2011 West Coast Weather and Vintage Thread

[Roy Piper]

12 things I learned about the 2011 Napa vintage....

1. This is going to be Napa's third straight MIXED VINTAGE, along with 2009 and 2010.
2. Generally considered the toughest vintage for winemakers since at least 2000 and for growers perhaps in decades.
3. Yields are much lower due to shatter in June and then picking around mold and botrytis now.
4. Brix are between 23.5-24.5 in most floor vineyards, below what people here like to pick at these days. This will probably be the first vintage since my arrival where the alcohol numbers listed on the bottles will be naturally occurring.
5. Acids are above average, but not too high.
6. The mountain vineyards that got picked by last week are often green tasting. If they are still holding on and not under attack by mold, the next 10 days might result in very good mountain Cab. They are about the only vineyards left to pick.
7. Mold and botrytis forced most valley floor vineyards to be picked before winemakers wanted, even though the weather was sunny.
8. There will be some excellent wines, several good wines... and a whole lot of talk about "elegance."
9. This vintage will result in some very hard renegotiations of many high-end "by the acre" contracts. The days of paying any price for certain fruit regardless of tonnage is over. Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall.
10. In twelve months everyone will be saying how much better the wines are than they thought they would be.
11. There will be a lot of 1-year old "new" oak barrels for sale next year
12. Everyone will be glad when the holidays hit and can finally take a break.

[Casey Hartlip]

Nice list Roy. I think #10 will be true too. People will fear the worst, but I'll bet many wine will be better than what people are now thinking.

[Adam Lee]

Nice list Roy. I think #10 will be true too. People will fear the worst, but I'll bet many wine will be better than what people are now thinking.

Usually, at least for me, the progression goes.....newly harvest grapes suck, wine sucks, post-ml wine better than expected, wine in tank better than expected, recently bottled wine not good, wine after proper bottle aging better than it started out but not as good as I thought post-ml and from tank.

Adam Lee
Siduri Wines

[Paul Gordon]

We're letting it ride another week. The fruit and canopies are in decent enough shape. Still nothing but sun out there for a while. I will go and check the zin at marrier, but i'm confident it will be still looking good. Whatever made it through the rains without rot is doing well at this point. It will be intersting..We're planing on picking the last four days of oct.

I'm with you John. Plan to pick Syrah and whites on Saturday. I am going to let the Grenache and Mourvedre hang another week.
We went thru the rains with no issues and the last two weeks have been ideal.

[Kevin Harvey]

This harvest has switched into low gear and low drama for us now. The recent weather has been fantastic and the NWS says it should hold through Nov.7.
We have a small Pinot pick tomorrow at Horseshoe. That leaves 2 small cleanup picks at Horseshoe and Skyline which should happen in another week or so. Meanwhile, we will probably pick our Skyline Syrah by the end of the month. It is tasting good but at this point why not let it hang? Even our Horseshoe Syrah has a chance. It is about 20-21B and I see lots of sun in the forecast. We have already scheduled the pick on this one. It will be the day before the next rain...whenever that is!

[Casey Hartlip]

A hectic but good day today:

picked in 5 different fields (finishing 3), for 4 different wineries, and 2 different varietals.

Picked 877 and estrella Syrah for Carica, picked 877 and estrella for Odisea, picked Counoise for Broc Cellars, then closed with more 877 for Stark Wines. We thought we had 1.5 tons of Counoise, and ended up with 2.77. The 877 picked out pretty well too.

Thanks to all the guys who hauled their own fruit. Everyone came on time and had their sh!t together.

Picking Navarro Syrah tomorrow and Thackrey Zinfandel on Wednesday.

Thursday has a couple of different options.

Feels good to be making some headway!

[Steve Edmunds]

that must be a can of Whup-Ass! disguised as Pepsi!

[sheldon haynie]

We're done in Santa Clara, the Merlot and Cab were tasting great, seeds mature and brix hanging at 22.

Petit Syrah starting to turn to raisins, so time to drag it off too.

Low yields in Gilroy and SCM vineyards, < 1 ton/acre. San Martin coming in at 3 tons/acre on Merlot absolutely pretty fruit, 2 on cab and about 1 on Zin, with only one bunch of Zin with any mildew.

Merlot showed surface mold after 24 hr cold soak, hit it with another 20 g/ton KmbS and will see what it looks like in morning.

Our Carneros growers only had 75% of normal Pinot and Chardonnay this year, some pink & nasty clusters in the Chard even after a pass to drop it pre harvest, but it pressed off at > 70 gal/pick bin at 3 bar in a small vertical bladder.

S

[ericleehall]

We are picking our Petaluma WindGap Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir starting tomorrow.. Updates will follow!

[Andrew Morris]

3 of our Southern Humboldt Pinot vineyards are picking the next 3 days. Even if the rain holds off, with highs projected in the 60's, this is as good as they will be.

