Great Snowboarding = Great Growing Season?
2008 was a fascinating time to be a winemaker in Idaho and a snowboarder. Here’s the summary of a very interesting and a-typical year:

The La Niña cycle of 2008 gave us fabulous powder and Joe and I rode the mountain as often as we could. During one storm we got fresh powder five days in a row, riding in the morning and working in the afternoon. The wet and cold weather theme continued into the spring with the bud-break in the vineyards occurring 2-3 weeks later than average. While this may sound like a negative, it did save us from the frosts that reduced crops in more southern and lower elevation vineyards like coastal California. The summer that followed made up for the late start with perfect ripening temperatures in the low 90’s. It was a great summer to live in Boise whether you were a grapevine or a mountain biker, and quite different from the summer of 2007 that had a lot of days over 100F.

The moderate temperatures allowed for development of the flavor in the grapes without the sugar levels increasing too fast. Harvest started the 2nd week of September, about 10 days later than the previous year, but with tremendous flavor intensity in the grapes. Mother Nature scared us again with cold weather in early October, just before the harvest of late-ripening varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling. Fortunately, the vineyards I buy from are well placed on warm slopes where cold air drains off well, saving them from the frost that hits the flat, low-lying areas. We got three more weeks of warm weather to finish off the season and harvested our last Cabernet Sauvignon on October 28th. My initial impressions of the wines are: good flavors and balance in the reds and fantastic aroma and flavor intensity in the whites. I suspect 2008 will be a benchmark year for Viognier, which is showing astonishingly intense aromas and flavors.

What a ride!

-Melanie