Dusting Off the Crystal Ball for Harvest 2011
You may still be on vacation, but California's vineyards are hard at work
Posted: Jul 27, 2011 1:00pm ET
While you were marinating in the sun or elbowing a path
through Europe or the Wisconsin Dells, California winemakers were busy laboring
at ... well, their vacations, same as the rest of us.
Just about the only thing hard at work this time of year
seems to be the vineyards. While you lollygag your way through July, I figure
it's a good time to see what's happening in California's vineyards.
I checked with Kendall-Jackson winemaster Randy Ullom,
who works with vines all over the state, and as it turns out, the growing season
is entering a crucial phase: veraison. Basically, that is the onset of
ripening, when grapes begin to soften and start losing their green color,
taking on shades of red or yellow depending on the variety.
"Veraison gives you a reference point," Ullom said. "You can guess when your harvest might be and also judge how it
compares to the norm."
Veraison
is underway in Santa Barbara, mainly with Pinot Noir, Ullom said, and is just
starting in Monterey. Varieties like Pinot and Chardonnay ripen the earliest,
while Cabernet Sauvignon is often the last to start.
This
year Napa Cab producers don't need to hurry back from their holiday, since most
of the vineyards are about two weeks behind thanks to an unusually cold and wet
spring. Cooler regions of Russian River Valley were nearly a month behind back
in mid-June but have recouped a few weeks thanks to consistently warm weather.
The
timing of veraision is crucial, a stark and expensive lesson many growers and
winemakers learned in 2010. In late August of that year a record-breaking
heat wave hit Northern California and some grapes still in the vulnerable veraison
stage—particularly old vine Zinfandel—were more or less microwaved on the vine.
While
winemakers may continue to speculate when a vineyard will be ready to pick, one
fact is already clear. The 2011 crop will be smaller than usual, which means
fewer bottles of wine for consumers in the long run.
Lousy
weather in the spring again was the culprit. It was unusually chilly, soggy and
windy when many of the vines were flowering. That stunted the number of grapes
and created loose and uneven clusters, which growers often trim or cut off
entirely.
For
now, it's a waiting game. Activity will soon ramp up in the weeks approaching
harvest. It's not necessarily a bad thing that the season is a few weeks
behind. If the summer offers consistent warm temperatures and the rain holds
off until mid-October, winemakers won't complain.
Much,
anyway.
Besides,
a few more days of vacation in July don't hurt.
Yields will definitely be down in 2011. Of the 10 Pinot vineyards we buy fruit from, we've come to the sad realization that we won't be getting any fruit from 2 of them (Graham Family and Rancho La Vina). And most others are hanging a lighter crop than usual. Frost was a major culprit, but the cold and soggy weather the rest of the time also played a huge role.
The silver lining is that the season is lining up to be a repeat of 2010 - very cool and very late. Barring some major heatwave, we should have another amazing year as far as quality goes for Cali Pinot. I know it stretches the bounds of credibility to say that (practically) each new vintage is the "best ever", but from my perspective 2010 was even better than 2009 (which Jim Laube has already said is the best ever, even better than 2007). If 2011 can match 2010 quality-wise, we'll be very happy campers.
Of course, as Tim says, we're still in crystal ball mode for now :)