www.whistlingdogcellars.com - Nuestro Sueño Vineyard

2 nights at/near freezing, no damage here...at least a week of growing degree days forecasted (lows in the 40s)...looks like it's time to re-start the season.

Current forecast thru April 23: Highs mid- to upper-60s, Lows low- to upper-40s, Sunny with minimal rain.

Beautiful weather, into the low 70s this past weekend. An inch or so of rain forecasted over next 48 hours - so far, 2.9 inches this month; twice as much as last year (at end of March we already exceeded Oct thru Sept total rainfall for 2009 growing season), more April rainfall than any of the last 5 years. We're still 2" higher than October-to-date "normals".

April 26, 2010
Still waiting for those sunny, 70 degree days

Slow, uniform start to the season - Old-vine Wadenswill trunk replacement block

Nearing the time to remove doubles

This past week had a some sunny, dry days; but the daytime temps remained mostly in the upper-50s to mid-60s, a couple nights down to the mid-30s. This week's forecast shows highs mid-50s, lows low-40s; 1.5" rain, spread over the next few days. We're still in the time of year where the 2-week forecast consists more of hopefulness than accuracy - and, of course, it says next week will be in the 70s.

May 3, 2010
Rainy & windy next few days

Plenty of rain during April: 2" > normal, 3" > last year

Shoots have 3-4 open leaves, Inflorescences visible

Pulling doubles today

Off and on rain this past week: highs mid- to upper-50s, lows mid-40s. Nice weekend hitting low 60s, pertly cloudy. Pulled grow tubes and tied up most young vines.

Wind advisory today, gusting to near 50 mph. Pulling doubles and making first suckering pass this week.

Forecasters have finally given up on putting 70s in the forecast. It's supposed to clear by mid-week and get back into the low 60s, after several days in the mid-50s. After an early start, the temps in April remained barely higher than the level required for growth. Heating degree days are near the lowest of the past 5 years, second only to 2008.

May 5, 2010
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PORTLAND HAS ISSUED A FROST ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM PDT THURSDAY.
* TIMING: LATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY THURSDAY MORNING
* TEMPERATURE: LOWS DIPPING INTO THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 30S.
* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: SALEM...MCMINNVILLE...HILLSBORO...PORTLAND... VANCOUVER...LONGVIEW...SCAPPOOSE.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A FROST ADVISORY MEANS THAT FROST IS POSSIBLE. SENSITIVE OUTDOOR PLANTS MAY BE KILLED IF LEFT UNCOVERED.

May 6, 2010
Dodged another frost bullet overnight, 36 degrees and light frost on the ground but no apparent damage. May be worse a little north of us, overnight lows in Carlton-McMinnville-Dundee area were 32 to 34 degrees.

...LOCAL FROST POSSIBLE AGAIN TONIGHT IN MUCH OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON...

ANOTHER COOL NIGHT IS IN STORE FOR MUCH OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON TONIGHT AND EARLY ON FRIDAY. A COOL AIR MASS REMAINS IN PLACE...AND AFTERNOON CLOUDS SHOULD CLEAR MUCH BETTER AND IN MORE AREAS THAN THEY DID WEDNESDAY NIGHT. AS A RESULT... MANY AREAS SHOULD SEE TEMPERATURES FALL INTO THE 30S TONIGHT.

WITH AFTERNOON DEWPOINTS IN THE MID TO UPPER 30S...THIS WILL LIKELY LIMIT HOW COLD IT WILL GET TONIGHT. STILL...LOCAL FROST IS POSSIBLE TONIGHT ESPECIALLY IN TYPICALLY COLD AREAS SUCH AS HILLSBORO... MCMINNVILLE...EUGENE AND SCAPPOOSE. THESE AREAS MAY SEE TEMPERATURES FALLING INTO THE LOWER 30S...AND A FEW OUTLYING SPOTS MAY EVEN HAVE A CHANCE AT SEEING 28 OR 29 DEGREES.

BE SURE TO PROTECT ANY TENDER PLANTS FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE COLD TEMPERATURES TONIGHT IN SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON.

May 7, 2010
Last night's temps didn't get as low as forecasters expected, most areas in the high 30s, lighter frost than yesterday; sunny with highs today near 70 - finally.