[Casey Hartlip]

I hate to gloat but we picked 15 tons of spec pinot from Philo (last stuff, unsold) at 25, .64 and 3.57 on Saturday. We took it to Rack and Riddle in Hopland. I think with the market as it is, we shouidn't have any trouble selling it.

[Roy Piper]

I hate to gloat but we picked 15 tons of spec pinot from Philo (last stuff, unsold) at 25, .64 and 3.57 on Saturday. We took it to Rack and Riddle in Hopland. I think with the market as it is, we shouidn't have any trouble selling it.

Congrads, you out ripened 95% of Napa Cab with Pinot from Anderson Valley. You even out-hung most Cab.

[Roy Piper]

We are picking our Petaluma WindGap Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir starting tomorrow.. Updates will follow!

Is that near Sonoma Stage?

[Bob Wood]

I hate to gloat but we picked 15 tons of spec pinot from Philo (last stuff, unsold) at 25, .64 and 3.57 on Saturday. We took it to Rack and Riddle in Hopland. I think with the market as it is, we shouidn't have any trouble selling it.

Congrats, you out ripened 95% of Napa Cab with Pinot from Anderson Valley. You even out-hung most Cab.

Fixed. It's short for congratulations, not "congradulations" which isn't a word. I see this kind of stuff all the time.

Did everyone here fail 8th-grade English?

[PeterH]

<Did everyone here fail 8th-grade English?>

Ya, I was too busy ducking unda the desk looking at da beavas. I'm sure you undastand.

So, how's the harvest in the mudlands?

P Hickner

[Linda Lindsay]

We are nearing the 250 ton mark in the house..Pinot noir, Gris, Chardonnay and Mt. Pressing our first reds today. Think we have the makings for some pretty wines. Weather is nice, no rain rather cold at night but a real blessing not gettin wet.
Definately a winemakers vintage up here, but we can do it
Good luck to all !
L

[Casey Hartlip]

ZAP just checked my weather station in Boonville and its 32.4 degrees!

[Linda Baehr]

ZAP just checked my weather station in Boonville and its 32.4 degrees!

Yeah, supposed to be 37 here the next two nights, which means certain areas might get zapped here. :P

[Ken Zinns]

Finally got in the last Pinot Noir of the year at Harrington Wines yesterday, from Wiley Vineyard in the deep end of Anderson Valley.

Looking forward to getting Eaglepoint Grenache and Syrah for Eno Wines, probably on Saturday. How's it looking, Casey?

[Bob Wood]

<Did everyone here fail 8th-grade English?>

Ya, I was too busy ducking unda the desk looking at da beavas. I'm sure you undastand.

So, how's the harvest in the mudlands?

P Hickner

Looking much better than feared, and the forecast is for less than .25 inch of rain over the next week to ten days. I haven't checked lately, but I suspect there's still a lot of fruit hanging, especially at the higher elevations.

[Ed Fus]

Losses from birds, bees, & mold are issues to be dealt with but most folks are still waiting to pull the trigger on their Pinot Noir - at least from what I see. Seems very little has been picked - only some whites, young vine/low elev Pinot Noir, and a couple of sites where fruit quality was falling. From the folks I've spoken to, we'll see the first big pick by the end of this week, a hold period for the expected spritz and following good weather, then another pick prior to the next precip event.
Could be that the majority of '11 Pinot Noir fruit will be harvested post Halloween!

The saying in the winery these days is "grow some, and let 'em hang!"

Best, Ed

Angel Vine

[PeterH]

I watch the weather report every day, seeing nothing devastating approaching and nothing warm either.
Great wine can be made from trying conditions, I hope.

So, how are the white wines?

P Hickner

[Merrill Lindquist]

36 degrees here in Calistoga this morning.

[Roy Piper]

We hit 78F today but it had a Fall breeze attached that made it seem cooler than it was. The air SMELLS like Fall. And it was 42F in Napa this morning. I think we are done.

[Casey Hartlip]

I can see the end. Still have at least one 6-8 ton lots of Petite for Thackrey (and maybe 4-5 tons of custom stuff). Syrah is done, except for 3 tons of 877 that just has too much funk in it. Going to pick 4-5 tons of Zin (really clean and 26 brix) Saturday for Dogwood and that will wipe that out. Sasha and a bunch of little guys Grenache on Tuesday (looking and tasting great!). Then the Cab that never made it sometime mid-week and then final Grenache pick on Friday. It could be the 4th time in 32 years that we picked into November.

[Merrill Lindquist]

We hit 78F today but it had a Fall breeze attached that made it seem cooler than it was. The air SMELLS like Fall. And it was 42F in Napa this morning. I think we are done.

Still see the young stuff up Pickett at Kenefick hanging as of late yesterday. A few rows hanging next to me for Frediani. I'm not sure what for...hopefully availability of crew or winery space.

