Yesterday I was out early, and the rising sun was just a small blood-red disk in a tan sky, the result of smoke and ash from more than 800 fires burning in California. The mountains around us are barely discernible in this haze, which resembles severe smog, and the sunlight has a brassy quality.

It’s cool now, but a week ago we had four days of 100-degree temperatures. That’s our third heat spike in what has been a fairly cool, windy and very dry season to date. We also had spikes in mid-May and early June, and this succession of heat events reminds me of the 2003 and 2004 vintages.

That said, the vineyards are showing nicely. We use two tools to monitor our water situation and evaluate the effectiveness of irrigations. The neutron probe tells us the levels of moisture stored in the soil. The pressure bomb, which we’ve had as … More…

Warm weather is upon us and is expected through the weekend and into next week. The mercury hit 96 degrees in Sonoma yesterday, but temperatures should be more moderate from today on. Walking the vineyards this week, I noticed some shatter – the failure of berries to develop due to incomplete pollination during flowering.

Shatter can be the result of too much heat or wind or moisture during bloom that prevents the setting of fruit. Timing is everything, as different sites, clones or selections and varieties develop at different rates. We expected some shatter with the onset of heat last month around bloom time as all the pent-up energy stored in the vines during the cool weather was unleashed in a growth spurt. We see elongated rachises (grape cluster axes) as a result of that spurt.

A little shatter is good for quality because it opens up the cluster, allowing berries to … More…