Harvest Almanac

Archived Almanac : 2005

Utopia Harvest Almanac – 2006

We completed the 2006 Harvest on September 29th and all I can say is what a difference a year makes! Compared to 2005 the 2006 growing season was nearly ideal with most vineyards coming in with higher than normal yields. After dropping 30% to 40% of our fruit, the Utopia vineyard still brought in a whopping Nine (9) tons of ripe fruit exhibiting beautiful color and lovely aromatics. Just as in 2005 all of the 2006 fruit for Utopia came from our original 2002 4 acre planting of Dijon and Pommard clones. Our entire vineyard is dry farmed by hand using organic farming methods that eliminate all pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides.

The windfall of the 2006 harvest also provided us with enough fruit to separate the different clones for the first time. This year we have separate barrels with Pommard, Swan and Wadensville and a blend of 667, 777 and 115 topped off with the remaining Pommard, Yummy!!!Full Text ... (.PDF - 1MB)

Utopia Harvest Almanac – 2005

Our very first harvest from our original 4 acre planting of 6 different Dijon and Pommard clones is now complete. The grapes were all brought in on October 9, 2005. By all accounts it was a challenging growing season, cold throughout and quintessentially Oregon. The result for most vineyards was significantly lower yields than average, but, this climate as challenging as it is rewarding is why people come to Oregon to grow and make great Pinot Noir. Full Text ... (.PDF - 366KB)