2018 Vintage West Coast Weather Thread

Happy New Year. Let’s get the 2018 thread going

No significant rain in the 10 day forecast is not what were hoping for in the new year. We have a lot of season left so I hope we catch up.

Joe,

Doesn’t the first half of January look at least 10 times wetter than all of December? I know San Francisco isn’t a region with vineyards, but we should get an inch of rain by next weekend. There’s a long way to go to catch up to “normal” though.

Ed I get where your coming from and yes January looks better than December. As warm as these storms are for this time of year (freezing level/snow level) we would usually hope for them to be significant up here. More than half our rainfall, and most of what we collect for our pond, comes from significant storms of the 4-8" type so I have been keeping a look out for our first one of those.

As a skier who closes our tasting room and winery for January to go to Truckee every year. The conditions are the worst I have seen in my adult lifetime up there. However I started mountain biking again and will be taking the bikes as the conditions for that could not be better.

Hopefully, climate change won’t have a severe impact on grape growers both on the west coast and around the world in the years ahead. But we have been seeing “signs” of weather change and so far it don’t look pretty. pileon As most are aware, the eastern part of the country is experiencing a “cold snap” that weather forecasters are now saying may be the most severe cold front to hit the eastern U.S. in the past 100 years. Several fronts expected to collide in the Atlantic over the next 48 hours that could become yet another major northeast coast storm. Of course we know what the “Pineapple Express” brought to the west coast last off season (i.e., plenty of rain). In sum, hope the west coast starts getting needed rain to set up the 2018 growing season but been wondering more and more the past year or two about the changing weather…anyways, best for 2018! [cheers.gif]

Happy New Year! It has just started to rain here at the ranch! Very, very exciting!

This is NOT a happy New year gift. This sucks.
IMG_20180103_104955.jpg
I kind of expected such silliness. The past couple of weeks has been too warm.

It has rained steadily for much of the night and into this morning. Not pelting rain creating puddles, but a nice, steady rain. About 53 degrees.

A lone coyote has been scouring the area. This morning I saw the cats watching from the porch with intense interest, and there I saw her, weaving in and out of the rows of vines.The other morning I jumped in my car and followed the sound and saw her. Just up the way, howling on and on. I think she was after the tree of persimmons that my neighbor has covered to protect from the elements (and pilferers). She is out of her normal source of food of unpicked grapes, which are in a small private vineyard across the street (one that did not harvest). I asked my neighbor if she might remove that fruit as I believed it was attracting the coyotes (based on droppings in my driveway). She immediately removed the fruit.

An earthquake shook my place with pretty good force this morning around 2:30-2:45. Looks like the culprit was located in Berkeley, and measured at 4.4.

Casey we saw some of that earlier in the year on a block we budded over to pn in the spring. Its all pruned off now as we have been training it to the wire.

Last 24 hours were predicted to be .25-.5 inches of rain we got .05 in. Similar forecast for next 24 hours well see. These big high pressure blobs often take a few big storms to break and tend to under deliver.

Joe/Casey
What varieties did you see the bud swell?

115 clone pinot for me, was budded over this last spring.

I’ve seen it in 667 Pinot and and older Martini field. I wanted to look at Pinot Gris and Gewurtz but chickened out.

It is still raining steadily here in Calistoga. I just got back from St. Helena and the sun had just come out a bit. Microclimate, or maybe the rain started again after I left. It is just 15 minutes down the road. It is supposed to clear, I think, and then rain tomorrow night and again Tuesday. My psyche prefers the sun, but man oh man, we need this rain! Rain to boost the cover crop, water for the soil that the vines are in/on, water for the wells, water for yard plantings.

I saw only 2 vineyards with any pruning - one at the corner of my street, which is not owned by Montelena but is farmed by them. This is the Zin, head-trained, never irrigated, tiny vineyard that tends to be harvested first, and the fruit is used for The Blessing up at Montelena each vintage. The other pruned vineyard is the senior Al Frediani’s vineyard, up top Pickett Road. Petite, I think, also some Syrah. And Carignane. He always prunes “early.”

Also of note, I took an early right at Larkmead Lane coming up Highway 29 instead of the next turn at Dunaweal (the shortest connecting road between Silverado Trail and Highway 29 - where Sterling and Clos Pegase are). You can’t imagine the HUGE vineyards that have been pulled there. I could not believe it. Very neatly worked soil, with bundles of pulled vines rolled and presumably waiting for a burn day. I hope they take them off and chip them, but it does not look like that.

That covers a bit of geography. I write this knowing that many people here are familiar with these roads and vineyards, or are at least following them on maps (like the excellent ones Piper put up a few years back). I hope it is of interest. I follow the weather back in New England because I am familiar with it, and it brings me closer to something I know and love. Hopefully my tour around the Valley provides some of that for some of you out there.

Half an inch in Anderson Valley over the past 48 hours. Still very warm. Looks like another round early next week.

Still pouring rain here, and also quite warm - like 60 degrees.

Looked today and happy to see the Pinot Gris and Gewurtz still tight…sigh of relief!

It’s a gorgeous day here in Calistoga - something for everyone! A warm night, followed by a cold morning, which opened to a sunny, warm afternoon. It will get cold enough for a fireplace fire in a bit.

The rains, which were substantial here, have already boosted the cover crop. Suddenly, amongst the grasses, the favas and sweet peas have shot up. I had wondered if they even got planted…

I just spied a small jackrabbit hiding in here, close, in the vineyard. When I stepped out to view him more closely, he jumped from row to row, clearing the irrigation tubing, much as a champion athlete would clear multiple hurdles. That tubing is 24 inches off the ground!

It was a grey and dismal day here, today. No sun, except a beautiful sunset.

One of my vineyard guys cuts/delivers/stacks firewood. He showed up late this afternoon with a gorgeous half-cord for me. I speak Spanish to him, he nods and converts what I say to English. His English was better than my Spanish today…I need to step it up! We have done this for well over a decade. He admired my cover crop - he did not plant it but the company he works for did. They start tomorrow with pruning here in the Valley.

We are preparing for more rain tomorrow; I brought in plenty of wood to keep me going.

If I could pack up a portion of our cold and send it your way, I sure would. It’s been like Siberia around here.

I expect a lot of the local vinifera vines to die this winter.