The 2010 vintage will probably be recalled as a wet one, given that showers occurred during each of the spring months and on into May. While total rainfall actually falls into the “normal” range, the frequency of the rains loomed large and created an annoyance by encouraging weed growth and rot so that growers had to respond with more vineyard floor and canopy management. The cool spring delayed flowering and produced modest crop sets.

If March, April and May were cool months, so were June, July and even August – until the final week. After a summer of seemingly endless 75° to 80° F. days, the end of August brought a blast of heat during which a practically unheard of 105° F. day was recorded in Carneros. Even with this heat spike, August was as cool on average as July. That situation proved problematic. The sudden heat had a damaging effect … More…

What a vintage this has been! We finally began to harvest last week. After a rainy spring and one of the longest, coolest growing seasons in recent memory, our thermometers flirted with triple digit numbers for several days during the last week in August. Farther north in Sonoma Valley, temperatures soared as high as 110° F on Tuesday, the 24th.

September brought a return to moderate weather, but some damage had been done. With foggy, damp mornings the norm throughout the summer, growers had opened their leaf canopies to facilitate air flow and sunlight penetration as a hedge against rot and mildew. But protection against one concern left them vulnerable to another. Grapes that had not been acclimated to warm weather were suddenly exposed to intense sun and heat that shocked and sunburned as much as … More…

Over the weekend of May 16-17 this year, we experienced a brief but significant heat spike. Our vines had begun flowering the previous week (less than five percent), and temperatures had ranged from the 70s to the low 80s throughout the week.

As the mercury approached high 90s F., the vines had moved into full bloom. Grapevines are rather vulnerable during this period and require moderate conditions for complete pollination. Extremes of cool, hot, dry or wet weather can interrupt the process.

A good synonym for a vintage is “weather pattern.” Each growing season is a collection of fog and heat and wind and rain events. As wine grape growers, we can’t control the weather, but we do try to react to it in an appropriate manner to obtain the end product we want.

This year, as in 2007, the heat and subsequent rapid and incomplete flowering gave us little shot berries and … More…

It’s Valentine’s Day, and we’ve received a wonderful valentine – over a week of beautiful weather, with highs reaching 70 and lows in the 30s.

Heavy rains have brought us close to 20 inches for the season, very near normal, which is slightly less than 22 through this month. By comparison, last year we had just over 11 inches to date.

I have been sidelined with the flu, which has seemed ironic during this past week of warm, sunny days. Nabor has been busy in the vineyard, and with dry weather forecast, he should finish pruning our home ranch, The Donum Estate, and nearby Ferguson Block by early next week. Then we start tying.

I’m on the mend, so we’ll head up to Nugent Vineyards next Saturday and start there. … More…

Kenneth, Nabor and I walked our Donum and Ferguson Block vineyards today with Dr. Phil Freese, our viticultural consultant. It was cool and overcast until noon. Phil remarked that while it’s been a mild summer, there has been virtually no fog. Cool evenings have kept acid levels up.

Even with clouds overhead today and temperatures barely in the 70s, Phil commented that enough sunlight gets through for photosynthesis (vines won’t grow in full shade). He said photosynthesis will “max out” in the high 70s and low 80s. Even the morning breeze aids the process of ripening by circulating fresh carbon dioxide among the leaves. Phil recalled being in the Nahe Valley in Germany one year for the last 30 days before harvest; even when three out of the four weeks were … More…