Warm, Wet Spring - Off to a Fast Start of the Growing Season

Although it was a very cold and dry dormant season, since January temperatures and rainfall have been above average.

We've had 102 Cumulative Heating Degree Days through April, just slightly less than last year's early start to the season.

Although we've had only 23.9 inches of rainfall for the period since last harvest, about 10 inches below the normal, we've had two inches more than normal since January.

The net effect of these favorable weather conditions is that the vines are off to a good, strong start.  As of Tuesday, we had 12 open leaves on the rapidly growing shoots.  With mostly sunny weather this Spring, it doesn't look like we'll have issues with the carbon:nitrogen ratio which has adversely affected bloom in several of the recent seasons.  While too early to know how bloom will go, it looks like we have slightly more shoots per vine than normal, each uniformly bearing 2 sets of inflorescences.

So at this point in time, the vines are looking early and healthy; with good prospects for a normal and well-balanced crop load....we'll see what Mother Nature has in store for us.

Quail

Budbreak 2014 - April 9

Another early budbreak. We have been on the verge of breaking bud for the last two weeks, and on Wednesday it finally happened - five days later than last year, 11 days later than the earliest start in recent years.

We've had a colder than normal winter; particularly during December, when we saw temperatures dip into the single digits. Over the next month we'll see how much, if any, bud damage this caused.

We've also had a dryer than normal dormant season - during the October through January period we had less than 7 inches of rainfall, compared to a normal level of over 22 inches.   In February and March, we recovered somewhat with over 14 inches.  By the end of March cumulative rainfall for this season was still 10 inches lower than normal.

During the "off-season", in addition to the regular pruning and trellis work, we planted another 3 acres of Pinot vines, and put in the associated trellises.   We are now nearly done with our second phase of renovating the vineyard, having substantially increased vine density, introduced phylloxera-resistant rootstock, and planted additional Pinot clones.

2013 - Terrible End, But Nice Wines

It was a short, wet end to an early, hot, dry growing season; benefiting vineyards that ripen early.

Fortunately for us, our vineyard ripens early, allowing us to harvest ripe fruit at the earliest point since we took over in 2006.  We brought in our first fruit on September 19, our last on September 27.

Our 2013 wines are in barrel, going through malolactic fermentation.  We'll see how they turn out, but at this point they have red and blue fruit flavors, moderate alcohol levels, soft tannins, and juicy acidity.  Here's what they look like:

In another twist to a strange season - after the hottest season in memory; then all the rain, humidity, and cold that forced wineries to bring their grapes in early - Mother Nature gave us a beautiful, dry, sunny end to October.  Just before rain began again this past weekend we were able to plant 3500 new vines, as part of our ongoing vineyard renovation project to quadruple vine density, increase the number of Pinot clones/selections, and establish a hedge against phylloxera by planting resistant rootstock.

 

A soon as the leaves finish falling, we'll remove clips from the catchwires and begin the annual pruning process. 

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".