Unless you're stumbling upon our website out of the blue of cyberspace, you mostly likely already know that Tempranillo is one of our signature varietals. You may also know that growing Tempranillo is a bit of a stretch in the Willamette Valley. In fact, there are some definite critics.
Vintage 2008 is predicted to be our first commercial vintage of estate Tempranillo, product code name "Wilson" for all the Intel folks. That means we'll be challenging those critics with actual wine. Here's how the field is looking.
Now let's throw the weather into the equation. 2007 was the coldest and wettest year I have experienced since I started tracking in 2003. As of June 5th, 2007, we had accumulated 307 degree days. As of June 5th, 2008, we have accumulated only 250 degree days. That's right, we actually behind schedule of 2007.
What does that mean to this Tempranillo discussion? If we have a hot year and produce good Tempranillo, we make progress toward dispelling the criticisms, but the dedicated nay-sayers will still be able to assert that the variety is not appropriate for the Willamette Valley because it won't ripen in cool years. If we continue this track of another very cool growing season, a good wine is going to completely defeat the critics.
To be honest, I appreciate the role the critics play in marketing for us because even the negative attention spreads the message and creates more curiosity. So, for a very unintuitive reason, I'm hoping the weather really warms up and keeps the critics' arguments alive.
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