September 19 - First Pick of 2013 Harvest

Thursday September 19, 6:45am Just a few minutes before we started our first pick of the 2013 Harvest, clear and 45 degrees.

A few minutes later

Pommard just about to be picked

First full bin and some of the sorting crew

We picked the Pommard and Wadenswil blocks for 3 wineries, including our own; and some 114 and 115.  Beautiful day, great crew, and very nice grapes.

Our grapes cooling in our new winery building at the vineyard, while we're loading customer trucks.

Crew rates first grapes of inaugural sorting at our own winery building.

Sorting and destemming line, finishing up around 5:30am Friday morning - one long, satisfying day!

After a day of soaking: Brix 23 to 24, pH 3.28 to 3.34; smells of tea and fresh fruit; great Pinot flavors.

Thank God for the Deluge, It Offset this Hot Week

The great condition of the vines at this late stage helped absorb the rain from last week, offsetting the effects of the 90+ degree temperatures this week.  We ended up having some splitting in the Pommard and Wadenswil rows, which are farther along in the ripening process (softer skins) than the Dijon clones; but overall the dilution effect of the rainfall held back a significant increase in Brix, with little effect on the pH.  With flavor development beginning to accelerate, and daytime temperatures declining into the 70s, we now are hoping for rainfall (and Botrytis) to be held at bay for another week to 10 days. 

With the abnormally high variation in berry age within the clusters this season, the clusters have a wide range of berry ripeness - shriveling berries, perfect berries, and near ripe berries all in the same cluster. And, the super thick skins this year seem to be taking somewhat longer to yield ripe pinot flavors.  If we don't get too much rain resulting in a Botrytis problem, we could end up with good Brix and pH, and an exceptionally complex range of great flavors. 

As of Thursday (when temps began to moderate), Brix and pH were, respectively:
21.0-23.0 and 3.05-3.10 in the Dijon 115
21.0 -22.0 and 2.98-3.00 in the Dijon 114
22.5-23.0 and 3.11-3.13 in the Pommard
23.5 and 3.11 in the Wadenswil

Hoping for minimal rain and maximum flavor development this week...

Deluge Last Week, Hot Weather This Week, Flavors Starting to Develop

Last Wednesday I measured Brix and pH for the first time.  The Wadenswil and Pommard were the farthest ahead with Brix around 22 to 22.5 and pH around 3.1, flavors were lagging behind sugar accumulation.  The Dijon clones had 19 to 21 Brix, with pH just below 3.0.

On Thursday and Friday we unexpectedly had 2.3" of rain, which soaked into the dry ground so quickly that by Friday afternoon I could walk through previously cultivated soil without any mud sticking to my boots.  The canopies are in great shape, so I was holding my breath wondering, with warm weather continuing, whether the berries would swell too much and start bursting.  They did rehydrate substantially, reducing Brix somewhat, but I haven't seen much bursting.

This week's weather is forecasted to be warm and dry, with temps in the upper 80's to low 90's.  Tuesday and Wednesday are supposed to be the hottest, so we'll check Brix and pH afterwards.  Flavor development is beginning to accelerate in the Wadenswil and Pommard berries.

Wadenswil Clone

Pommard Clone

Dijon Clone 114

Dijon Clone 115

Continuing Trend, Warmest August in Recent History

August continued this summer's trend of warmer than normal temperature, ending at 608 heating degree days, one of the warmest in recent years.  This brings total cumulative heating degree days for the season so far to 1943. To put this into perspective, at the end of August 2013, we had as many or more heating degree days as the full seasons in 2007, 2008, and 2010.  While 2013 has been a warm summer, it has not been a particularly hot one; temps have hit the 90 degree mark only 16 days, and only 2 of them have been above 94.  This summer's temps have just been consistently above the normal daily historical averages.

August continued the trend of below normal rainfall, coming in at 0.35", slightly less than the norm of 0.5".  Season-to-date rainfall is 38.4".

Near Mid-Veraison...Looking More and More Like A September Harvest

We're at or near mid-veraison in all our blocks.  The berries are changing color at a relatively slow pace; but with the continued dry, mid-80s weather we should be fully purple by month-end, if not sooner.

Dijon 114

Dijon 115

Wadenswil

Pommard

Weather Recap Through July

Cumulative July season-to-date rainfall is 33.9 inches.  While only 4 inches less than normal, since December we have received significantly less than normal rainfall every month except in May.

Correspondingly, cumulative positive heating degree days for the same period have been significantly higher than normal, with 1335 heating degree days through the end of July.  In fact, 2013 is trending to be the warmest season in recent memory.  Interestingly, we have not yet had the usual couple of several-day heat spikes into the 100s that we usually have during a warm year. For the most part, we have just been consistently trending above the daily average temperatures. 

Despite the heat and lack of rainfall, the vines are dark green and in great shape and we haven't seen any sunburned grapes yet.

If August were to have the normal amount of heating degree days, we would be at the same point at the end of August, heat accumulation-wise, as we normally are by the end of September. 

The three-month weather forecast is showing cooler and than normal weather for the August through October period, though.  So, hopefully the weather will accommodate us with a slower ripening period: holding down Brix, maintaining acid, and fully developing flavor and aroma characteristics of the grapes.

First Color

I noticed some color on a cluster a couple of days ago, but - because it is so early - I wanted to see color elsewhere before concluding that veraison has started.  Today I found examples throughout the vineyard.

Clone 115

Clone 114

Wadenswil

Pommard

We typically begin harvest 7 to 8 weeks after first color, putting this year's harvest roughly in the last week of September.  Being earlier than usual, the temperatures are likely to be higher, which could accelerate ripening, leading to an even earlier start of harvest.  Possibly somewhat offsetting this is the longer bloom period we had this year, which could extend veraison.  Assuming normal weather patterns in August and September, I'm expecting a September harvest.