This summer has been a busy time for Central Oregon ’s viticulture industry.
For the first time a commercial-quantity wine made from a 100 percent single varietal local grape is in the bottle.
And the favorable reviews point to a promising future for regional wine grape growers and vintners who have been working to diversify the local agricultural economy.
In an appropriate christening of the new all-Central Oregon wine a small group of Ranch at the Canyons residents popped the cork at a picnic along the Crooked River
All of the Le Crescent variety grapes in the new wine were grown at the Ranch’s Monkey Face Vineyard under the tutelage of vineyard manager Kerry Damon, and made for Faith Hope & Charity winery in the Lower Bridge
“Wow, look at that intense color,” was the prevalent first-glance reaction of the Ranch residents as their wine glasses were held against a backdrop of the late afternoon sky. Then the comments shifted to “nice balance, clean wine.”
And there was an obvious pride that the juice came from Monkey Face Vineyard, the first in the region to grow commercial quality grapes.
It was the Le Crescent color that prompted Faith Hope & Charity owners Cindy and Roger Grossmann to select a clear bottle for the wine, which was made by Linda Donovan at her custom crush facility, Pallet, in Medford
Just a few days later the Grossmanns put their new wine before a group of real estate brokers gathered for a continuing education class followed by a tasting at their winery-vineyard in the Lower Bridge area west of the Deschutes River
Attorney Laura Cooper of Ball Janik LLC in Bend followed her presentation on Oregon land use law with a tasting of the Le Crescent and other wines that are blended with some French-American hybrid varieties from Central Oregon .
Cooper also teaches a wine appreciation class in connection with the Culinary Institute of Central Oregon Community College and writes a wine column for the Prineville newspaper.
Again, the Le Crescent led off the tasting and, once more, the reaction was uniformly favorable.
When asked about food that would go with the Le Crescent she suggested proscuitto, perhaps a Caprese salad of tomato and mozzarella and even a chicken entree. Cooper will be working with the Culinary Institute on a series of wine pairing meals this Fall.
Also tasted at the class were Volcano Winery’s Bend White and Bend Red, the latter which also includes a small amount of the Le Crescent grapes from Monkey Face. Scott Ratliff of Volcano blends Marechal Foch grapes, another variety gaining strength in Central Oregon , in his Bend Red.
Earlier in the month, on August 12 the Old Winery Clubhouse at Ranch at the Canyons was the venue for a meeting of the Wine Growers Association of Central Oregon that featured presentations by Chris Lake, director of the Southern Oregon Wine Institute associated with Umpqua Community College’s Department of Viticulture, and Dr. James Osborne of the Oregon State University Department of Viticulture.
Lake highlighted the “opportunities” and “threats” that face a nascent viticulture industry in Central Oregon , emphasizing some of the factors that local growers well-recognize.
Weather extremes, fewer growing degree days, higher elevations, soil conditions and only 8-12 inches of annual precipitation are substantial challenges, Lake noted.
But Lake said the formative stage of the Central Oregon industry also has a major advantage.
“In a new wine region you have great opportunities to harness it and do what you want to do,” he stressed.
Growing red wine grapes will present the most challenges while whites will be more consistently pest resistant, Lake said.
Comparing the French-American hybrids being grown to those in Arkansas where he formerly worked in the viticulture industry, Lake said in the Razorback state there was one overriding principle:
“We had a baseline. The wine can’t suck,” a pithy observation that elicited guffaws from the more than 50 growers and others attending the session.
Dr. James Osborne of Oregon State focused on the expectations from hybrid grapes grown in Central Oregon and vitis vinifera grapes—such as Cabernet, Syrah or Chardonnay—that are better known on the West Coast.
Hybrids tend to be higher in acid and low in tannins more common to vinifera grapes that give wine the “mouth feel and astringency.”
“You’re not going to be making big huge cabernets with these hybrid grapes due to the lack of tannins,” Osborne said.
However, there is substantial potential to blend hybrids with vinifera grapes to achieve characteristics that appeal to wider markets and the addition of oak can also increase tannins, he noted.