May 10, 2010
Light showers overnight

Shoots 4-6 inches, 4 to 5 leaves opened

After a couple light frosts, the week ended with beautiful, clear days Friday through Sunday; Temps at/near 70, lows in low 40s. Shoot internodes beginning to elongate; doubles pulled, second cultivation done, finishing up suckering, Weather forecasts not yet accurate for second week of forecast period. This week's forecast shows today and tomorrow cloudy with a few showers, highs mid-50s; Mid-week through weekend clearing with highs in the high-60s/low 70s, lows in the low 40s. If forecast holds we should be tucking shoots under 1st wire by the weekend.

May 17, 2010
Light rain throughout the week

Shoots 6-10 inches, 7 to 9 leaves opened.

A beautiful, clear, dry week last week: highs mid-70s, lows mid-40s. The warm weather jump started the vines, creating lots of vineyard work: first pass of suckering completed, almost time for the next pass. Second mildew spray/foliar nutrients applied this weekend. Shoots are now close to or above the first wire, and looking healthy and fairly uniform; we'll begin tucking tomorrow. At this point, we are about 7-10 days ahead of last year. This week's forecast includes about 1" of rain; perfect timing, given we've only had about a half inch of rain this month (3/4" below normal, 1 3/4" below May 2009) and the ground is already hard as concrete; highs upper-50s to low-60s, lows mid 40s.

May 24, 2010
Continued light rain throughout the week, temps slightly warmer as storms track from central Pacific rather than further north

Shoots 6-10 inches, 7 to 9 leaves opened; not much change this past week since daily highs were near minimum temps for growth

Strong winds on Wednesday did slight damage to leaves and shoots near the first wire, no breakage

Inflorescences beginning to elongate, showing spiral form

2.25" of rain this past week, with daily highs in the low- to mid-50s. We're nearly 1.25" above May normals, but still below last year's May rainfall. Vine growth is approximately where we were last year, at this point. This week's forecast is for light rain throughout the week; high temps in the low- to mid-60s, lows mid-40s to low-50s. If forecast holds we will have one of the coolest season starts in recent history, with slightly over 100 heating degree days (base 51F) in May, compared to normal 200+. Fortunately, early budbreak, combined with string of warm days in early May, has - to this point - minimized the effect of low temps. Should lower than normal temps continue beyond this week, we will start lagging normal development.

May 31, 2010
After an early bud break, heating degree days dropped dramatically. At the end of May we had 161 HDDs so far this season, approximately 1/3 less than recent years.

Our drought cycle has ended, with rainfall since October at almost 40", approximately 4.5" above normal.

Last week was dry and cloudy, with highs in the low 60's. Not much shoot growth, inflorescences continuing to elongate.

Rain continuing throughout this week, 2-3" expected, highs in the mid-60s. Hoping there will be enough heat for most of the shoots to creep above the first wire this week, so we can begin putting clips on the first wire.

June 8, 2010
Just short of 2.5" rain this past week; but on the positive side, most of the week we got up into the mid-60s with Saturday, Monday, and today in the low- to mid-70s. The vines began the grand period of growth, racing up near or above the second wire, with 10-12 leaves opened, after we clipped the first wire on Saturday.

Of course, more rain is on the way, with 0.5-1" forecast for Wednesday-Thursday; but dry and upper-70s to low-80's predicted from Saturday through next week. Inflourescences still are tightly capped, many not yet fully elongated. Looks like we won't see bloom for another week to 10 days. We're currently tracking to a later bloom, like 2008.

June 21, 2010
Relatively dry and warm over past two weeks; about 0.4" of rain and highs in the mid-60s to 70s, never got the string of high-70s/low-80s days. Summer still hasn't begun in the Willamette Valley. Shoots showing 12 to 14 open leaves; clipped second wire last week; shoot length variable, we'll tuck shorter shoots into clipped wires this week. First inkling of bloom; some caps splitting, one or two yellow anthers beginning to poke out. Seems it's going to be a late, nail-biting, mid- to late-October harvest.

Forecast shows highs in the 70s this week, dry for the next few days with late week scattered showers. We still haven't reached the point when we can begin counting on the two-week forecast. Early signs of a La Niña starting up.

June 28, 2010
Beautiful weather this past week; dry with highs in the mid-70s to mid-80s, lows mid 50s. First extended period of summer-like weather caused vines to race up the wires; many shoots above the top wire now. Bloom starting slowly, less than 1% at this point.

