Walla Walla Valley Wine Grape Harvest Begins

Walla Walla, WA (August 30, 2007) – As autumn approaches, the grape growers and winemakers of the Walla Walla Valley have been watching the vines closely and preparing for harvest. The cool spring and warm summer this year have produced a nice growing season for the Valley’s wine grapes. Growers have seen an even set with nice clusters of uniform berries. Canopies are healthy, and the crop is balanced.

Vineyards across the Valley started seeing signs of verasion as early as late July, with many vineyards seeing 40% - 60% of their crop through verasion by the middle of August. Syrah was one of the first varietals in the Valley to start going through verasion with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon following closely behind. Many winemakers have already been out in the vineyards for several weeks tasting and sampling their fruit and running lab analysis to closely monitor increasing sugar levels.

Predicted yields for this year’s crop vary from vineyard to vineyard. Yields appear to be up from previous years in many vineyards, while other vineyards will see lower yields with fruit of higher quality than previous vintages. Growers are seeing smaller berries this year but with great concentration of flavor.

For many of the Valley’s vineyards, bird nets have been placed over the vines in order to protect the fruit as it continues to ripen. Wineries began receiving white varietals in the last week of August from vineyards throughout the Valley, and red varietals will begin coming in as early as the first week of September.

There are now over 1,500 acres of wine grapes under cultivation in the Walla Walla Valley AVA. Roughly two-thirds of the acreage is on the Washington side of the Appellation with the other third on the Oregon side. There are upwards of 82 vineyards in the AVA representing both independent growers as well as wineries’ estate holdings.

The Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance is a winery and grower membership organization committed to furthering the awareness of the quality wineries, wines, and vineyards of the Walla Walla Valley Appellation. Our mission is to support and promote quality and excellence in our wine industry and to further national and international recognition of our region. For more information, please visit www.wallawallawine.com.

For press information please contact Jordan Small, Communications Associate, at 509-526-3117 or at jordan@wallawallawine.com, or Elizabeth Martin-Calder, Executive Director, at 509-526-3117 or emcalder@wallawallawine.com.