California Set for Another Classic Vintage

Unless disaster strikes in the next few weeks, California will enjoy another bumper grape harvest.

Let’s put it this way: This is a great year to be a home winemaker, because if you are willing to pick the grapes yourself, the available options might be the best ever. Even well-regarded vineyards might have grapes to sell in small quantities.

“There will be grapes left behind, without a doubt,” said Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers. “Particularly two classes of grapes. Hand-harvested grapes in the interior; for example, head-trained Zinfandel in Lodi. The market for Zin is so weak that the return isn’t enough to pay for the picking and hauling. A lot of head-trained Zin won’t get harvested. Another category is coastal reds in general. Unless we really have a light crop you’re going to have coastal reds hanging on the vine. We’re seeing some grapes move now at well below the cost of production.”

Does quality have anything to do with it? California‘s summer has been warmer than usual, with extended heat in July but no single brutal heat spike.

“At our site it got to 104, 105,” said Nolan Jones, winemaker for Lava Cap in high-elevation El Dorado County. “Along with September 2022 it was the hottest I’ve seen it up here. We’re at 2700 feet. We rarely go over 100. Anything over 95 is pretty hot. But it all happened before veraison.”

You know what variety does really well in those conditions? Zinfandel.

“Harvest began last week, and nine tons of Zinfandel were picked this morning,” Jim Rickards, owner of J. Rickards Winery in Sonoma County, said Friday. “Zinbambow! This is a stunning vintage. This one is going to be in the record books, I am sure of that.”

Farmers never pray for a light crop when they get paid by the ton, but the industry as a whole might. So far, though, it seems like California might deliver an average-size crop in terms of yield per acre. The overall numbers will only be down because of non-picked grapes.

“We’ve finished up all the Sauvignon Blanc. The quality looks fine,” said Pete Richmond, president of both Silverado Farming and Napa Valley Grapegrowers. “We were worried that the summer heat was going to knock down yields. Yields have actually been maintained on Sauvignon Blanc. Fingers crossed, the quality of the crop is going to look good. But for quantity, having a big crop isn’t the thing we need right now.”

Picking up speed

Napa Valley might be the one region in California where all the grapes will be picked. In neighboring Sonoma County, the second-best-regarded wine region in North America, rumors of big-company vineyards simply not being farmed this year to save money are rampant.

“I’ve heard rumors of fruit availability but we’ll see later in harvest,” said Joe Nielsen, general manager and winemaker at Ram’s Gate. “We’re about 25 percent in as we speak. We work with vineyards all over Sonoma County. The fruit so far has been delicious. With Pinot Noir we’re getting optimal ripeness. We’re getting good fruit concentration while getting good acidity.”

Much of California had a hot July, but Nielsen is one of several winemakers to say that the heat came early enough in the growing season for the vines to recover.

“While it was warm most of the summer, it’s still Sonoma, so we’re still getting those cool 50 degree nights,” Nielsen told Wine-Searcher. “Even today we got a diurnal shift of over 40 degrees. I’m a Midwest guy, so cool nights are something to cherish.”

A number of winemakers mentioned that harvest seems to be going more quickly than usual. Bret Munselle of Sonoma County’s Munselle Vineyards said he expects to finish picking all his white grapes two days before the date when he even started picking in 2023, which was an unusually late year.

Unless a cold spell or rain hits – neither is currently in the forecast – that could be good news as it could get most grapes into tanks before any possible late wildfires.

“I would be shocked if we were picking after the second week of October,” Lava Cap’s Jones said.

Bitter said that as well-regarded as the 2023 vintage has been, it was a more challenging one than this year.

“We have not had nearly as many incidents of rejections this year due to rot and mildew,” Bitter said. “We had a lot of that last year. From a grapegrowing standpoint, it’s been a bit easier growing season. Less challenging. From a wine quality perspective, I will say one thing: we tend to see acids dropping out fast this year.”

Paul Bush, owner/winemaker at Madroña Vineyards in El Dorado County, said there’s a chemistry disconnect between a good low pH for his grapes but also lower total acidity. This could mean a wine that doesn’t taste as fresh as it actually is.

“When customers come in, they often ask what brix level do you pick at,” Bush told Wine-Searcher. “For me, it’s not the brix levels I’m interested in but the pH. When the pH starts to increase quickly, you’re getting into overripe areas. The acid, we can make slight adjustments. It’s California. pH is much harder to adjust. When it comes to the glass, my expectation is there’s going to be a nice balance to the wine with a little more texture to it. These wines might be more enveloping, more of a big giant hug. For the reds. The whites will have a little bit higher acid.”

Normally at this point I have to add a disclaimer that anything can still happen weather-wise until the grapes are in the barn. But this time I have Bush to do it for me.

“This is all speculation,” Bush said. “You should be asking me about the 2006 vintage. That one I know about.”

Source: https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2024/09/california-set-for-another-classic-vintage