Somebody needs to ask the media why they told us we have have a growing season “…now occurring nearly a month earlier than it did in the 1950s…” (How rising temperatures are altering Napa's wine-growing season - ABC News), then a month later report “…picking started a full month later this year…” (https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/wine-late-harvest-18356088.php).
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Hey Nate,
There are overall trends that can span decades, but each growing season has its own quirks.
From the folks I’ve spoken to in Sonoma County, the growing season began later compared to recent years, which many said was “more normal like the olden days.”
That said, with climate change, it’s difficult to assess what is normal/early/late these days!
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It’s late but not the latest ever. I’m actually planning to write about this in my next winery newsletter as a part 1 as there is so much to this subject.
In about 3 decades of working with the same blocks at our vineyard, here’s the quick and dirty comparisons:
Old vine Zin, 2023 is nearly identical in harvest date and Brix at harvest to 1991 and 1992. Harvest date is very similar to 1993, 1998, 2010 and 2011. Crop level has varied a bit as well.
Chard was 2 days later in 1998 (granted, it was 2 Brix higher than we do now) and very similar to 2006, 2006, 2010 and 2011. I’ve only worked with this since 1997, though.
Cab harvest date is similar to 1998, 2003, and 2010-2012. My history with this also only starts in 1997, though.
I’ve noticed early during the ripening period in 2023 that Brix seemed to lag behind other objective measurements of ripeness as well as subjective assessments of ripeness. Once a very warm spell came, Brix ‘jumped’ to align with the other measurements.
Again, it’s one of the later harvests I’ve seen, but not unprecedented. My dad and Grandfather spoke of harvesting the Zin in late October multiple years when the vines were younger and more productive.
As long as there is not too much botrytis-favoring weather before a block is harvested, these are my favorite kinds of vintages in this area. Even in vintages where we have been pushed to pick earlier than planned for the health of the wine, I’ve been quite pleased with the outcome.
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Roy Piper made a great video talking about Moulds in Oak Knoll and some of his general vintage thoughts. Looks like acids are relatively high. I’ve spoken to a few others and it looks like this will be a classically styled vintage. Sign me up!
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Any worry about grapes not ripening enough?
For my Napa project we’re looking to pick Cabernet Sauvignon next week in Oak Knoll area. What a literally cool vintage for Napa fruit among other CA regions. Can’t wait!
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Hey Fred, what are you seeing on malics? Most of the stuff I am seeing is still pretty high there. Not bad - just interesting.
Thanks for all the notes…
Adam Lee
Clarice Wine Company
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Adam, I don’t run malics anymore. Sometimes I might put a spot of juice on the ML chromatography paper to see how large the malic spot is relative to tartaric (which is really important sometimes). But generally cool ripening seasons tend toward larger malic in the acid pool. And if there is an appley taste to the juice late into the ripening curve, I sense the malic is pretty significant.
1985 Mendocino Riesling, my first commercial wine as head winemaker had a pH of 2.73 and a TA of 14.3 at harvest. The malic was dominant and required a double-salt deacidification to bring things into a nice balance. I’ve not encountered a similar situation since. By the way, Jed Steele used to bring those Mendo Coastal Zins into a nice balance in those cold vintages with this procedure, which was his Masters Thesis at UCD.
I also kind of figure that the more water that moves thru the plant, the more K will exist in tissues and juice. So, a nice, wet prior winter with a lot of days on the vine, there should be a pretty significant pH shift upward during extraction of reds from that alone. Couple that with higher than typical malics and the pH shift after MLF in reds will probably be significant and surprising.
So, we ought to embrace the somewhat higher than normal total acidities at harvest, I think.
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Vincent - do you have a sense of when you will release your cab?
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This year is the first year I’ve done almost no lab work on the juice whatsoever. I have to say it’s really liberating and forces me to make decisions on taste of fruit alone. I crush/destem/whole cluster and then just measure sugar and that’s it. Don’t even check pH. If I know it’s a low retention sandy soil site I might just add a little nutrients, but that’s about it. And it saves me $2000+ in lab work costs as an extra bonus.
