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Business & Tech

Wet Grapes, Green Fuzz and Anxious Growers: 2011 Harvest Update

With just over half of the 2011 crop in, Napa winegrowers have another nail-biting vintage on their hands. Check out our exclusive video to see a low-flying helicopter hired to dry out wet grapes after the recent rain, as a jackrabbit runs for cover.

Low-flying helicopters in northern California this time of year usually mean the state’s CAMP program (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) is searching for pot farms.

But in Napa last Thursday afternoon, CAMP might have stood for Campaign Against Moldy Pinot as a helicopter hovered low over the vineyard rows, drying wet winegrapes with the air from its rotors and startling a jackrabbit (see video).

Growers have also resorted to using their vineyard fans, usually deployed to keep frost from settling on winter nights, to dry their soggy vineyards.

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Torrential rains on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week and Monday’s drizzle this week have had growers and winemakers of late-ripening varietals wringing their hands and wondering why they didn’t pursue an English degree instead of one in viticulture.

That forlorn and nervous guy at the end of the bar in the grape-stained polo shirt, jeans and dusty boots, staring into his double martini, is probably a grower or winemaker wondering if this year he is going to be able to make one of the super-ripe, high-scoring, extracted wines that the Wine Spectator and Robert Parker like.

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Everyone in wine country knows we’ve had a late-ripening year this year, with causing shatter (un-pollinated berries) for many varietals, followed by a cool summer.

So this year’s yield will be smaller. But low yields usually mean higher quality. And with high-end wines still taking a sales hit due to the economy (solid Wall St. bonuses this year will mitigate this problem a bit), lower yields can be good for growers (fewer grapes available on the spot market can drive prices up) and more "forced scarcity" for resulting high end wines.

So what if verasion (grapes turning either golden for whites or purple for reds) happened in mid-August instead of mid-July?

There was a lot of PPPP last week (panic picking pinot producers) when the first buckets of rain fell.

Pinot noir is a thin-skinned delicate varietal that can bursts if swelled up with too much water. Pinot's tight clusters are more prone to mold than some other varietals.

As vines soak up rainwater, the concentration of flavors in the grapes can be diluted. Growers I spoke with this month said for the most part they got their Pinot in at around 24-25 Brix (measure of sugar content in the fruit).

I even believed some of them; but the fact that they did not laugh when I said “my, how Burgundian of you,” told another story.

David Mahaffey, who grows and makes pinot noir in the Wild Horse Valley appellation in the eastern hills above the town of Napa, said his sugar level actually went backwards a bit last week with the rain and cool temps.

Mahaffey said he is holding out for a bit more ripeness and plans to pick over this coming weekend, before the next rains come. Truly, grape-growing is not for the faint-hearted. 

With the sunshine and moderate heat in late August and through September, growers and wine makers were getting excited about the prospect of a potentially great, but smaller vintage.

With the late start, and lots of moisture in the soil, vine canopy (the green leafy part) seemed to be holding up well over the past couple weeks, enabling photosynthesis to continue well into mid October.

In the hot dry years, the canopy gives up much earlier and there is simply no more ripening once the leaves turn yellow and fall off.

A cool late summer can mean grapes with lots of flavor development without sugar levels getting too high and lots of good acidity in the fruit and resulting wines.

I must confess I like wines with acidity, and it's not just because I came from the generation that liked acid. In my opinion, wines with lower alcohol and well balanced acidity simply go better with food.

The few drops of rain we got in some places Sept. 25 were no problem. The weather was windy, sunny and warm right after that and it was just enough rain to wash the dust off the grapes, give the vines a little drink and remind us that the growing season is comng to an end. 

Then the real stuff came.

All grapes are susceptible to mold. The Press-Democrat reported some areas in Sonoma already lost up to 30% of their chardonnay crop and one grower lost 50% of his Zin to mold.

The varietals with the gangly clusters (like cabernet and merlot) can take a little rain without developing mold. Their thick skins mean they are less likely to burst when they swell up with water.

Many growers have gone into the vineyards to rip off all the leaves from the fruit zone to expose the grapes to air and light in hopes that things will dry out. The shorter days and the sun being lower in the sky means less chance of sunburned fruit.

A few of the Pinotage clusters I saw on Tuesday in the Stags Leap district had some green fur on them. Cabernet in Oak Knoll the same day looked great. 

Twelve tons of merlot that came into Silenus in Oak Knoll Tuesday afternoon looked beautiful, with little shatter and no mold.

The clearing skies and breeze we had Tuesday afternoon made perfect conditions for drying grapes. Sunshine Wednesday morning is also a good sign. 

The wine blogosphere is dying to write off this vintage as lost for reds, but being more of a glass-half-full kinda wine drinker, I am willing to wait and taste the wines (in 2013 of course).

With these cool days and long hang-time, some folks just might be making spectacular wines for 2011. Then again, if they don’t, there is always 2012 right around the corner and we can all go through the handwringing and hair-pulling again.

is a sommelier, winery/vineyard tour guide, musician and writer who lives in rural Napa.

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