Not grapes of wrath

Back in March I heard a story on NPR about vineyard owners near the Klondike fire in Oregon last year getting stiffed by California wineries whose owners said they wouldn’t buy the 2018 harvest as contracted because the grapes had been tainted by smoke. These growers had survived the fire, but were still going to lose a lot, so it was not very short of miraculous that a bunch of Oregonian wineries banded together to buy the grapes, get them harvested and make them into wines under the Solidarity label.

Something about that story prompted me to go on the Cellar 503 website and order a three-pack of the wines, due out late this summer. They weren’t particularly cheap, but I thought that if I could help out these guys and get some wine in return, why not?

Also, I really like Willamette Valley pinots, so I reckoned the chances were good that I wouldn’t be disappointed.

Then, of course, I forgot all about it—it’s been quite the five months.

Well, lookee what arrived yesterday:

I can’t say I know anything about the Rogue Valley wines, but I’m looking forward to learning. And I’m glad I was able to support the effort, even in a small way.