The 2010 grape harvest officially begins Monday morning when Hunter Vineyards plans to pick pinot noir grapes, making the vineyard near Glen Ellen the first out of the gate for the third year in a row.
"We'll begin harvest at Hunter with one press load," said Bob Iantosca, winemaker at Gloria Ferrer Winery in Sonoma, who will produce sparkling wine with the grapes. But, he said, steady picking is still days away.
Crews will start at 3 a.m. and work until 10 a.m., according to Chris Bowen, manager of Robert Hunter Winery, where the vineyards are located. Last year, harvest began in the same vineyard on August 10, and in 2008 on August 1.
Mumm Napa will begin picking the next day, Tuesday morning. To celebrate the new harvest, winemaker Ludovic Dervin and winery staff will gather at the crush pad to give a toast and simultaneously pop 21 bottles of champagne to salute the new crop.
Other North Coast winemakers also expect to do selective picking next week, with harvest running approximately two to three weeks behind schedule due to weeks of cooler temperatures and an usually persistent layer of heavy, wet fog. An unusually rainy spring in 2006 delayed the start of that year's vintage harvest, which also began on August 23.
"We rarely see this situation, so we don't have a lot of history to go on," said Tom Tiburzi, sparkling winemaker at Domaine Chandon in Yountville. "We're doing this by the seat of our pants."
Tiburzi said he expects to pick a portion of the grapes in Yountville by the middle of next week, but doesn't expect picking in cooler areas like the Carneros to be steady until the first of September.
Grape grower Charles Greene of Stetson-Greene Vineyards in Healdsburg is also set to pick his first grapes next week.
"We plan to pick 10 acres of pinot noir for Piper Sonoma next Wednesday," he said, to become sparkling wine.
Grapes groomed for sparkling wine are the first picked, with those destined for still wines likely to follow in the middle of September, said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission.
Greene said the cool, damp weather has delayed ripening, posing the threat of mildew in the vineyards.
"Farming is terrible," he said with a laugh. "Sometimes it's a wonderful business to be in and other times it's nerve-wracking... This summer in particular has been crazy. I laughingly refer to the summer as the summer that wasn't. Most of my grape grower friends agree we haven't had a real summer."
To protect against mildew, Greene said he has been pulling leaves off the vines and dropping fruit to keep air circulating. He monitors the weather on the Internet every other day. "It gives me a picture of what's going on out there so we can plan accordingly," he said.
Greene is not alone. George Bursick, winemaker of J Vineyards in Healdsburg, said he sometimes monitors four computerized weather programs at the same time. Meanwhile Iantosca, who said he's "decidedly low tech," still checks several web sites every couple days, including weather.com.
Frey said that while there are many weather services to choose from, his group's website (www.sonomawinegrape.org) offers access to a forecast program called Western Weather.
"You can sign up to have daily forecasts sent to your computer or to your smart phone," he said. "I usually check once per day, but you can go to the Western Weather site and check hourly at weather stations around the country."
Weather forecasts are a great tool, said Frey.
"They are a guide," he said. "Ultimately you test the grapes for sugar, pH (acidity levels) and for taste, but weather models help you predict the rate of ripening."
Last year the early rains on October 12 and 13 were predicted a week in advance by weather forecasts and Frey said the warning helped growers and winemakers make picking decisions.
"A storm was tracked from Japan to California," he said. "That allowed wineries to make harvest decisions and get more fruit in the winery before the rain hit. That was a big boost for growers and for wine quality."
Staff writer Peg Melnik can be reached at 707-521-530 or peg.melniknote@aol.com.
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