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Rain, frost forcing Oregon wineries to make tough decisions

Some wineries chose to keep their grapes on the vine and hope and other pulled them early.

Oregon wine country is having a tough go of it thanks to all the rain and early cold temperatures.

But some winemakers are taking a gamble and keeping their grapes on the vine.

Others have already taken them off.

Dave Petterson is the winemaker at Domaine de Broglie in Dayton.

He would love to keep the grapes on the vines for another week or two.

Unlike recent summers, this last relatively cool one didn't help speed up the ripening process. And then came the early rains.

"We are pushing a number of rainfall records for September and September is really the make or break month for wine up here especially at higher elevation sites like this," he explained.

First came the rains, then came the frost. Luckily that didn't harm the grapes.

"It's a nail biter," Petterson said. "It's a year where we are looking at it every day."

And while Petterson is taking the gamble, others are playing it safer.

Furioso Vineyards already picked its poinot noir grapes and will be done processing them this week.

Winemakers saw the impact of the rain on some of the pinot noir grapes and decided to get them off the vines before mold and mildew set in.

"Mother Nature was forcing us to pick a little sooner," said Jim Maguire with Furioso.

The early harvest might mean a slightly less sugary, lower alcohol wine, but will also make for a more "food-friendly" wine, and that just so happens to be Furioso's specialty.

"It worked out well for us," Maguire said.

Of course, what works for some here Oregon wine country may not work for others. But, in the end, those differences might just be a good thing.

"Years like this, I have found, can produce some of the most interesting wines in the long run,” said Petterson. “But it's pretty stressful right now."

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