By Andy Perdue

As Washington grape growers and winemakers prepare for the 2019 harvest, they’re looking forward to a vintage with high quality, lots of grapes and a long, warm slide into autumn.

Andy Perdue,

Wineries such as Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Barnard Griffin already brought in some grapes in August, but harvest begins in earnest this month.

Kevin Corliss, Ste. Michelle’s vice president for vineyards, reported that they brought in a few tons of Sauvignon Blanc at the end of August, while Barnard Griffin in Richland kicked off harvest with a few tons of Syrah from a favorite vineyard near the community of Desert Aire near Mattawa, followed by some Sauvignon Blanc from Sagemoor Vineyards north of Pasco.

Corliss said last winter’s snow that lingered into spring started the season slowly, but consistently warm temperatures throughout the summer helped the vines catch up by midseason, and veraison (when the grapes start to change color), came at the end of August, putting it in line with a typical year.

Corliss said the state’s crop appears to be about the same size as last year, which was 261,000 tons.

Typically, the first grapes in are white varieties used for sparkling wine, particularly Chardonnay. On the red side, grapes such as Merlot and Syrah from traditionally warmer regions such as Red Mountain or the Wahluke Slope are the first in the door. That appears to be the case this vintage, which has enjoyed steady temperatures in the 70s and 80s. One winemaker talks about the magic of the Columbia Valley because of the consistently warm temperatures after Labor Day that help grapes ripen fully while developing complex flavors throughout the end of harvest, which is typically around Halloween. Grapes for late harvest and ice wines can go into December.

Corliss says this vintage has been nothing short of magical.

“It’s been just one of the nicest seasons we’ve had in a long time, after ‘snowmageddon’ and a terrible start to the spring. I kind of figured we were in for a real roller coaster, but today it’s really been pretty much right down the fairway and not too hot, not too cold. What more could you ask for that?” he said.

This is the most recent of a long string of good vintages for Washington, the nation’s second-largest wine producing regions, with nearly 60,000 acres of wine grape vineyards and about 1,000 wineries spread across the state.

The Tri-Cities is the epicenter of the state’s industry, with the majority of the vineyards and wineries within an hour’s drive.

The snowy winter was at first thought to hinder the grape crop, slowing down the vines’ progression with the extended cold weather. That did not happen, said Kent Waliser, general manager of Sagemoor Vineyards.

“It didn’t impact the growth prospects. The cold winter did impact cherry timing,” Waliser explained. “They lost normal degree days on cherry development and set back cherry harvest a week or 10 days from normal, but it didn’t do anything to change vineyard development. So I’m happy about that.”

Sagemoor consists of four vineyards: Sagemoor, Bacchus, Dionysus, Weinbau and Gamache, totaling 1,100 acres of vines, supplying fruit to about 100 wineries, about 10 percent of Washington’s wine industry. When Sagemoor was planted in 1972, Washington was a small wine industry, with only two larger producers. One big difference this year so far has been air quality, with fewer wildfires in the Northwest bringing a blanket of smoke over the Columbia Valley.

Megan Hughes, assistant winemaker for Barnard Griffin in Richland, said this will undoubtedly improve fruit quality this year.

“It affects ripening and it certainly could affect quality and certainly it affects our desire to be walking blocks. On a blue bird day like today, it’s much easier to add a couple more vineyards on to the end of the day than when you feel like you can’t breathe,” Hughes said.

Hughes said it’s shaping up to be a normal vintage.

“I don’t think we’re going to have any hurdles as far as grapes go. The weather seems to be on track,” she said.

She and her crew will bring in about 1,000 tons of grapes, enough to make about 65,000 cases of Washington wine.

Andy Perdue, editor and publisher of Great Northwest Wine and founding editor of Wine Press Northwest magazine, is the wine columnist for The Seattle Times.