There was some talk in a recent thread about the cool nature of the 2010 vintage in CA. And while it was a very cool growing season, there were two extreme heat spikes, one in August and one in September, that effected sugars dramatically in some varieties. With the arrival of the new Grape Crush Report (and the onset of Jury Duty), I found myself with some time on my hands and came up with this chart showing Pinot Noir sugars over the last decade in three of the largest Pinot Noir growing areas.
Thought it was interesting (or at least more interesting than the jury selection process in an indecent exposure case).
Adam Lee
Siduri Wines
Changed to show SLO & SB…I cut them off the first time.
Very interesting. Adam: do you track your alcohol conversion rates? It might be interesting, at least to me, to see how the harvest sugars, conversion rates and general impressions of “ripe” v. “cool” years compare.
These are numbers for all of the Pinot Noir fruit sold in the county (not just for us). And I honestly don’t spend tons of time on conversion rates as we do over 100 Pinot ferments each year and Iamnot that worried about it (I often think that the variance comes from sampling more than anything else…but that’s just a theory).
I do think it is interesting to see the variance in sugar ripeness – with 2011 standing out as the lowest in a decade and with 2010 being suprisingly high.
For a county wide area with hotter and cooler spots, is that an AVERAGE? If so, is it really that indicative? How big are the swings on either side of that number from the cooler areas to the hotter areas?
It is a weighted average, but an average nonetheless. Is it indicative? Only when comparing it to other years calculated using the same formula. – BTW, I would guess that both the Sonoma and Mendocino numbers are lower in part because of sparkling wine production.
Also, a fun other fun facts from the Report. Somebody in SLO/SB paid $26,907.08 per ton for 3.4 tons of Pinot Noir. An absurd price I had never seen before, until I looked at the Napa Cab numbers and saw that someone purchased 3.5 tons of Napa Cabernet at $50,000 per ton.
Adam, what’s a rough range of cases per ton? I realize there are probably big variations, free run vs press etc, but how much wine can one expect from 3.5 tons?
The other issue with a heat spike is timing. If it comes in the middle of the growing season it is not a big deal since all it does is move the brix number closer to harvest. if it comes at the end, which is what happened in 2010, it is a big deal because it shoots up the brix number above what you want and you cannot physically harvest the grapes quick enough.
The consistency outside of the two hot years and the apparently cool 2011 is interesting to me. I wouldn’t have expected the grouping to be that tight.
Same for us But there is no “standard” time that I know of… or method. And you can get different readings from refractometers, density meters, and hydrometers.
Interesting. I would have guessed to see numbers approaching 30 with all of the discussion around high octane Pinot. I know this is aggregate data, but I would have thought enough was picked closer to 30 to boost the average
From what I’ve read the alcohol conversion factor can range from .55 to .64. Grape must at 24 brix can therefore result in wines from 13.2% to 15.4%. Perhaps there is something about Russian River Valley conditions that results in a higher conversion factor? I’m very curious what drives the factor.
I found a few articles that talk to why the conversion factor can vary so widely. Here is one:
My guess is that is was a per-acre contract gone awry. Ridiculously tiny yields (not intentionally farmed for yields that low) combined with a per-acre contract without an upper end cap. Could have gone to anyone. Would think that both Sea Smoke and SQN have done this long enough that they wouldn’t enter into such a contract without some limitations.
In glancing thru our numbers, I don’t ever see RRV Pinot over 30 brix…and can think of only a few times that we have been near that number anywhere (2010s in a few places, 2004s and 2003s). I do think the Sonoma and Mendocino numbers are dragged down somewhat by sparkling wine production…and also you have to remember that these numbers come from grapes sold, so if you have estate fruit you don’t have to report it (not sure how that effects the numbers).
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But there is no “standard” time that I know of… or method. And you can get different readings from refractometers, density meters, and hydrometers.