For three pristine days this month, I had the privilege of visiting several producers in the northern Willamette Valley, who were all at their peak of harvest activities. At each location, crews were hand picking tons of Pinot noir in the vineyard, while teams in the winery were hand sorting countless bins of fruit.

It was a truly connective experience each day walking the rows and tasting the fruit at sunrise, following the harvest through early afternoon, and then finally watching clusters being sorted well past sunset. During harvest, the day's work is clearly never done until the last bin is sorted and stored.

During the coming weeks, I will be sharing a variety of harvest images captured at Belle Pente, Brick House, Lemelson, and Scott Paul. My hope is that these photo essays will bring you closer to the wines you enjoy from these and other producers in Oregon.

These photographs carry a common theme captured during harvest in Oregon: it takes many skilled hands to grow, harvest, and craft good Pinot noir. Here are a few compilations from each winery - click on each to view in higher resolution on Flickr as well as other photos in my portfolio.

Harvesting Pinot noir at Belle Pente Vineyards:

Harvesting Gamay noir at Brick House Vineyards:

Harvesting estate Pinot noir in Stermer Vineyard at Lemelson:

Sorting Pinot noir from Maresh Vineyard at Scott Paul Wines:

Again, please visit in the coming days and weeks for more coverage of Oregon's 2010 harvest in the northern Willamette Valley.