Oregon vintage report: Tricky Willamette Valley 2022 sticks the landing

 ‘The 2022 Chardonnays are imbued with great elegance, and the Pinot Noirs show an outstanding confidence across the Valley’s appellations. The cool and prolonged growing season has helped create wines with tremendous freshness that are balanced with ample concentration.’

The 2022 growing season got off to a shaky start but ended brilliantly in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

The season began with an ill-timed frost in the early morning hours of 15 April. The spring freeze caused significant damage to primary buds.

As an early-ripening variety, Chardonnay was the most impacted, particularly in parts of the northern Willamette Valley, like the Dundee Hills and Yamhill-Carlton, where bud break was already further along.

There was plenty of handwringing up and down the Willamette in the immediate aftermath of the spring frost. Nonetheless, many growers reported yields similar to those of an average growing season come harvest time.

There would be a few more twists and turns before the season was through, but – it stuck the landing.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of the top Willamette Valley 2022 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

‘I never want to diminish the challenges of a vintage,‘ says Bethel Heights winemaker Ben Casteel, ‘as we are all affected differently; the valley is 3.5 million acres [1.4m hectares], after all.

‘But we hadn’t had a significant frost event in the Willamette Valley since 1985, a distant memory for the most seasoned growers. Yet, some were speaking with the countenance of authority that half of the crop was gone in April.’

In the end, larger clusters and resilient secondary buds, as well as perhaps some premature doom and gloom, made for an outstanding vintage despite the early difficulties.

2022 Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs of the vintage

Arterberry Maresh, Weber Vineyard Pinot Noir, Dundee Hills 98pts

Hundred Suns, Own-Rooted Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 98pts

2022 Willamette Valley Chardonnay of the vintage

Walter Scott, X Novo Vineyard Chardonnay, Eola-Amity Hills 98pts

See all 280+ Willamette Valley 2022 tasting notes and scores

A waiting game ensues

Despite three extraordinarily warm days, June 2022 was an extremely cool month overall in the Willamette Valley. The high daytime temperatures did not reliably rise above the 60s (over 20°C) until 21 June.This proved vexing for winemakers.

‘It was the vintage that almost didn’t happen,’ says Evan Martin of Martin Woods. ‘We just barely got there before it was raining cats and dogs on 22 October. We had the coldest May on record and a classic Pacific-Northwest “June-uary”. The moderate summer that followed meant we weren’t making it up.’

Cristom’s winemaker, Daniel Estrin, remarks: ‘As we came into September, we were still going through veraison in much of the Cristom Estate. While many of Oregon’s typical harvests have rain during the last push, I was really concerned that we were going to get a significant rain event while we were still at low brix.

‘This would mean we would try to hang it to get some more ripeness, which would likely end with significant rot.’

‘Additionally,’ Estrin continues, ‘going through veraison late and then picking a short time later due to the warmth could lead to unripe tannins, particularly stem tannin, which we rely on so heavily. Luckily, this premonition did not come true, and we had a beautiful warm September followed by a dry October until late in the month.’

Good fortune, and perhaps Mother Nature’s penchant for Oregon Pinot Noir, meant that dreadfully cold May was bookended by a glorious October.

Martin concludes: ‘By the first of October, we weren’t even to sparkling numbers. If it had been a typical Oregon October, we wouldn’t have picked the grapes, to be honest with you.’

See the top 100 Pinot Noir and Chardonnays from the 2022 vintage

Willamette Valley vintage ratings

2022 5/5

A cool and wet spring, including an early April frost, made winemakers nervous that there would be adequate warmth to reach phenolic ripeness. A warmer-than-average and, more importantly, completely dry October was just what the doctor ordered for Willamette Valley’s growers and winemakers. The resulting wines show great freshness and structure at lower alcohols, with acidity that hints at outstanding ageability.

2021 4/5

After a challenging 2020, growers and winemakers were rewarded with a vintage of outstanding quality, albeit with slightly lower yields. Up and down the Willamette Valley and across different grape varieties, wines show ample ripeness and freshness, and there is plenty of elegance from top producers.

2020 2/5

A picture-perfect vintage was all but destroyed by wildfire smoke from the high pressure and wind event around the Labor Day weekend (5-6 September). Many wineries did not even produce red wine in 2020; those that did saw varied impacts from smoke taint. There were some well-made white wines, Chardonnay in particular.

2019 5/5

While yields were lower, 2019 was a throwback to the classically cool and elegant vintages that made the Willamette Valley’s Pinot Noirs famous. For the first time in recent memory, temperatures were lower than the year prior, and there were late rains. For long-standing winemakers, it was a return to the good old days.

A perfect finish

As the saying goes, it’s not how you start that’s important, but where you finish. The 2022 vintage in the Willamette Valley had a finish that was simply perfect.

‘In all, it was a cool year with the warmest October I can remember,’ says Jimmy Maresh, second-generation winemaker at Arterberry-Maresh. ‘It was like paradise in Oregon, with 75° days (24°C) and blue skies.’

Ultimately, that finish made for a beautiful vintage. For many in the valley, the long, cool start to summer was reminiscent of an earlier time. There was some pest pressure and concern about birds.

Still, by October, generally healthy crop loads, particularly for Pinot Noir, made the cold complications of an April frost and chilly May seem like distant memories.

The 2022 Chardonnays are imbued with great elegance, and the Pinot Noirs show outstanding confidence across the Valley’s appellations. The cool and prolonged growing season has helped create wines with tremendous freshness that are balanced with ample concentration. A five-star vintage for the Willamette Valley.

‘This is a vintage that definitely has more tension,’ says Jean-Nicolas Méo of Nicolas-Jay.

‘While I wouldn’t call the previous year (2021) a super-warm vintage, it came across as sturdier or more ripe. 2022, on the other hand, shows a more natural balance with its acids and is more ethereal and lighter-weight.

‘It’s a brilliant combination of ripeness and tension. It’s a dynamic vintage in Oregon, and the wines will improve over the next few years.’

Willamette Valley 2022: a selection from our top-scoring wines

The following wines scored 95 points or above and are listed white then red in score order.

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