Hot weather means quick harvest

Temperatures in the 90s this week combined with lack of cooling coastal fog are accelerating the already early Sonoma County grape harvest.

White wine grapes like sauvignon blanc and chardonnay are ripening rapidly, with wineries working hard to keep up and some worried they catch a break before the bulk of the red grapes start rolling in.

?It does look likes it?s going to be a short, quick harvest the way it?s heading today,? said Glenn Proctor, a broker with The Joseph Ciatti Company in San Rafael.

Typically, wineries and grape growers catch a breather between the harvest of white wine grapes and the slower ripening reds, giving them time to rest and regroup.

But with the lighter crop and temperatures hitting over 100 several days last week, vineyard managers are worried everything is starting to come into the winery at once, something all but the largest wineries can handle.

?With whites and reds all coming in together, it?s going to be a challenge getting everything in through the front door,? Proctor said.

Wineries the west county, who were hit hard by the early season frost, are now being thrown another curve ball.

?The fog is missing. That a real critical factor,? said Rhonda Smith, a viticulture advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Sonoma County. ?It?s 90 during the day and in the morning it?s starting out hotter than it normally does.?

Cooling fog helps keep the acid and sugar levels in the ripening fruit in balance, allowing flavors to develop, she said. It?s too soon to say just what kind of trouble the lack of fog might cause.

Overall the heat doesn?t seem to have done any damage to what?s looking like a beautiful, if small, crop, she said.

?The grapes look great,? she said. ?For all the heat we?ve had, the vines themselves do not look tired.?