Mild growing season brings ‘standout vintage’ for WA winemakers

When it’s harvest time, Yakima Valley vineyards will see activity ranging from crews hand-picking grapes to general managers operating forklifts and processing machines. And everything in between.

Samantha Mallery, the recently hired winemaker at Hyatt Vineyards near Zillah, exemplified this recently as she examined blocks of Muscat grapes ready for harvest, showed visitors through the winery’s processing facility and unclogged a de-stemming machine.

“I never do the same thing two days in a row,” Mallery said. “One day I might be marketing in Seattle, and the next day I’m literally climbing in a hole two inches deep in grapes and digging out a pump.”

While statewide production of wine grapes is expected to be down a bit from the 150,000 tons harvested last fall, winegrowers are expecting high quality in their vineyards, said Heather Bradshaw, communications director of the Washington State Wine Commission.

“In terms of quality, this will be a standout vintage,” Bradshaw wrote in an email to the Yakima Herald-Republic. “Washington saw a fairly mild growing season with very healthy vines and canopies. The wines are showing exceptional color, flavor, acids and aroma.”

Sara Higgins, executive director of the Washington Winegrowers Association, agreed with Bradshaw that market conditions will prompt vineyards to harvest fewer grapes overall this fall.

“We anticipate this year’s quantity will be down from last year, but it remains difficult to predict exact figures as the industry continues to experience market pressure, causing continued contraction,” Higgins told the Herald-Republic. “We are increasingly seeing the practice of idling vineyards, which also clouds the crystal ball. Those vines are still producing; they just won’t be utilized this year.”

British Columbia extends exemption for WA grape growers

Sara Higgins, executive director of the Washington Winegrowers Association, called the opportunity a “win-win on both sides of the border.”Higgins also expects a high-quality harvest due to ideal growing conditions this spring and summer. Plenty of moisture in the ground this spring and nicely dropping night temperatures resulted in large berries and large clusters, she noted.

“It was a beautiful growing season overall,” Higgins added. “We expect standout wines from this vintage.”

White wine grapes harvested first

As the grape harvest started in September, many vineyards began picking white wine varieties, which tend to ripen before red wine varieties. That pattern held true at Hyatt Vineyards as Mallery, the vineyard’s winemaker, and general manager Ashley Koempel met with their crew on Sept. 18.

“It’s coming quick and fast, but I think we’re going to have a little bit of a lull,” Mallery said of the grape harvest. “Most of our whites are going to be in by the end of the week … but I anticipate having a week and a half to two weeks before we see a red (grape) walk in the building.”

Koempel said Mallery and her vineyard manager are among the blocks of grapevines every day, visually examining and tasting grapes to determine when they’re ready to harvest.

Mallery said the look of the vine and chemistry of the fruit – its sugar level, or Brix, and acidity – are key factors, but taste is paramount.

“The numbers are important – you want to see a specific sugar level, because that’s going to determine the alcohol (content),” Mallery said. “You want to see acid starting to develop. But at the end of the day, you can fix sugar, you can fix acid, you can’t fix flavor.”

She said Hyatt is a “hybrid” vineyard that both hand-picks and uses machines to harvest grapes, depending upon the variety and size of each block.

“For example, we have 30 acres of Syrah on this farm, and that’s unrealistic for a crew to pick in a financially responsible manner,” she added.

Sharing workers with neighboring wineries

The family-owned vineyard has six full-time crew members, with a cherry orchard, processing facility and bottling line keeping the employees busy year-round, Koempel said.

During harvest time, a few extra workers are brought in, allowing Mallery to send six- to eight-person crews into the vineyards for hand picking.

“We haven’t had any trouble finding people, but part of that is because … we share crews with some of our vineyard partners,” she added. “We might be picking today, but a vineyard partner that we work with might not be. They’ll say, ‘Hey, my guys don’t have work today, do you have any work for them?’ And they’ll send them over.

“We’ll kind of do this crew share. It’s not always perfect, but it helps keep these guys busy and they’re making money for their families. And it helps us be productive and still pick the fruit.”

“That’s what is unique about the Yakima Valley,” Koempel said. “The amount of partnership and the amount of community engagement. We all lean on each other.”

Both Koempel and Mallery said Hyatt is fortunate to have a regular group of employees and domestic workers to provide experienced hands during harvest time. They also are glad to avoid the costs and paperwork of hiring H-2A workers.

“I’m lucky enough we don’t have to,” Mallery said. “I understand why they have it (for larger operations), but the hoops you have to jump through to get into that program …

“And for us, being that we only pick for 6 to 8 weeks, it’s not realistic.”

The mighty Merlot

While statistics aren’t yet available for this year, the 2024 Washington grape harvest indicated that among the 80 varieties grown in the state, seven comprise 86% of the total harvested: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.

The Washington State Wine Commission reports there were 40,589 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in 2024, or 27% of the statewide total. Riesling was ranked second at 22,168 tons, or 15%.

White varieties accounted for 45% of the total, with red varieties totaling 55%, the commission reported. However, the harvest of red wine grapes declined 10% in 2024, with white varieties’ total harvest increasing by 2%.

Higgins, with the Washington Winegrowers group, noted that white wines are gaining popularity nationally, especially with younger “Gen Z” consumers as they reach drinking age.

“This represents an opportunity for Washington, especially for Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris, which continue to rise in the percentage of our annual production,” Higgins said.

Growers received an average of $1,621 per ton for all varieties of grapes in 2024, the commission reported. Merlot received the highest average price per ton last year at $2,595, topping the $2,254 per ton average received for Cabernet Franc in 2023.

Merlot also saw the largest average price increase per ton ($953) based on reported sales in 2024, and Hyatt Vineyards’ Koempel and Mallery believe that is good news for their operation.

Established in 1983 by Leland and Lynda Hyatt, the Rattlesnake Hills vineyard has been known for its quality Merlots for more than 30 years, Mallery said.

“We have 11 different varieties, and the most prominent is Merlot,” she said. “Hyatt became known because of their Merlot … bringing Ashley and myself on board, we decided why would we stray from what we know? We make Merlot and grow Merlot really well, let’s continue to do it.

“We feel that Merlot is going to come back. It’s delicious, Washington grows it well, Yakima grows it well. So we’re just going to keep focusing on it,” Mallery added.

“The market trend for that grape is definitely on the uptick,” Koempel said of Merlot. “It’s one of the best, in my opinion, one of the best wines to pair with food. It’s really versatile, really approachable.”

One bright spot this fall was British Columbia’s decision to extend a tax-free import exemption for Washington grape growers another year. But tariffs and potential tariffs are creating uncertainty for other international sales.

Out among the vines, the ripening of grapes and the anticipated quality of the wine they will produce makes growers like Koempel and Mallery optimistic.

“(Washington) is kind of the wild West of grapes,” Mallery said. “Even though we’ve been doing it since the 1970s, people don’t always take us seriously. But we grow everything well in the Yakima Valley.”