AN EXCEPTIONAL 2024 HARVEST
We are excited to release three new Ambar Estate wines in October: the 2022 Dundee Hills Chardonnay, 2022 Sacra Terra Pinot Noir, and 2022 Lustral Chardonnay. While we’re still busy in the cellar, I wanted to take a moment to sit down, rest my feet, and express my gratitude for what has been a beautiful and memorable vintage. This marks my 21st harvest and my 4th with Ambar Estate, and I can confidently say I’ve seen the full range of what Oregon’s seasons can offer. But this year, Mother Nature has been the perfect co-conspirator.
The 2024 growing season brought us a cooler summer, allowing the fruit to ripen slowly and evenly, preserving the fresh acidity that defines our wines. This led to a slightly later harvest than usual, starting with our sparkling program on September 6th. The moderate weather continued into early fall, providing an ideal window for our Chardonnay a couple of weeks later, and then Pinot Noir about a week after that. The combination of daytime warmth and cooler nights is exactly what makes the Willamette Valley such a renowned wine region, and this vintage is the quintessential expression of classic Oregon.
We wrapped up the harvest on September 26th, bringing in the last clusters from the vineyard. With each stage, we watched the fruit develop remarkable complexity and elegance. The cooler evenings maintained vibrant acidity, while the long, steady ripening period gave the grapes deep, expressive flavors and refined tannins.
Now, as our attention turns to winery operations, I’m thrilled by what I’m seeing in the cellar. The sparkling base wine has finished fermentation and has been tucked away until we start preparing for tirage bottling. Our Chardonnays are continuing to ferment both in barrel and in our concrete cube, and our Pinot Noirs are just starting to kick off fermentation. The winery is alive with buzzing forklifts, heady fermentative aromas, and a harvest playlist that keeps us moving. These are the harvests we dream about and the ones we will continue to talk about for years to come!
All the best,
Kate Payne Brown
Winemaker