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I’m planning to bottle the ‘22 in early ‘24 and release by the fall. Update coming to the list post harvest and there should be a prerelease offer this spring.
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Quite a bit of SCM fruit came in this week. Excellent quality. Some sites lost a little yield due to shatter.
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It looks like a top vintage for Napa. And it appears to be a bit more classical.
I picked Moulds last year on 9/13 and this year on 10/9. Three to four weeks behind. For a while we wondered if we would get ripe enough. Typically it starts raining the first week of October, not to mention that is historically fire season (2017, 2020.)
Then we got 4 days of 93, 95, 98, 99F about ten days ago. It was only in the mid-90s for 2-4 hours, as it is late in the season and the sun is lower. Nothing raisined but it goosed brix +1.0 to 1.5 in 4 days. Two weeks ago we had 0.2 inches in Napa one day and then a trace this last Saturday. Just enough to wash the grapes but not lower brix.
I picked Moulds at 25.5 brix and 3.65 pH with beautiful flavors four days ago. The Franc came in 26.5 two days ago. Bonny’s is 24.9 but has substantial malic acid and Chard-like pH so it needs 10 days at least. The good news for those still on the vine is we might get 0.1 to 0.25 inches of rain Sun/Mon (maybe) but then we have 7 straight sunny days of 82-92F. Our “Indian Summer.” This will allow everything “not quite there” to probably “get there.” It also allowed some of us to push back the picks a week and get more sun just for fun.
The hang time on fruit this year is incredible and flavors are developing without our annual early September heat bomb. Last year we were 117F on Labor Day and this year, 74F. Forty-three degrees lower. Thus we needed to water less and flavors developed more evenly.
I like some vintage variation and welcome the chance to add a bit of classicism to my portfolio this vintage. Making the same wine every year would bore me. I am not here to manufacture a product to certain specifications.
Yields are above average and much like what Adam mentioned, I am doing modest saignees.
I am guessing that Cathy Corison, Philip Togni and Ketan Moody are doing cartwheels, as they got to pick off later than usual and at their brix/acid/flavor preferences without having to navigate heat spikes. Those like myself who are above that level of ripeness (25.5-26.5 range) also seem to get what we wanted, in a classical theme. And those who like to pick at 27-28 brix can now wait another week and get what they want too. The only region a little nervous is probably the deep southern cool areas but the heat next week should help them a lot.
For years I tried to triangulate what “great” Napa vintages have in common. The only thing I could find that identifies them is when winemakers say “we could pick whenever we wanted.” Since my arrival in 2005 the only vintages I can say that about are 2013, 2018, 2019. This will be the fourth. And the only one of the four without a big heat wave.
My overall summary is…
- Somewhat classical for those who wanted that
- Long hang time
- No damaging heat waves, no fires, no significant rains
- Late harvest with slightly elegant flavors (for Napa)
- A bit more acidity than usual
- Above average yields for growers, who are gonna have a banner year, financially
The only negative I see is the lack of tank space in wineries and this will come to a crescendo in about 10 days.
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So glad 23 is looking this good. We needed it!
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Thank you Roy, very insightful
Last pick of a late harvest: Wine Country’s 2023 growing season comes to a hopeful end
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W-S: California Vintage a Bumper Crop
https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2023/12/california-vintage-a-bumper-crop
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Interesting article - and one that goes into some interesting analysis about how much fruit was left on the vines unsold (probably understated what the actual number will be) and how much bulk wine will still be produced and availalbe for shiners, etc.
The economics were a bit whacko this year - vineyard owners were not discounting prices on unsold fruit until very late in harvest, leading some to not be able to sell. One ‘positive’ is that with a cool vintage, things tended not to get ‘overripe’ like what normally happens.
Cheers
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I haven’t checked this info myself but was told a winery had 1.8 tons last year and 15 tons this year. Huge jump but also a young vineyard. Will ask about this to verify.
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Crossing my fingers it’s Jasud! 
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