Final Pick - October 9, 2012

We finished harvest on Tuesday, October 9, bringing in Whistling Dog's 2012 crop; without a drop of rain during the entire harvest; with daytime highs in the low- to mid-70's, and night time lows in the upper-30's to low-40's - absolutely perfect ripening conditions.  Over the course of the final week of the season, sugar development slowed way down, pH's moved into the "just right" range, and flavors came on strong.  The only downsides to this year's harvest were Yields and Pickers: yields being nearly half of "normal"; and pickers being few available.

But, the quality of the grapes is outstanding.  During the week prior to harvest we hand-culled all unripe berries on the clusters destined for our winery, this, combined with absolutely zero rot and ideal grape characteristics, promises to make a beautiful Pinot vintage.

We have never had more perfect grapes on the sorting line, pulling out less than a cup of unripe/damaged berries for the 6 tons we brought in.

 

Harvest Begins - October 5, 2012

 
We picked half of the vineyard yesterday, for two customers, from portions of all the different blocks of clones.  The weather during the ripening period has been perfect; sunny, dry, and seasonably warm.  This year during the critical final 30 days of the season, sugars have developed faster than acids have moderated and flavors have lagged behind.  Over the past week, though, the acids have moderated and the flavors have come on strong as a result of sunny, windy, and dry conditions; with daytime relative humidity in the teens and low-twenties, daytime highs in the mid-70s, and overnight lows in the 40's.

Overall, it looks to be the makings of a very good vintage, albeit a small one.  As discussed earlier, this year's yields will be small, due to the effects of the poor weather during bloom.  The quality of the ripe grapes, however, is excellent.  There is absolutely no botrytis this year, due to the lack of rainfall since June and also due to the extremely low daytime humidities during the final weeks of ripening.  However, this year's extended bloom period and a multiple-day heat spike at the end of fruit set, will require diligence on the sorting lines at the wineries removing random green berries from flowers that bloomed last and partially ripened berries on heat damaged rachises.  Careful sorting should produce a great vintage, given the similarities between this year's ripening conditions and 2008's.  Overall heat accumulation during the season will be almost exactly the same as 2011, but the 3 inch difference in rainfall between the years (all in the period between fruit set and harvest), the dramatic difference in sunshine and humidity levels during the final ripening period, and the more normal timing of harvest has, at least, lowered the stress level of everyone involved in harvesting and processing the grapes this year. 

Pommard

Wadenswil

Dijon 114

Dijon 115

Season-To-Date Heating Degree Days & Rainfall

September was another warm and unusually dry month.

With 394 heating degree days, September was cooler than last year and 2009, but warmer than all other recent years.  Due to the warm August and September temperatures, with 1,973 cumulative season  heating degree days, 2012 is the third warmest season in recent years after the heat-spiked years of 2009 and 2006.

2012 will be remembered as one of the driest summers on record with only 0.11" of rain since June (0.04" since July 3).  Heavy accumulations of dormant season and early growing season rainfall, has kept the cumulative season rainfall above normal, at 43.6"

The current weather forecast shows seasonably warm and unseasonably dry conditions for at least the next two weeks, promising winemakers the unusual opportunity to choose their own perfect harvest date.

First Brix & pH Sampling

We got lucky this week and didn't have the five days of 90+ temps that were expected.  With nearly all clusters fully colored, and individual berry Brix readings in the 20's, we did our first cluster measurements today.


4 clusters per sample; 2 clusters from 2 rows, each row sampled 1/3 in from each row end.
(click on table to enlarge)

Skin tannins and flavors are not yet perceptible.

Compared to the past several years, this year's crop is ripening in a time frame that most closely resembles 2008's crop.  2012 is approximately one week ahead of 2008; the current forecast through mid-October is similar to slightly warmer than 2008. 

East Side of Rows Black, West Side 90+% Black; Good Ripening Weather Continues

Clear, warm, dry weather continues. Clusters were almost 100% darkened on the open, east sides of the rows by the end of last week.  By today, the shaded, west side is about 99% darkened at the top of the vineyard, 90-95% darkened in the middle of the vineyard, and 85-90% darkened in the lower part of the vineyard.

Sugar is perceptible, acid is starting to become tolerable, skin tannins and flavor are not yet perceptible, and seeds are beginning to take on some coloring beyond the immature green shade.  Shoots have lignified, becoming canes; and the canopy is in great shape, in spite of having had only about 0.1 inches of rain in going on 3 months.

The upcoming week is expected to have several abnormally warm days into the 90s.  The current outlook through mid-October is unusually dry, less than 0.1 inches of rain; and warmer than normal.   It's currently looking like this lower than average yield crop, will fully ripen with little or no rot risk; no flocks of birds in sight, yet.

Pomard Clone:

Wadenswil Clone:

Dijon 114 Clone:

Dijon 115 Clone:

 

3 Weeks Since First Color

Almost 3 weeks since the first signs of color and the clusters are just now becoming colored a shade of something other than green.  We are expecting clear, dry weather with above-normal temps through the end of the week, so we will probably not see any green berries after this week.  Once the clusters are purple, countdown begins for final month of ripening.

Pommard Clone:

Wadenswil Clone:

Dijon 115 Clone:

Dijon 114 Clone:

August 2012 Heating Days and Rainfall

August was the hottest month of this cool summer, although we had one day when temperatures spiked above 100, daytime temperatures for most of the month were in the upper 70s to low-80s, nightime temps in the 50s. 

August 2012 was also the hottest August we've had in recent memory with 578 Heating Degree Days (HDDs), topping August 2011 by 18 HDDs.  As a result, cumulative HHDs for the year are now 1579, 219 HDDs less than 2009, but about the same as 2005, 2007, and 2008.

Normal rainfall for August is around 0.5 inches, this year we had none.  We haven't had any measurable rainfall since July 3, making August 2012  and August 2006 the driest post-bloom periods in recent memory.  Cumulative 2012 season rainfall is 43.59 inches, due to the wet La Nina winter and spring conditions.

Long-range forecasting continue to show a shift toward El Nino conditions this winter.  The current September forecast shows temps remaining at or above seasonal highs for most of the month, with little or no rainfall expected.