The winter rains started well before the 2011 harvest and didn't end until the end of June, dropping over 43 inches, about 6 inches more than "normal". From that point through our last pick we had only 0.11 inches of additional rainfall.
Heating Degree Days (HDDs) were a mixed bag. Up until the last two weeks before harvest, we had expected 2012 harvest timing to be in the second week of October, with weather conditions and cumulative HDDs to be comparable to 2008. By the time we picked on October 9th this year, we had had 2037 cumulative Heating Degree Days (HDDs), about 85 more than 2008 and 2010, 25 more than 2011, about the same as 2006, and 80 less than 2009.
While numerically similar to the 2034 HDDs we had had in 2006, HDD accumulation in the critical final weeks of the 2012 season was dramatically different. During 2012, we had 388 HDDs during the mid-veraison to harvest period (which, except for 2011, was the lowest accumulation of HDDs during the ripening period of any recent year); harvesting 102 days after mid-bloom. Conversly, during 2006, we had 565 HDDs during the mid-veraison to harvest period (the highest accumulation of HDDs during the ripening period of any recent year); harvesting 95 days after mid-bloom in order to maintain acceptable levels of natural acids.
