2022 Vintage

2022 started with one of the wettest springs on record for the Willamette Valley. We experienced extended rain in the spring, the highest rainfall levels year to date since the 1940’s, affecting all crops in the northwest corner of Oregon. As far as I can tell that didn’t impact the vines and improved aquifer water table levels. In April the Willamette Valley received snow and several nights below freezing just as bud break was beginning. Primary bud formation was impacted, and once a primary bud dies, the secondary bud kicks in. This generally decreases grape yields significantly, by as much as half. Our estate Chardonnay block bore the brunt of the freeze damage as those vines were the first to stir from dormancy. Fruit set was delayed by several weeks pushing harvest into mid-October; the delay allowed clear warm weather for fruit set resulting oddly enough in heavier yields than in 2021. With a little mercy later in the year from Mother Nature we had a dry fall and good harvest conditions. The year slowly went from a glass half empty to a glass half full.

We had enough ambition remaining to start our first Sparkling Brut SKU, it’ll take a few years to produce and hope it is worth the wait. We also ended up signing fruit contracts to maintain our tonnage, however yields from our existing vineyards proved to be much better than originally expected and we ended up almost doubling the tonnage of fruit processed over our inaugural Vintage in 2021. We are excited about the potential for the 2022 Vintage, now that the juice is in the winery we are working on the 2022 lineup.

2022 turned out to be a great year for the Bacus family, we accomplished much in 2022 and look forward to seeing you all in 2023 when we open our tasting room. If there is anything you’d like to see us do next year, send us an email! We’d love to hear from you.