris from the
Wahle Vineyard and Five Mountains Vineyard, Riesling from Vigna Giovanni
and Chardonnay from the Eyrie Vineyard. These were gently whole cluster
pressed into settling tanks for an overnight clarification before being
racked into new stainless steel barrels for their fermentations. Bergström
Wines has moved away from older French oak barrels for white wine fermentation
and will now do all of our white wines in stainless steel vessels. This
is in an effort to keep our wines fresh and fruit driven.
 We
are excited to be working with Chardonnay from the Eyrie Vineyard this
year. After not releasing a Chardonnay in 2003 because of its elevated
alcohol, we have switched gears and are now focusing on a higher acid,
lower alcohol, stainless steel fermented chardonnay from vines planted
in 1967. This wine will be slowly fermented and aged on its lees for up
to 2 years before its bottling where it will again be aged before its
first release sometime in the next 3-4 years. Our goal is to create an
ageable chardonnay from Oregon , one that is focused around acidity (not
oak) and will pair well with the local restaurant fare.
 After
the white wines were in barrel we harvested our last Pinot Noirs of the
vintage. Bishop Creek, a new vineyard for Bergström Wines this year,
came in right before the older vines of the Hyland Vineyard.
As I write this note, we have close to 60 barrels
filled from earlier fermentations now resting quietly in one corner of
the winery building: Shea block 5, Shea Oak Block, Bergström 4-acre
block, Bergström 115 block, Palmer Creek 115/Pommard. Today we are
preparing to press out several fermentations including: Bergstrom Pommard
block, Bergström Wadenswil block, de Lancellotti front block and
de Lancellotti back block. We still have upwards of 15 tanks actively
fermenting including a few which have only begun their fermentations.
Next harvest journal will see the completion
of the vintage with a first take on wine quality lot by lot and potentially
insight into the blends and single vineyard wines of 2004. Until then….
Stay warm and dry. |
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2006 harvest
2005 harvest
2004 harvest
2003 harvest |
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September 29
 There
is an early morning cloud cover as we prepare to harvest the de Lancellotti
Vineyard. The picking bins are in place as the long steady line of headlights
pour into the winery driveway. The picking crew is ready, although weary
after 4 long days of harvesting our estate vineyards.
We have enjoyed a week of beautiful sunny skies
with average temperatures in the mid 70's to low 80's. Nighttime temperatures
are in the upper 40's to low 50's, the perfect cool climate for extended
pinot noir hang time. 
Who would have thought 7 days ago when—it looked
like the worst was at hand—that we would be enjoying such ideal weather
now? It feels like one of those Oregon Indian summers we all know and
love. And the 10-day forecast is filled with sunshine.
We have finished the early fermentations which
were picked before the rains almost 3 weeks ago, and they are surprisingly
full of potential: dark colors, large mouthfeels of big sweet pinot noir
fruit and lovely acidity (the likes of which we haven't seen since 1999.)
20 barrels of Shea Block 5, Ayoub and Bergström Vineyard now sit
quietly behind tanks filled with cold fresh fruit.
The last few days at the winery have been busy.
We have 47 tons picked now with 80 more to go. We have picked the rest
of the Shea Vineyard as well as the Bergström Vineyard and Palmer
Creek. The fruit is well-balanced, having recovered very nicely from the
rains. Acids are high and sugars are balanced. Pardon the expression,
but it seems like a Burgindian vintage so far…
 
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9/29/2004 - Fair
Temperature: 74°/48°
Humidity: 57%
Pressure: 29.92
Wind: N at 6mph
-- Josh Bergstrom
(click photo to enlarge) |
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September 23
 Since
the past entry we have waited through two weeks of stormy weather. The
weather turned sour on the 10th of September and remained cloudy and rainy
with cooler temperatures than average for the next 10 days. Several vineyards
began to lost their nerve and picked in the rain, fearing the worst. Others
picked because they had to, as the fragile young fruit that split during
the August rains would not make it through these heavy downpours.
And when it seemed that we were on
the brink of a catastrophic vintage with low sugars, high acids and poor
flavor development... the clouds broke and the sun came out! On the 19th
of September the storm subsided, and the weather forecast read like a
dream come true--the miracle everyone was hoping for: 10 days of sunshine!
In winemaking it is often those who
push the envelope that are rewarded with the greatest wines. In Oregon
it is our cool climate that we depend on for cutting edge Pinot Noirs.
After several hot vintages in a row we were all starting to believe in
global warming. Now we finally have a vintage that screams classic Pinot
Noir!
