Well, everyone seems to agree…..This weather has beencrazy. An extremely mild summer already had people asking over andover again, “What does it mean for the grapes?”. Thecrazy heat wave of a week ago definitely got everyone’sattention. It seemed like everyone in the valley (winemakers aswell as wine drinkers) was talking about the grapes, the harvest,and ultimately, the wine.The long, extended growing season canactually be seen as a positive. More time for the vines to reallyconcentrate on balanced fruit profiles and truly reach phenolicripeness. The record heat of last week did not phase too manywinemakers. Yes, it sent sugar levels spiking, but the acid levelswere relatively high as well, showing the fruit was stillrelatively in check. Our consensus was that with coolingtemperatures, we would see the sugar levels drop a bit and thefruit would indeed be balanced.Of course, the negative of anextended growing season and late harvest is the inevitable thoughtsof early rain, or, dare I say, frost happening before all the fruitis picked. Oh, but what are the chances….we have alreadydealt with enough weather worries, no? No. It has rained. It israining now. This has affected our nerves the most. The thought ofmoldy fruit makes winemakers very unhappy. It is at times like thiswhen I am very grateful and happy that we contract our fruit by theacre. This gives us a lot of control in the vineyards. I have faiththat we have meticulously farmed our blocks and used techniques tohelp ensure our fruit will be protected.Earlier, when facing theslow and mild growing season, there was much contemplation of howmuch of the canopy to cut or how much fruit to drop. The lowertemperatures also played into how aggressive we would be withleafing and tunneling to try and combat powdery mildew. Aircirculation around the clusters can prevent mildew from occurring.Of course, having a thinner canopy results in more sun on thefruit. While this is beneficial during the cooler times, with thetriple digit temperatures, sunburn was a concern. Again, we comeback to balance. We are constantly aiming to farm in balance withMother Nature, the vines’ health and our desires aswinemakers.This growing season and harvest has felt a bitschizophrenic. Too cold, too hot, what techniques to use, when topick, when to panic….. But, as winemakers, this is our fate.The weather is just another aspect of what makes wine making sointriguing and challenging.Making wine is truly a gift. We feel sofortunate to have this opportunity and we are always grateful forthe lessons it provides us….as winemakers and as humanbeings. So often lessons learned around making winetranslate perfectly to life. And, today’s lesson isbalance.