Inflorescence Necrosis (IN) becoming evident (see last photo), here and throughout the valley. Too early to tell the extent and impact of the damage, look like 15-20% damage here, but impact will be somewhat offset by the huge size of many of the inflorescences. We'll get a better view of the impact when we get past fruit set. IN is not pest or disease related. It is believed to be associated with the vine's inability to deal with high ammonium levels; some research indicates low light and cool temps lead to lower than normal levels of photosynthesis creating a situation where insufficient production of carbonhydrates results in the vine's inability to use excess ammonium (normally dealt with by producing amino acids), leading to necrosis of the flower pedicels. [http://www.ajevonline.org/cgi/reprint/45/2/155.pdf]

Forecast looks like excelent bloom weather. No rain or significant wind, highs 70s-80s.

July 5, 2010
June was one of the wettest and coolest months in recent history. Rainfall for the month was 2.6" and 42.3" season-to-date; 6" more than normal and 16.4" more than last year. With only 270 heating degree days, June 2010 was barely warmer than the coolest recent June (2005); but with 431 season-to-date heating degree days continues to be the coldest season start.

After two consecutive weeks of great spring-like weather, shoots have rocketed to approximatly normal heights. Most shoots are unifomly above the top wire. Most vines are at or close to "full bloom". Many flower caps have failed to fully detach this year; we won't know until fruit set whether this, and the pockets of inflorescence necrosis, will signifcantly impact yields.

Dry weather is forecasted, with highs increasing into the 90s for the next week. Soil moisture levels will hopefully be sufficient to minimize stress as we finish bloom.

July 12, 2010
Summer kicked in with a vengence this past week, three days above 96F and six above 87F. The good news was that the vines sped through bloom, apparently without much ill affect, in our vineyard at least - we benefitted from winter rains refilling the water table and thirty-year old root systems.

Set looks like it will occur quickly and relatively painlessly. Early indications are for a lighter than average cropload due to a number of factors: wider than normal fruiting cane internodes (lower number of shoots per cane), most shoots without 3rd cluster (usually we drop the 3rd one), low to moderate number of berries per cluster, pockets of clusters very lightly set due to inflorescence necrosis; partially offset by portions of the vineyard having unusually large, multi-branched first clusters. Taking a positive outlook, it looks like we will have a cropload and cluster structure that will assist in ripening and minimizing rot, in what looks to be one of the latest harvests in recent years.

The vines are still growing in high gear. We did our first pass of pulling laterals and hedging this past week - early from the standpoint of bloom; but similar timeframe as most years, and absolutely necessary at this point. This season looks to be a multi-round canopy management fight.

Cool front moving through today with highs in the low- to mid-70s; dry and with mid- to upper-80s for the remainder of the week.

July 19, 2010
Clear and dry this past week; days in the low-70s to upper-80s, nights around 50. Barely a drop of rain this month, 0.04" to be exact. The ground is hard as concrete and cracking, but the vines aren't showing any water stress yet. The grapes have set and it looks like one of the factors affecting this vintage - besides the late harvest - will be the variability in cluster size and density. Clipping the top wire today (this year we had to hedge before the top wire was clipped, due to vine middle shoots getting a significantly slower start than the apically-dominant end shoots). Unclipped the first wire and completed the second round of lateral removal (first 3-4 nodes) this week. This coming weekend, after hedging again (to catch the laggard shoot tips), weed-wacking the vine rows (to knock down the excessively tall and thick crop of wild carrot this year, before the seed heads mature and the grape clusters close) and mowing the aisles, work should slow down as the vines shift from vegetative growth into fruit development and the weeds/grasses begin going dormant.

Last week's was the first two-week forecast that was accurate this growing season. While hoping that a trend would be starting, this week the two-week forecast, at least temp-wise, has changed each day. Today's forecast shows clear, dry weather with highs in the mid-80s to low-90s (but it's a dry heat, they say), lows in the mid-50s - typical Oregon summer weather.

July 26, 2010
The past week began clear, dry, and pleasant; ending hot, hot, hot -Saturday 96F. Looks like, for the most part, shoot growth has slowed, and lignification has begun. The berries are about pea-sized, with clusters starting to droop from horizontal to veritcal. Should be hitting lag soon. Laterals pulled, hedging done, aisles mowed, most rows weed-whacked; starting to chip-bud 2 acres of suckers from Chard to 115 and 777.

