WET WINTER, GOOD VINTAGE?
A good year?: As harvest begins, vintners say quality of this year’s grapes looks good, maybe the best since 2014
Raise a glass to the 2017 vintage. Across Northern California pinot noir and chardonnay clusters are being cut from vines into bins sent to winery crushpads, where the winemaking process begins. Lodi’s Michael David Winery kicked off the 2017 harvest, picking chardonnay grapes for sparkling wine on July 24, one day earlier than last year.
Winemakers across Northern California are guardedly optimistic about the 2017 vintage, after a very wet and cool winter and spring. Harvest dates — along with grape yields — are off to a slow, rolling start, inching back closer to normal from record early starts and lighter loads in the previous two vintages.
Lodi Winegrape Commission’s Stuart Spencer, of St. Amant Winery, says crop levels are light to average across the appellation, the result of an unusual weather year, with an extremely wet winter and spring. He and other vintners expect harvest will be in full swing by mid-August.
“Quality at this point looks pretty good,” he says.
Sparkling wine house Chandon brought in Napa Valley's first grapes on Aug. 4, and bubbly producers Domaine Carneros harvested pinot noir a day later, while Mumm Napa picked on Aug. 6, a full week later than last year's harvest start.
In neighboring Sonoma County, pinot noir grapes at Gloria Ferrer Vineyards were also picked Aug. 6, while Green Valley's Iron Horse Vineyards harvested its pinot noir for sparkling wine the next day.
“We're excited and optimistic,” says Joy Sterling of Iron Horse Vineyards. Adds Mike Crumly, head of production for Gloria Ferrer: “One of the defining features of this year's growing season has been the highest seasonal rainfall ever recorded on the North Coast.” Crumly adds that the recent hot weather sped up ripening by at least a week.
In the Santa Cruz Mountains, grapes in many vineyards are still going through veraison, when the hard green grapes become softer and turn color, from green to either pale yellow and golden for white wine or purple for red wine.
“One unexpected aspect is the small berry size,” says Mount Eden Vineyards and Domaine Eden winemaker Jeffrey Patterson. “One would expect the opposite given an abundant winter rainfall.” Smaller berries can mean more concentrated flavors and higher quality wines.
‘Charging forward’
Vintner Ed Muns of Muns Vineyard — who grows grapes for Thomas Fogarty, Silver Mountain, Sonnet and his own label — is looking to an early September harvest start. His pinot noir and syrah vineyard sits at 2,600 feet in elevation above Monterey Bay, one of the highest in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
“We had 85 inches of rain last winter compared to our long-term average of 30 to 35 inches,” Muns says. Thanks to consistently warm weather during the growing season, his vines have been “charging forward,” developing sugars and flavors more evenly.
Commenting on the 2017 vintage, Thomas Fogarty winemaker Nathan Kandler says the fruit is “the best we have seen since 2014 certainly, and maybe as good as 2012,” which was considered to be a top vintage year.
At Guglielmo Winery in the Santa Clara Valley, winemaker George Guglielmo says fruit is developing about a month behind the early 2016 harvest. He's planning for an end of September start.
“We hope mother nature provides us with the proper weather, no rain,” Guglielmo says.
Winemakers want grapes to stay dry throughout the four-month harvest season from August through November. Rain could mean mildew growing on the fruit.
Further south, in Monterey County, picking started on Aug. 3 at Scheid Vineyards for the pinot noir fruit that goes into the winery's Isabelle sparkling wine. At Caraccioli Cellars, Scott Caraccioli plans to begin his harvest for sparkling wine later this week. Winemakers in this region say outlook for the vintage is positive, given the winter rains and moderate temperatures during the growing season.
Livermore Valley winemakers are monitoring fruit as it develops, but the harvest start is still several weeks away.
Whites are ripening
“Quality is looking very good as we had great fruit set and just now about to finish veraison,” says Concannon Vineyard's John Concannon. “Mother nature is cooperating with the coming weeks in the 80's for the high and hitting the 50's at night, just what we want in the Livermore Valley.”
Livermore's Nottingham Cellars and Vasco Urbano Wine Company winemaker Collin Cranor says sauvignon blanc and chardonnay grapes are ripening soon and looking good. The jury's still out on red varietals.
“What happens from here on out to when we pick is what ultimately matters,” Cranor says. “We just set the table for this last part of the growing season.”