[Eric Keating]

Picking the last of my fruit tomorrow. 'Montecillo' Cabernet and Zinfandel (Mayacamas, 1500' elevation, east side of Sonoma Valley, right next to Napa border of Mt. Veeder). Got very lucky up there, no botryitis, good drainage and Fall winds up there. Furthermore, the warm October helped as it was way behind (Cab was 21 brix in late Sep). Might even get to 25.

My final tonnage will be about the same as last year, which is about 30% less than my target. Even though the yield was low, I feel very happy with the fruit considering the circumstances.

That wraps it up for me! Hopefully 2012 is more typical of a Northern California season.

[larry schaffer]

Just got in my FIRST reds of the vintage yesterday - Thompson Vyd Grenache and White Hawk Syrah. I got exactly one ton from my acre of White Hawk - ouch! (for the vyd that is). Great color on the syrah and wonderful acidity on both. Heating up this weekend - it hit 90 in Los Olivos today - with very cool nights. WIll be picking some of my Larner Vyd Grenache and Syrah on Monday, as well as my Camp 4 Grenache. That will leave more Larner Syrah and Grenache, Larner Mourvedre, Camp 4 Mourvedre, and Petite SIrah still hanging - and all are doing fine. We'll see what mother nature has lined up over the next 10 days before I make any other picking decisions . . .

Another erratic year that is so very different here than up north.

Good luck all in finishing up - and keeping those ferments going!

Cheers!

[Paul Gordon]

Pulled in our Syrah and Grenache yesterday. A combined 4t from 8 acres! We desperately need a normal Spring next year.
Quality looks great. Good acids and the Syrah is sitting at 23b in tank. Just wish there was more of it.

[Al Osterheld]

Sounds like a lot of sweat equity in those grapes, glad they at least turned out well.

-Al

[Casey Hartlip]

This time of year makes me very reflective. I sat by my chicken coup this afternoon and marveled at the leaves of the black oaks falling. We've had no frost, no serious storms in a while yet the leaves fall. These trees are DONE.

I picked walnuts today listening to the niners win. Even though I shook the trees hard, many nuts aren't ready.

I sat out in the hot tob tonight and it felt like summer. Warm, clear and still. I know this won't last much longer.

I have 16 days before I leave on my trip to South Dakota. I still have 5 harvest days, need to slaughter my hogs with my brother, need to put the harvest equipment away, and finish the harvest paperwork. SO GLAD I don't make wine anymore. I MISS the creative aspect of making wine, but don't miss the bullshit of the REST of the winemaking treadmill.

Looking foreward to seeing friends like Sean Thackrey, Sasha and some of the other young guns this week.

I really want to shoot that f*cking bear that's been coming in every night and wrecking my fence and eating Grenache.

[Linda Lindsay]

Ave the last of our whites coming in tomorrow - tasted those in ferment yesterday, great aromatics and balance at this point. Happy girl here in Oregon !

[Ken Zinns]

I really want to shoot that f*cking bear that's been coming in every night and wrecking my fence and eating Grenache.

We're counting on you to keep that bear away from the Grenache, Casey!

Looking forward to getting the fruit in a couple of days.

[Ian Brand]

It was raccoons for us this year. One raccoon really. With the quantity of grapes he ate this year, I have to imagine there was a little havoc wreaked on his gastrointestinal health. I've never been a fan of shooting bears, spent a fair portion of my life following them around (amazing beasts, loads of personality), but when they get a food source they like, they're impossible to control. Of course, I was into grizzlies, black bears are just giants skunks... There's one up in Tahoe that likes to open the sliding doors on my brother-in-law's minivan (lord, may I never own one of those) and clean up the old cheerios the kids drop under the seats.

17+ tons of old vine Grenache (for a friend) came in on Friday, 3.5 tons Merlot (bringing back the sexy) on Saturday, 1 ton Syrah out of Paso today, the last pinot (de Tierra) hanging out there on Tuesday. Brought in the Coastview Bordeaux field blend on Wednesday -- 24.2 brix, 3.41 pH, 6.8 g/L TA. Dense and brooding, burly mountain wine. Stick that up your Napa and smoke it, Roy:).

Bin city, a handful of tanks. My kid brother, after doing a great job all harvest, ran into an overhead door so hard he pulled it off the tracks. Ah, family. Two weeks of real work left, then the long tail off. Trying to guess rain and frost for Thursday/Friday. Hunches?

[Linda Baehr]

Trying to guess rain and frost for Thursday/Friday. Hunches?

Calloing for showers here Friday, but only 30% chance so far. But, it is supposed to be 30-32F from Friday through Monday. :P
Brought the last of our Zin in Friday. Now the Bordeaux varieties come rolling in. Down to six tanks right now, but bin city here as well. And the city will continue to grow.