October 2023 Newsletter
October 1, 2023 |
October 1, 2023 |
Greetings Compris Family and Friends,
September came and went quickly for our team! Shortly after the month began our fruit decided it was ready to be picked and we had three solid days of sorting and processing Pinot noir. We had one day "off" and then moved on to the rosé of Tempranillo. We waited as long as we could for the Syrah, but brought it and the Viognier in the day before the rain began, only a week and a half later. Read Dru's harvest recap below for all of the details and behind-the-scenes moments. We are excited to watch this vintage develop!
Fall has arrived and the vineyard is starting to show off its changing colors! Come join us during one of these moody days (sometimes with unexpected sunshine!) for a wine tasting flight or glass pour, and watch the clouds sail by while the birds happily dance and sing in the breeze. We have plenty of heaters and blankets to keep you warm and cozy. We'd love to share our colorful views of valley with you and yours!
~The Compris Crew
If we were tasked with agreeing on a synopsis of the ’23 vintage, I think we would all agree it would be “Fast and Furious”! We went into the first full week of September with a solid game plan of cleaning pick bins and fermentation tanks as soon as the first measurable rains since April had passed and getting prepared for the upcoming harvest. Certainly there would be time, it had just rained, which meant the grapes would absorb moisture and be less concentrated, sugars would be down, it would take a few days more of sunshine to get them exactly where we wanted them. A little voice inside my head told me, “sample the grapes” (picture the “if you build it, they will come” bit from Field of Dreams). So, on a whim, I sampled the grapes the morning of September 6th and had an “Oh Sh* *” moment. Concerned that we were in jeopardy of missing our optimal picking window, we went into scramble mode and boy did our Compris family come through. Wayne and Patsy dropped everything and came out right away to pressure wash bins. Chris hopped on a plane from Chicago and was here by midnight that night. Wayne, Patsy and Chris were joined by John, Keith and Vickie the next morning at 6am to help Erin, Ryan, Aaron and I kick off harvest. We all spent the next three days bringing in all of the Pinot noir with Lukas, Molly and MacKenzie coming in on the last day to get us across the finish line. In the end we had a winner in yellow jacket bites, Chris with six, a new name for the dried up grapes that we painstakingly picked out of each cluster, grape nuts (we are all unified in boycotting the cereal brand as a result as well), and a vintage that we ended up nailing in quality, ripeness, sugars and acid.
At times it felt like we were living by the Fast and Furious movie character’s, Dom Toretto, catchphrase of living life “a quarter mile at a time”, but like he also said, “It don’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning’s winning”. We think we have a winning vintage on our hands and we can’t wait to share it with all of you!
We are getting towards the end of the last keg of our 2022 Lovely Days Sparkling Rosé of Pinot Noir! This is the sparkler that the amazing folks at Bauman's Cider bubbled for us. While this vintage is nearly gone, be rest assured that we'll have the 2023 vintage ready for next summer. Come refill your Compris wine growlers before it's too late!
We are excited to share Compris' very first blog with you! Vivian was our social media and tasting room intern this past summer. Although she's now back at the University of Oregon for her senior year, she is thankfully staying on with us throughout the school year to continue her role as our Social Media Associate. In this blog, she recounts her summer internship. Check It Out!
Harvest came and went much quicker than anticipated! We are incredibly thankful for our Compris family that generously took time out of their days to work amongst the numerous yellowjackets with us, while sticky and sweaty. This harvest would not have been possible without you all!
Compris appreciates our vineyard stewards and all of the hard work they do for us throughout the year. At harvest time, we feel it's especially important to highlight AHIVOY, a nonprofit organization that helps educate and lift up Latinx and Hispanic vineyard workers of the Willamette Valley, so that they may overcome the socioeconomic challenges they face and support their families and establish careers in the wine industry.
AHIVOY is committed to:
Empowerment
Empowering vineyard stewards through education by providing resources and opportunities useful to advance their careers in the Oregon wine industry. Integrity- Acting with integrity by being honest and true in pursuit of our mission. They strive to always do the right thing in a fair and responsible way.
Respect
Respecting their organization and every member of their organization. They respect all vineyard stewards. They respect the partners and community members who work with them to pursue their mission.
Advocate
Advocating for vineyard stewards, because they value them as humans and the work they do to improve wine quality in Oregon. They advocate for increasing accessible educational opportunities. They advocate for a stronger Oregon wine community that is just, equitable and inclusive.
Community
Creating partnerships with individuals, businesses and organizations that understand the benefit of investing in and empowering people. They know that a community is stronger when it supports an inclusive environment where everyone feels empowered to share ideas and collaborate.
Learn more by visiting their website, Instagram, and Facebook!
For the month of October, Compris Vineyard will be donating one dollar from every bottle sold or glass pour purchased of our Mountain Echo Pinot noir to AHIVOY.
