The 2026 Growing Season Is Entering Its Final Stretch
Harvest may only last a matter of weeks, but the decisions that shape it begin months earlier. Here in the Dundee Hills, the 2026 growing season is now entering one of its most important stages. The vines have moved through bud break, flowering and fruit set, followed by months of canopy and crop management. Now, as we move through August, the focus is shifting from growing grapes to ripening them.
This is the time of year when we begin to get our first real look at what the 2026 vintage could become.
What Is Happening in the Vineyard Right Now?
By late summer, grape development begins to change significantly. One of the most visible signs is véraison, the beginning of the ripening process. Pinot Noir berries transition from green to shades of red and purple, while both red and white varieties begin to soften. Inside the berries, sugar levels rise and acidity begins to fall.
For our vineyard team, this is also an important period of canopy and crop management. Leaves and shoots are managed to provide the developing fruit with the right balance of sunlight, airflow and protection, while the crop is monitored block by block. That is especially important at Knudsen Vineyards, where our vineyard climbs from approximately 520 to 1,000 feet in elevation. Differences in elevation, slope, exposure, vine age and variety mean that the entire vineyard does not ripen at once. One block may be moving quickly toward maturity while another still needs more time.
Harvest here is not one date on the calendar. It is a series of decisions made across the vineyard.
What Determines When We Pick?
As harvest gets closer, sampling becomes increasingly important. Grapes are collected from throughout individual vineyard blocks and evaluated for several measures of ripeness. Brix tells us about sugar concentration, while pH and titratable acidity (TA) help us understand the changing acid structure of the fruit. Those numbers provide valuable information, but they do not make the decision on their own.
Flavor matters, too. The team tastes the berries and looks at characteristics including flavor development, skin and seed maturity, texture and the overall balance of the fruit. Weather forecasts also become increasingly important as the picking window narrows. The goal isn’t simply to achieve the highest possible sugar level; it is to pick when the fruit has the balance needed for the wine it is intended to become.
Not All Grapes Are Heading to the Same Place
One of the reasons harvest at Knudsen Vineyards requires careful planning is that the fruit grown here has many different destinations. Pinot Noir intended for a still red wine, for example, may be picked at a different point than Pinot Noir destined for sparkling wine. Chardonnay presents its own considerations, and individual vineyard blocks can develop at different rates.
Fruit for sparkling wine is generally among the first to be harvested because it is picked at lower sugar levels and with higher natural acidity. As the season progresses, additional Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blocks reach their individual picking windows. Harvest doesn’t begin with one enormous vineyard-wide pick; instead, it unfolds block by block as the fruit becomes ready.
Then Everything Starts Moving Quickly
Once a block is ready, months of slow vineyard development suddenly become a very fast process. Picking is often scheduled during the cooler parts of the day to bring fruit into the winery in the best possible condition. Crews move through the rows by hand, cutting clusters from the vines and placing them into picking bins. From there, the fruit is transported to the winery for processing.
During the busiest part of harvest, vineyard and winery schedules are closely connected. Picking crews, transportation, equipment, cellar space and winemaking decisions all have to line up with the readiness of the fruit—and the weather doesn’t necessarily cooperate with the schedule. A warm stretch can accelerate ripening, rain in the forecast can change picking priorities, and a block that appeared to have several more days may suddenly need attention sooner. That unpredictability is one of the defining features of harvest.
From Knudsen Vineyards to Vinovate
Our fruit then makes its way to our winemaking partner, Vinovate, where Managing Partner and Winemaker Bryan Weil and the winemaking team guide the next stage of the process. Bryan’s path to wine began in culinary school, where a wine and food pairing course sparked his interest in Oregon Pinot Noir. He later earned a degree in Enology and Viticulture from Oregon State University, along with a minor in chemistry.
Vinovate is a local custom-crush winery, allowing the fruit grown at Knudsen Vineyards to be handled close to home. The facility also incorporates sustainability into its operations through solar power, rainwater collection and composting grape pomace—the skins, seeds and other grape material remaining after processing. Once the grapes arrive, the work of the growing season becomes the raw material for the 2026 wines.
More Than 50 Years of Harvests
The Knudsen family has watched this cycle unfold in the Dundee Hills since the vineyard was established in 1971. The equipment has changed, our understanding of viticulture and winemaking has grown enormously, and Oregon’s wine industry has grown around us. But the fundamental rhythm of harvest is much the same: spend the growing season responding to the vineyard, wait for the fruit to tell you it is ready, and then move very quickly when that moment arrives.
Harvest gatherings have been part of Knudsen Vineyards since the 1970s, when family, friends and members of Oregon’s emerging wine community came together at the vineyard at the end of the growing season. We continue that tradition today as a chance to recognize the people and work behind each vintage.
Next Up: Harvest 2026
For now, the 2026 grapes are still on the vines. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sampling fruit, watching the weather and following the progression of individual blocks as they move closer to maturity. Then comes the decision we’ve been preparing for all year: It’s time to pick.
Once that happens, the 2026 vintage officially moves from the vineyard to the cellar—and we’ll begin to see what this growing season has given us.