Yesterday, the 22nd of September,
we harvested our last block of Shea Vineyard--13 days after the first
Shea block was picked before the rains. Unlike Block 5 which was dessicated
by berry splitting and insect damage, the Oak Block had sound fruit which
looked beautiful on the sorting table and tasted great. Meanwhile, the
Shea Block 5 has started fermenting as we inoculated it with its own native
yeast strain on the 20th. The winery is once again filled with aromas
of fermentation--a sweet unmistakable type of perfume.
 Today
we will see fruit from Palmer Creek in the Eola Hills. We will pick and
co-ferment the 115 and Pommard blocks in one of our new 5-ton stainless
steel fermentation tanks. Oddly enough the Palmer Creek fruit seemed to
gain in ripeness and flavor during the stormy weather and did not lose
integrity to dilution.
The picking schedule for the next
week will see the two estate vineyards, Bergstrom and de Lancellotti,
as well as Nysa towards the beginning of the week. We will also start
bringing in Pinot Gris and Chardonnay.
The winery is getting to be busy now.
Friends and family as well as winery and vineyard crew are poised for
another great harvest. The flavors of the pinot noir berries this year
are terrific! Fresh, intense fruit profiles with very lively acidity should
make for some very nice wines. |
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9/23/2004 - Fair
Temperature: 76°/50°
Humidity: 61%
Pressure: 30.16
Wind: NW at 6mph
-- Josh Bergstrom
(click photo to enlarge) |
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September 9
 After
perhaps one of the most challenging growing seasons in recent memory,
harvest has snuck up on us again! We're entering our vineyards one last
time before the big rains, picking shears in hand, to bring a year's work
to fruition.
The
2004 vintage has been a year of extremes. We experienced a cold winter
with snow and a 3-day ice storm which left 1-2 inches of ice on all the
vines. The spring was marked by extremely hot days in March, which is
rare if not unheard of in Oregon, with daytime temperatures reaching into
the nineties. At budburst we saw some shoots that were far shorter than
others due to nitrogen problems and mites feeding on the foliage. Around
flowering, temperatures dropped and the vines' circulatory systems were
inundated with unusable nitrogen, causing them to begin aborting flower
clusters. This phenomanon mixed with poor weather and a very long set
left us with a small crop. In many areas we had a potential for 0.5 tons
per acre only.
 We
were then blessed with a hot, dry summer which blazed with over 20 days
peaking at 95+ degrees in the vineyard. It looked like harvest would be
2-3 weeks early with the small crop. But in late August we experienced
2-3" of very unseasonable rains. Suddenly our hot, dry summer became
the second wettest August since 1967! The soggy soils meant that the vines
would soak up excessive moisture, and with this feeding came thousands
of small berries which started bursting, leaving entire clusters succeptible
to mold growth.
And
then, as if the vintage seemed to be the greatest of our worries in life,
the Oregon wine industry suffered a terrible loss: Jimi Brooks, one of
our native sons, a bright star and a close friend, died suddenly at the
age of 38 of a heart attack. He will be missed greatly...
 Now
it is the ninth of September and ideally harvest would be 2 weeks off,
but the skies are once again threatening rain, so we have begun harvesting
the younger vines which may not be able to hold on to their small fragile
crop.
Today
we picked Shea block 5, but we'll wait to pick the Oak block until after
the rains. Tomorrow we will pick the younger vines in the Bergstrom Vineyard
whose sugars are very hight but whose skins are thin on the berries--
I worry about botrytis setting in.
The
exciting thing for me about Pinot Noir is the variation in vintage character.
As pinot noir is the perfect vehicle to taste the differences in soil,
so to is it the perfect vehicle to taste and remember certain years. I
am excited to taste and experience the wines from such a melancholic year
full of ups and downs. We hope you will joun us as we delve into our sixth
vintage at Bergstrom Wines.
Cheers! |
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9/9/2004 - Fair
Temperature: 76°/52°
Humidity: 57%
Pressure: 30.03
Wind: calm
-- Josh Bergstrom
(click photo to enlarge) |
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September 3
 We'd
like to welcome you to our new online harvest journal, where you'll find
weekly updates straight from the vineyards! Check this page frequently
for new pictures and information such as harvest dates, weather reports,
winemaker notes, and all impressions of the harvest as it happens.
This year, harvest will begin on Thursday, September 9th. All of us here
at Bergström are excited for you to join us for our sixth harvest
season, Bergström's harvest 2004 !
Sincerely,
The
Bergström Family
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9/3/2004 - Mostly cloudy
Temperature: 70°/54°
Humidity: 42%
Pressure:
Wind: NW at 9mph
-- Josh Bergstrom
(click photo to enlarge) |
