2012 Harvest Begins at King Estate Winery
On Saturday morning around 4AM at King Estate Winery near Eugene, Oregon we officially began harvest for the 2012 vintage on our own organic estate. This marks our 21st vintage since our inception in 1991 and our first harvest in 1992. Two crews harvested over 20 tons of Pinot Noir from a vineyard block near the solar panels on the northeast side of the property. Vineyard Manager Meliton Marinez was impressed, “I’m very pleased with the maturity and ripening of the fruit. We’re having a really good year, and the weather forecast is promising,” he said. The start of harvest is an exciting time at King Estate, and crews will be working 24/7 to process the grapes. We began bringing in grapes from off-site vineyards during the previous week.
Estate Organic Vineyard Growing Season Update for September 5th, 2012
At King Estate Winery, where we have over 475 acres of organic grapes planted, the majority of the vineyard blocks are now between 5 and 25% verasion, with some much further ahead. The following blocks are those that are farthest ahead this year: Block 4G on the south side of the property is at about 85% color, and is planted to Pinot Noir clone 113 on RG rootstock, it was green thinned today. Block 16B near the center of the property, just south of the main winery building is at 75% color. It is planted to Pinot Noir clone 115 on SO4 rootstock and will be green thinned tomorrow. Blocks 28C and 28D are in the far northeast corner of the property, both are planted to Pinot Noir clone 777 on 3309 and 101-14 rootstocks and they are both at about 80% color. It is possible that the entire site will be at 100% veraison by the middle of next week. Currently the property at King Estate has accumulated 1,350 GDD units which puts us close to where we were this time in 2010, however the outlook is much better as it appears that this September will be much dryer. During September 2010 we saw about 2.5 inches of rain during the month, currently the long term forecast for September look very promising, which bodes very well for the 2012 vintage.
Meliton Martinez
Vineyard Manager
King Estate Winery
2012 Oregon Growing Season Update for the First Week of August
During the growing season, our winemakers closely observe the growth in the vineyard on our organic estate and also venture beyond our own 1,033 acre property to make the rounds all over Oregon and Washington wine country. They do this throughout the summer, visiting the 40+ vineyards that grow grapes for our wines. This update for the first week of August, details their observations thus far on our own organic estate.
This weeks vineyard tour showed we are still on track. Vines have set a healthy crop load that is representative of great quality. The canopy growth has slowed and the vines are starting to show focus on the grapes. The hot dry weather has been great on the vines lately, giving full even canopies for consistent ripening later. Looks like we are starting to approach lag phase.
- Christopher Hudson, Assistant Winemaker
2012 Oregon Growing Season Update for the Third Week of July
During the growing season, our winemakers closely observe the growth in the vineyard on our organic estate and also venture beyond our own 1,033 acre property to make the rounds all over Oregon and Washington wine country. They do this throughout the summer, visiting the 40+ vineyards that grow grapes for our wines. This update for the third week of July, details their observations thus far on our own organic estate.
This week has shown that King Estate has been receiving ideal weather for a good growing season. Optimal temperatures have been putting the vineyard crew in full swing of training and shoot positioning. Our vineyard team has been doing an excellent job keeping up with the speed of growth in the vineyard. Across the estate we are starting to show good signs of fruit set. Our vines are looking healthy, well-kept and fruitful.
- Christopher Hudson, Assistant Winemaker
2012 Oregon Growing Season Update for the First Week of July
During the growing season, our winemakers closely observe the growth in the vineyard on our organic estate and also venture beyond our own 1,033 acre property to make the rounds all over Oregon and Washington wine country. They do this throughout the summer, visiting the 40+ vineyards that grow grapes for our wines. This update for the first week of July, details their observations thus far on our own organic estate.
This year is off to a great start thanks to the warm weather we had at the beginning of the growing season. We are on about the same schedule as bud break and bloom in 2008, a particularly renowned vintage. Currently we are at 354 growing degree days which is typically when we near 100% bloom, you can definitely smell the grape blossoms. Most vineyard blocks trained to a VSP (Vertical Shoot Positioned) trellis are 80-100% in bloom and the split canopy systems are between 70-90% on average. So far so good!
- Christopher Hudson, Assistant Winemaker
Bud Break Starts the 2012 Growing Season in our Organic Vineyard
It’s that time again. Bud break signals the beginning of the 2012 growing season at King Estate. Tiny buds first started popping up in March, and the vineyard achieved 100% bud break in early May. Last year, bud break wasn’t until mid-May, so Vineyard Manger Meliton Martinez and the vineyard crew are paying special attention to the vulnerable buds to ensure optimal growth. Secondary buds are manually removed to make sure the primary bud (which contains 2-3 grape clusters) receives most of the nutrients and energy, “we have to touch every single bud to remove them,” said Martinez. The process takes about two weeks with 60 people working all day at the task.
The Domaine Pinot Noir Story – Animated Infographic
This month, members of the Ultimate tier of the King Estate Tower Club, will receive a limited edition magnum of our Domaine Pinot Noir. The screen printed, wax sealed bottle will arrive in a unique box featuring an infographic that tells the story of the wine and the meticulous barrel selection process that ensures only the best estate organic fruit makes it into our Domaine blend. We’ve posted an animated version of this same infographic for your viewing pleasure.
Everyone Likes Our Domaine Pinot Noir
Our Domaine Pinot Noir is our finest red wine made from our best estate fruit. We vinify each organically farmed estate lot separately and then our winemakers arduously evaluate them lot by lot, and select the handful that will make about 1,000 cases of wine for the vintage.
Some wine lovers live by scores alone, some don’t have much regard for them at all, but most agree, when all the critics see it the same way, it says something undeniable about the wine – that it probably tastes pretty good.
Wine & Spirits Magazine's December Issue and King Estate's 90 Plus Point Trio
The December issue of Wine & Spirits Magazine just hit newsstands and we have three 90+ point scores listed for Signature and Acrobat Pinot Gris, and Domaine Pinot Noir. Earlier this year Wine & Spirits also named us one of the 2010 Wineries of the Year, and on another occassion selected us as one of the 2010 Top Value Brands.
Predator perches installed on the estate
The King Estate raptor program continues to develop, with more nest boxes and releases, as well as the addition of ten new predator perches around the estate.