First Signs of Color

One more day of hot weather and it looks like we were spared the triple digits forecasted for this week - although all week we have been in the mid to upper 90s, unseasonably warm for the Willamette Valley.  No incremental "sunburn" and the ripening process didn't get interuppted.

Color is beginning to change in all blocks, timing is similar to 2008 and 2010.

There is very little fruit to drop this year - no 3rd clusters, very few laggard wings, and no "extra" crop to thin.  For our own winery, we probably won't drop anything, one of our larger customers has requested that we drop all of the wings (we'll do more work looking for the wings than actually dropping any).  What's out there looks to be maturing at the same time.  It will be interesting, given the length and uneveness of the bloom period, to see what effect this has on veraison.  If veraison proceeds normally, I'm expecting harvest to occur around the 2nd week of October.

Between Lag and Veraison

The heat has finally arrived, and how!  Today is supposed to be the coolest day this week, at 90F.  At least it's a dry heat ;)

The grass is almost dormant and the ground is hard as concrete.

BUT, we've already had a heat spike into the triple digits, a week ago.  And an already small crop was thinned some more.

Fortunately, the damage was limited to the west (shaded) side of the rows, with virtually no damage on the east side where we pulled leaves earlier.  The damage could have been worse, but maybe Mother Nature is just toying with us...multiple days in the triple digits forecasted later this week.



On the positive side, the vines are looking great; and the fruit is pale green and translucent, with hardened seeds.  My guess is that we're about a week or so from the beginning of veraison.

Pommard Clone

Wadenswil Clone

114 Clone

115 Clone

Wow, Looks Like Low Yields This Year!

'Had a chance to drive through Yamhill-Carlton, Ribbon Ridge, Dundee Hills, and Eola Hills AVAs today.  After feeling poorly about our vineyard's fruit loads, it looks like we're in pretty good shape compared to what I saw at other well-managed, typically good-yielding vineyards.  It's hard to say what yields will be this year, but given the rows I could see at these vineyards, I wouldn't be surprised to learn later that 2012 is one of the lower yielding vintages in recent memory.  To me, it looks a lot worse than 2010.

July 2012 Heating Degree Days & Rainfall

July is usually our 1st or 2nd hottest month of the year, with Heating Degree Days (HDDs) above 500, but this year we had cooler than normal temperatures.  July's total 492 HDDs is above last year's recent low of 463 HDDs and considerably below July 2009's recent high of 626.  July 2012 Season-to-Date total HDDs is 1001.

July is usually our 1st or 2nd driest month, and this year it looks to be so, with only 0.07" of rain, occurring in the first 3 days of the month.  Season-to-Date rainfall, however, is a healthy 43.6"; which continues to provide more than adequate soil moisture for canopy growth.

Throughout 2012, the Seasonal Forecast has been predicting 2012 to be an analog of 2009, one of the hottest seasons in recent memory.  So far 2012 has been more like 2008, but  beginning Friday the short-term forecast is showing the first major, extended heat spike of the year, with temps reaching into the upper 90's.