Always a visionary, David Lett was the first vintner to plant Pinot Meunier outside its native Champagne area in France. This is the first vintage where our newest plantings produced fruit.
Record breaking precipitation fell in February followed by heavier than normal rain through the spring. The summer was dry and quite warm; fortunately, our deeply rooted vines weathered it well, drawing on the spring rains soaked deep in the soil. Late-summer smoke from forest fires in the Columbia Gorge was worrysome, but a burst of rain two weeks before harvest washed the vines and refreshed them - and put out the fires in the Gorge. At the end of September, harvest began as moderate temperatures moved in. This vintage was closest to “normal” of the last five years, starting just before our historical average of October 5.