Harvest Report: For 2008, a harvest of surprises

<p>NORTH COAST – The 2008 winegrape harvest could be within a few weeks of being complete, corking what has been by many accounts a wild ride agriculturally and economically for growers and vintners.</p><p>“It seems it’s been a year of everything – heat, freeze, smoke, quarantine,” said Glenn Proctor, partner of wine and grape brokerage Ciatti Co. in San Rafael. “What could happen did happen.”</p><p>There was a month of frost in March and April followed by high temperatures during bloom and a rash of wildfires, especially in Mendocino County, in June led to worries about smoke taint. Then came discoveries of the light-brown apple moth that led to a quarantining of Los Carneros viticultural operations.</p><p>Fuel prices and the high cost of steel drove vineyard management costs during the first half of the year, but demand for dwindling excess tonnage of chardonnay, pinot noir and even cabernet sauvignon and select merlot pushed prices upward in late 2007 and early 2008, according to Mr. Proctor.</p><p>However, concerns about the impact of high gasoline prices and then the economy itself on consumer purchases of wine eased the flood of early grape-buying activity.</p><p>Sonoma County growers have picked most of the remaining grapes, according to county winegrape commission President Nick Frey. “Winemakers have been consistently happy with the small berries and lots of flavor, but they’re not too happy with the tremendous variation on yield from block to block and vineyard to vineyard,” he said.</p><p>The commission is estimating 165,000 to 175,000 tons of Sonoma County winegrapes will be harvested this year, or a 12 percent to 17 percent reduction from 2007 tonnage.</p><p>In Napa County, hillside growers were half to three-quarters done and projecting to bring in the rest by the first week of November, while growers on the Napa Valley floor were still in the midst of picking, some even bringing in chardonnay in mid-October, according to Napa Valley Vintners spokesman Terry Hall.</p><p>Early-season estimates of 5 percent to 10 percent fewer tons likely are low, he noted.</p><p>Yields from vines on the eastern slopes of Napa Valley, representing a fifth of county tonnage, were halved by spring frost, compared with 2007. Mountain fruit accounted for 20 percent of the 145,000 tons picked in the county last year. “The bulk wine market will be light this year,” Mr. Hall said.</p><p>Cooler summer weather and smaller berries per cluster allowed sugars and acids to remain balanced, according to Mr. Hall.</p><p>Mendocino County growers were about three-quarters done and expecting to bring in the rest by the end of October, according to Paige Poulos, president of the Mendocino Winegrape & Wine Commission. Two nights of mid-October frost knocked leaves off vines to expose fruit to the sun for faster maturation.</p><p>Sparkling wine producer Korbel found the uneven grape development after the swings in spring weather challenging for determining the optimum time for harvest, according to Paul Ahvenainen, winemaking director. Korbel crushed 12,000 tons this year from the Sonoma Coast, Clarksburg and other areas of the state, about 15 percent fewer tons than last year.</p><p>“It was hard to make the call on harvest day, and some vineyards had some fruit that was riper than usual,” he said.</p><p>Smoke taint turned out to not be the problem feared earlier in the season, largely because Mendocino’s 450 growers largely hand-pick their fruit and North Coast winemakers didn’t hard-press the fruit, according to Ms. Poulos.</p>