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.