Today's forecast for the next week shows continued clear, dry weather with highs in the mid-80s, lows in the mid-50s.

August 2, 2010
July, normally the hottest and driest month of the year, had 512 heating degree days and 0.04" of rain. Season-to-date, 2010 has been the second wettest year in recent history and by far the coolest - usually by August we have cracked 1,000 heating degree days, not this year.

Great Pinot growing weather this past week, sunny and dry with highs in upper-70s to upper-80s, lows in the low- to mid-50s. I can't prove it yet, but it seems we're making up some lost time; I'm guessing lag will occur in the next week or so. This year is looking a lot like 2008 (let's hope that October is relatively dry without any early frosts). One thing for sure, yields will be light or lighter than 2008. Like 2008 fruiting canes have 3 to 4 shoots per foot, with 1-2 clusters per shoot; most important, compared to 2008, cluster size is significantly smaller, clusters are looser, and berries are smaller with greater size variation.

The forecast for the next week shows continued dry and warm weather, with highs in the mid-80s, lows in the mid-50s.

August 8, 2010
Clear, dry, with morning marine cloud layer this past week; high temps in the 80s, lows in the mid-50s. Great pinot-growing weather!

Normally, during the second week of August, we start veraison. In 2008, the latest recent season, we saw the first hint of pink in the third week of August. This year, we're just beginning to reach Lag; when berry cell division ends, signaled by hardening of the seeds; and berry cell enlargement begins. Usually this occurs 3 weeks or so before veraison, and is the time when we can get a fairly good estimate of crop levels (berry weight roughly doubles from lag to harvest). But cluster count/shoot, size, and fullness, along with berry size, are so variable this year that crop load estimates will be a WAG. Hopefully, at least, we'll see some color before the end of the month.

We need heat, and if we continue to see 80s through monthend, August will be the first near-normal month, temperature-wise. At this point it's hard to tell what's in store. Temperature forecasts this year have not been very accurate. The two-week forecast has been accurate only twice; but, more frustrating are the swings occuring wiithin the current week, and the differences between the three major forecasting orgs that I follow. Yesterday Accuweather showed highs in upper-70s to mid-80s for this week, today it shows upper-80s to upper-90s; The Weather Channel shows upper-70s to upper-80s, and the National Weather Service shows upper-70s to mid-80s. This is only an inconvenience at this point in the season, but as we get closer to harvest the swings and inconsistencies become more important, especially as the weather becomes less stable. No problem forecasting pricipitation, though; there isn't any.

We continue working on canopy management by hedging and will pull more leaves from the fruiting zone as we get later in the month (trying to avoid sunburn associated with August strings of 90+ days and moisture stress). In the next week or so, we'll start dropping wings, as well as clusters from shorter shoots.

August 2, 2010
National Weather Service

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
in effect until Friday, Aug 13, 6:00 AM

...EXCESSIVE HEAT OUTLOOK FOR THE INLAND VALLEYS...COAST RANGE AND CASCADE FOOTHILLS OF NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON THIS WEEKEND THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK...

HOT TEMPERATURES WILL DEVELOP OVER INTERIOR SECTIONS OF NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON THIS WEEKEND. HIGH TEMPERATURES ON FRIDAY ARE EXPECTED TO RISE INTO THE LOWER 90S. TEMPERATURES WILL CLIMB INTO THE MID AND UPPER 90S OVER THE WEEKEND AND LIKELY CONTINUE THROUGH AT LEAST MONDAY OF NEXT WEEK. SOME LOCATIONS MIGHT TOP OUT NEAR 100 DEGREES SUNDAY OR MONDAY. THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR VERY WARM CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK BEFORE SIGNIFICANT COOLING OCCURS.

August 16, 2010
Clear,extremely dry, and HOT this past week; humidity lows in the 15-20% range, high temps at/near 100, low temps in the mid-50s. A little to hot for the 4 to 6 hours above 90, but otherwise excellent pinot-growing weather. Small amount of sun-burn evident on the west-side of the rows, but not significant enough to make a yield or quality impact. Started dropping wings, 3rd clusters, and clusters on short shoots - all unlikely to ripen well, especially this year. The vines look in great shape, particularly as we end this extended heat spike. WIth such great weather, healthy canopies, small clusters and berries we are getting the perfect setup for a great vintage.

