Island grape harvest breaks records

Published 1:28 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2015

By ANNELI FOGT

Editor

Vashon Winery owner Ron Irvine is a man passionate about wine, but ask him about the wine he makes on Vashon from grapes grown on Vashon, and his eyes light up.

“It’s very special. I don’t think people really understand what local wine is. A lot of people just think it’s wine grown kind of in the area, but to have something that is completely coming from the island is really rare,” Irvine told The Beachcomber during a tour of island vineyards last week. “It’s about preserving and actively using local goods.”

While islanders and tourists alike know that Vashon offers multiple wineries, the island’s vineyards are a better kept secret. The six island vineyards that provide grapes to two of the island’s wineries are run by islanders who have taken on the challenge of growing grapes in one of the most difficult climates, where rain and cold can wreak havoc on grapevines. But the story was quite different this year, as summer was long and full of warm, dry days. As those days subsided and morning fog returned, Irvine and other Vashon wine makers and grape growers celebrated as it became clear that the vineyards had produced a record amount of plump fruit.

The record harvest collected earlier this month from the six vineyards totaled more than 5,000 pounds, helping Irvine and Bill Riley, of Maury Island Winery, produce 100 percent Vashon wines.

The highest-producing island vineyard, Monument Farm, provided 2,835 pounds of ripe, red pinot noir grapes to Irvine’s Vashon Winery on Oct. 6. Owned by islanders Joe Curiel and Tony Raugust, the vineyard is nestled just north of the waters of Quartermaster Harbor, off Monument Road, and is 11 years old.

“2015 will go down in the record books not only for the warmest summer in the Puget Sound region, but for producing all-time record harvests for Vashon Island grape growers,” Curiel told The Beachcomber. “At Monument Farm Vineyard, the harvest shattered all records both in quantity and quality.”

Curiel said that this year’s harvest was the earliest harvest to date, and 22 volunteers picked the nearly 2,900 pounds of pinot noir in one day.

Since the grapes were planted in 2004, Curiel and Raugust have worked tirelessly to perfect the grapevines. As Curiel walked through the yellowing vineyard on Friday, he explained how everything from water drainage to the amount of dirt and grass around the vines affects the grapes; he bounced ideas off of Irvine, asking if the grape stalks were thick enough and hardy enough.

Irvine said that the Monument Farm grapes alone will produce three barrels of pinot noir this year, a feat only accomplished one other time, in 2009. Most years, Irvine is able to make one or one-and-a-half barrels of Monument Farm pinot noir.

“It’s a huge dynamic change because I have to sell all this pinot noir now,” Irvine said. “It’s kind of daunting.”

The Monument Farm vineyard produced enough grapes for one barrel of Irvine’s pinot noir in its first year of production: 2006. Wet, cold weather in the next two consecutive years proved difficult, but the vineyard set its first record of 2,100 pounds in 2009.

“It’s been a challenge getting pinot to ripen some years, but the recent string of better and better harvests since 2012 makes me feel good about the extra effort it takes to grow grapes here on Vashon,” Raugust said.

Irvine said 2010 was “a bust” for the vineyard and 2011 was “good,” but this year was the best since the vineyard began. Irvine told The Beachcomber that he was amazed when the Monument Farm grapes arrived at his SW 156th St. winery and saw no need for Eastern Washington grapes.

“I saw the grapes coming in on the truck, and it was like someone was bringing me rubies, or gems, they were so perfect. I couldn’t ask for better grapes,” Irvine told The Beachcomber. “It’s changing the makeup of my wines, I cancelled my order from Eastern Washington.”

Irvine still produces other wines from Eastern Washington grapes and admitted that he is “afraid to fully commit to Puget Sound wines” because of the uncertainty and difficulty of the climate.

“I’m small, tiny as a winery,” Irvine said. “I don’t have money to throw at grapes, but local wines have kind of been my history.”

On Friday, the Monument Farm grapes could be seen sitting in vats in Irvine’s north-end winery, fermenting. The sweet and slightly alcohol smell of the young wine filled the small barn as he explained the process the grapes will be going through. He said he will be pressing them this week, and the wine will be ready to sell after two years aging in barrels.

Along with Curiel and Raugust’s Monument Farm vineyard, Irvine uses grapes from five other Vashon vineyards, three of which  also set records this year: Bruce and Katy Krogman delivered about 1,400 pounds of pinot noir from their Maury Island Vineyard west of Point Robinson, enough for one-and-a-half barrels of wine; Vince and Diane Nordfors delivered about 400 pounds of regent (a relatively new type of red grape) to Irvine from their Piner Point Vineyard on Maury Island, enough for half of a barrel of wine; Mary and John Beba delivered about 200 pounds of pinot noir from their young vineyard in Burton, enough for about one-quarter of a barrel; and Back Bay Vineyard in Quartermaster, which has been around since the 1940s, provided Irvine with roughly 200 pounds of white grapes called Chasselas.

Irvine also purchases grapes from Beth Tuttle and Henry Haselton’s Tramp Harbor vineyard, but said he did not get any this year.

Irvine sells the pinot noir from Monument Farm and the Krogman’s vineyard separately. He said he never mixes the two vineyards, and the vineyard names can be seen on their respective bottles.

Meanwhile, Maury Island Winery’s Riley also reported a record amount of juice from his harvested grapes that were picked by volunteers in late September.

Riley owns an estate winery, meaning he both grows grapes and makes pinot noir and sparkling wines exclusively from Vashon-grown grapes on his vineyard.

“I had slightly more this year than last year,” Riley told The Beachcomber last week. “I have close to three tons, which will make about 1,000 bottles of pinot noir and 1,000 bottles of sparkling wine.”