Washington wine harvest sets mark as earliest in history

ZILLAH, Wash. – Washington’s historically early wine grape harvest kicked off early Friday morning when 18 tons of chardonnay grapes were harvested in the Rattlesnake Hills American Viticultural Area.

By all accounts, this is the earliest harvest in the history of the Washington wine industry.

Kevin Corliss, who manages vineyard operations for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, said the earliest he recalls starting harvest was Aug. 15 in 1987.

“That’s the earliest in my career,” he said. “We’re usually around Labor Day.”

The grapes harvested Friday were at Hilltop, a 31-year-old vineyard north of the Yakima Valley community of Buena. The chardonnay grapes picked Friday will be turned into sparkling wine at Treveri Cellars, which specializes in sparkling wine.

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, which uses two out of every three grapes grown in Washington, has its first scheduled pick Tuesday, when it plans to bring in sauvignon blanc grapes from Upland Vineyard in the Yakima Valley, followed by chardonnay from its estate Cold Creek Vineyard north of Sunnyside, Washington.

In 2010 and 2011, Ste. Michelle picked no grapes until September. In 2010, it harvested almost no red grapes until October.

Rob Griffin, owner and winemaker at Barnard Griffin in Richland, is scheduled to bring in pinot gris on Aug. 17, the earliest he’s started since arriving in Washington in 1977. That year, he remembers not beginning harvest until after Oct. 1.

Last year, harvest began Aug. 18 when Paul Champoux in the Horse Heaven Hills brought in 1.6 tons of marquette, an unusual red variety that was bred to ripen in the upper Midwest. Champoux plans to harvest this year’s marquette on Monday.

Last year, Hilltop Vineyard was picked Aug. 25, so this year’s harvest caught many off-guard, including Jack Maljaars, owner of Vine Tech Equipment in Prosser, whose crew began harvesting the grapes before dawn.

Maljaars and his crew were wearing coats as they picked the grapes, thanks to temperatures in the low 50s – nearly 40 degrees cooler than they were just 12 hours before.

“It feels like the middle of September out here,” he said.

Treveri is planning to bring in a bit of Yakima Valley pinot noir in about a week – fruit that also will be turned into sparkling wine.

“We’re slowly easing into it,” said Christian Grieb, vice president of sales for Treveri who makes wine alongside his father, Juergen. “We’ll be full on into harvest by the end of August.”

When the new grapes arrived, the Griebs cut open a bottle of Treveri sparkling wine by slicing the top off with a saber to christen the start of the 2015 vintage.

“We like to saber a bottle of sparkling as a toast to the new fruit,” Grieb said. “We like to douse the fruit with a little bit of bubbly. Last year, it was pinot noir. This year, it’s chardonnay. It’s a way for the old and new vintages to mesh. It’s a fun little tradition we have.”