Here's where we were at this time last year - still a ways off, this year.

This week's forecast shows cooling down into the upper-70s to low-80s after Tuesday, continued clear and dry.

August 18, 2010
Had a heat-breaking T-storm yesterday afternoon that gave us 0.02" of rain, barely enough to dampen the dust. This morning, while pouring the last of my stored winter rain on some young vines, I saw this:

115 grafted on 30-year-old Chard

30-year-old, own-rooted Pommard

I still can't believe it, 3 days earlier than 2008...

Found some more, later:

Looks like the excellent weather we've had since June is pulling veraison in by a couple of weeks. Very nice!

August 22, 2010

Forgot to post this last week, but current 3-month weather outlook for Oregon makes a firm call that La Niña conditions are expected to last through winter; the next 3 months having near-normal temps, but undetermined impact on rainfall (analog years show a range of precip levels): http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/NRD/docs/pdf/dlongrange.pdf?ga=t .

August 23, 2010
Nothing but sun...and bluebirds. Anbsolutely beautiful weather after what is likely the last extended heat spike of the summer; dry, sunny, highs mid-70s, lows mid-50s. Veraison is slowly starting up. Last Wednesday 5 or 6 vines had a few berries showing color, today half of the rows have 3 to 5 vines with some color, still - except for a few early starters - less than 1% of all the clusters are turning. We've finished thinning wings, 3rd clusters, and fruit on short shoots for our own winery's crop; and pulled some leaves on the east side of our rows. We're starting to see some moisture stress in the younger/weaker/drier areas of the vineyard; nothing to complain about yet, but a little rain would be welcome.

Forecast shows a 2-day heat spike into the 90s, beginning tomorrow, then mid-70s for the rest of the week. Hopefully this plus clear, sunny days for the foreseeable future will get veraison going in a big way.

August 25, 2010
Representative samples; all from same block in vineyard; all at the same point of development, near end of veraison:

August 26, 2006 (1st color ~ 8/5/06; harvest 9/27/06)

September 2, 2007 (1st color ~ 8/9/07; harvest 10/13/07) [By far, the longest ripening period of any of these - And they said '07 sucks?; sleeper vintage, baby!]

September 12, 2008 (1st color ~ 8/28/08; harvest 10/14/08)

August 30, 2009 (1st color ~ 8/10/09; harvest 10/8/09)

August 23, 2010 (1st color ~ 8/18/10) ?Near end of veraison around 2nd week of September; harvest 2nd week of October?

August 30, 2010
After mid-90s earlier last week, we spent the rest of the week sunny and dry, with highs in the mid-70s, lows in the upper-40s. The heat jump-started veraison with little, if any, sunburn.

Nice light, gentle rain this morning - which is a good thing, particularly for young/weak vines in the Willamette Valley's mostly dry-farmed vineyards. If the forecast is correct, we'll pick up about a quarter inch of rain today (more than the cumulative amount since the end of June), and up to half an inch in total over the next couple of days.

Veraison is starting out slowly, but developing normally; which is nice to see for this late in the season. Last Monday, approximately 2-3% of the vines had any colored fruit, and less than 1% of all clusters and berries were showing color. As of this morning, approximately 95% of the vines have some amount of color (representative picture below), about 15-20% of the clusters have color, and less than 1% of the berries have color.

Given the relatively quick bloom & set this year, the subsequent excellent growing conditions, and that the vines appear in great condition and are coloring uniformly, I expect to see some rapid coloring over this week as forecasted temps move back into the mid- to upper-80s.

We're still on track for beginning harvest in the second week of October, barring deluge or freeze...

September 1, 2010
In August we had 508 heating degree days, virtually the same as 2008; bringing the season-to-date total to1451 HDDs, leaving this season as one of the coolest on record. Fortunately, for July & August combined (the months racking up almost half of the annual HHDs), 2010 had rioughly the same amount of HDDs as each of the past 5 years, except 2009,

While season-to-date rainfall of 42.5" keeps 2010 as the second wettest seasons since 2005, August had only 0.20" (essentially all in the past 2 days); making the combined July and August rainfall of 0.24" one of the drier bloom-to-veraison periods in recent years.

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