2014 West Coast Weather & Vintage Thread

Happy New Year to all, and may the growing season of 2014 be as wonderful as 2013 was!

(Those who have recently checked in on their Napa Valley Cabernets from the 2013 harvest are very, very happy! Coming on the heels of the delicious 2012s that are in barrel, the 2013 harvest has produced something I and at least a few other winemakers think is perhaps even better. We just might have a 2001/2002 in the making, in terms of which of those 2 back-to-back vintages is viewed as “better” as time goes on. I would love to be able to argue this all over again with our 2012s and 2013s.)

2014 is getting off to fairly rocky start in terms of our winter weather. The rain that Northern Californians look forward to during our rainy season (November-ish to April-ish) is sorely missing this season. We rely on rainfall from those months to carry us through the rest of the year, however this season has produced next to nothing so far. We need to fill our ponds and our wells so that irrigation of the vines in the dry summer months is possible.

Our daytime highs here in Calistoga have been in the low 70s, with night time temperatures dipping into the 20s and 30s. It’s great for getting out and about, but those highs are a result of sunshine, which of course means no precipitation.

I saw a couple of rainy days in the forecast for a week or so from now…everyone please pray for that.

Starting to look at the 10 day daily and not liking what I’m seeing. Already cutting capital expenditures for 2014 thinking that crop could be greatly reduced from no frost water or irrigation water either.

Great to hear about the quality of the 2013 cabs, and I know many pinot and chard producers are happy as well with 2013! champagne.gif But the lack of rain sounds worrisome and I hope it starts up in the next few weeks. Here is hoping for a great 2014 for all grape growers and wine producers as the year unfolds. [berserker.gif]

Hey…there’s a slight change of rain next Tuesday/TuesdayNight. A beginning of the end of the High blocking rain?

My irrigation pond has never been bone dry this late into the season. I thought I had learned to relax about these things, but I’m starting to sweat it now.

It has been atypically dry and warm fall and winter so far here in the monterey/salinas area as well (read Santa Lucia Highlands). Cover crops have been all but nonexistent and many traditional crop farmers seem fairly worried. This past year (2013 harvest) came much earlier and was more condensed than previous years (first grapes received in the last week of August, last fruit came first week of November). This year has been even dryer. That said, our 2013 fruit came in with generally small berries and very little to no mold (which can be a real issue here). The wines in barrel look great so far and show promise. Being an individual with a more European palate I am a little skeptical, but hopeful nonetheless. Time will tell I guess!

Welcome Christopher!

In other news, looks like our Tuesday rain has left us :frowning:

Hi Christopher! Which winery are you involved with?

The current forecast for Calistoga calls for possible rain on Thursday and then again on Sunday. Last evening it was so balmy here, and it continues this morning.

My cover crop got off to a very strong start with the couple of days of rain that we had here, and it has maintained with the moisture from the fog that rolls in. But it certainly isn’t growing - just kind of sitting there, and turning yellow in some spots.

Hello everyone! I am a cellar hand/tasting room attendant with De Tierra Vineyards. Our tasting room is in Carmel by the Sea and winery is in the Salinas valley. Thanks for the warm (no pun intended) welcome! I live in Pacific Grove and it just about hit 70 here today without a cloud in the sky.

Nice. I have very close friends who have been asking for me to come down to Carmel. I used to be down there a half dozen times per year when my daughter was at boarding school at Santa Catalina, and camp before that over at Stevenson School.
Pretty different growing environment down there as compared to UpValley here in Napa. All that fog!

Well when you come down we will have to hook up! Will you be going to the symposium in Sac in a few weeks?

No, I don’t do that show. I founded and grew my business while being a single mom here in Napa Valley, and as such put people and have people in place who handle that for me, and they a far better job doing it than I ever could.

Well, it appears they have knocked any chance for rain off the board for tomorrow - rats. Now the prediction is for the possibility of some light rain on Saturday. We can only pray that they are as wrong on the duration and intensity as they were with what became the October storms of the 2011 growing season.

The city of Calistoga is out of water - their reservoir is bone dry. They now rely on a secondary source, which is providing city residents with water. I am on my own well, and for now I am fine, but I am looking down a difficult and expensive path for the growing season if things don’t get very wet very soon.

As an aside, I have not been shy about stating my opposition to over-development here in our Valley. Yesterday I heard that Calistoga Ranch - a top resort - is trucking water in to satisfy their needs. We have 2 or 3 other major resorts that have received approval to build and expand. Where is all the water going to come from? Not to mention the question of who is going to fill their hotel rooms and restaurants during the off-season (like January - bigtime).

Some long range forecasts are showing rain/showers for Napa for the week of 1/19 - let’s hope that holds.

Hey everyone, it is raining in Calistoga!!! It has just started, and it certainly isn’t a deluge, but anything at all will help this situation that has been worsening by the day. I would term it here - at my place - as a steady rainfall, soaking everything that is out there. May it continue!

The rain was brief but good - should at least green things up a bit.

We did just have a series of earthquakes in the last hour - the largest was undeniable at 4.5. My ranch got a good shakeout - source was up in ClearLake.

This is a great time to visit Napa Valley: empty stores and restaurants, plenty of discounts and reduced pricing, little traffic, good weather in which to enjoy a fabulous January.

But this is not a good time to be a landowner, whether residential or agricultural. We are hurting for rain, are under great risk for fire, and see no end in sight. Basically we have summer weather conditions. Yesterday I personally recorded 78 degrees, and I think the official high here in Calistoga was 80. This is not good.

oh man, how we wish it was ‘summer conditions’ up here in Seattle… but i can see the pain from a growing perspective.

Curious (and i’m not ITB, but just curious), you guys depend on rain water to irrigate in the summer time?
Isn’t there some facility that can process ocean water and pump that in? i have no idea so it’s probably a dumb question but was always curious…

Mark - all the water supplied to my home and ranch comes from my well here on property. So what accumulates underground during the winter months feeds the needs of my property. In drier years, I pull water from that well to irrigate the vineyard earlier in the season. As the dry months wear on, the well recovers more slowly, and sometimes I need to purchase water to fill my holding tank so I can irrigate, run the dishwasher, do laundry, etc. all from the same water source. Larger ranches have ponds that they pull water from to irrigate the vineyards. Those ponds are not being replenished with this lack of rain. And the ground is getting drier and drier to deeper and deeper levels.

No idea on ocean water. Way out of my league.

Even in wet years, the rain in California mainly comes from very late fall through spring, with very little during the bulk of the grape growing season. The rest of the time we rely on the Sierra snow pack, an extensive system of reservoirs, and (in some areas) underground aquifers. There is currently almost no snow in the Sierras, the reservoirs have been drawn down by successive drought years, and the aquifers have been dropping. Desalination is used in some areas (mainly coastal with large population bases), but it’s quite expensive and using it more broadly would require a lot of infrastructure that doesn’t exist and would take time and money to build.

-Al