I was just going over our notes on the 2007 vintage, as we have recently released our 2007 zins, and so I was reminded of the flurry of early picking when a September heat spike caused Brix levels to hit an early high. Dan, however, advised our vineyards that had irrigation capability to hit the vines with a little water and wait out the weather. We ended up picking most of our fruit in mid- to late October, with excellent results.
Anyone else had any experience with waiting out the weather when everyone else is rushing to pick? Or having to work with panic-attacked growers and/or winery owners? Or with having to deal with high-Brix, too early fruit in the cellar?
Can panic picked wines account for downgraded vintages in years that ultimately should have been fabulous?
What, ultimately, is the true price of panic picks?
Very well explained Mary. Panic picks can come in many forms. The heat wave problem can be a problem if you don’t have proper weather info and drip irrigation. In this day and age of great 5 day weather watching we almost always see heat waves coming. This is when drip can save your wine. A good shot of water can keep the vines from collapsing and having the sugars shoot through the roof. There’s nothing worse than 28 brix and 3.2 ph!
The other panic pick is when you’ve had a storm come through in the fall. Maybe a quarter to half inch. That’s not enough for root uptake, just enough to freak out everyone. Tight cluster varieties will have water trapped inside the bunches and it might take a couple of days for it get out of there. I’ve seen SO many growers scream that they’re going to lose the crop due to rot and they’ve got to bring the stuff in. The best course of action is to wait it out. Winter never sets in during October and we almost always are blessed with some indian summer weather after these storms. The panic pickers bring in low sugar loads with that trapped water I talked about, while the more calm growers bring in ripe fruit that is often killer. The flavors can re-intensify after some rain and many times the ph/acid balance does too.
Happened in the Willamette Valley in 2007, minus the high-brix component. Everything was a bit late and it began raining in late September. Some folks panicked and picked to get ahead of the rain, while most everyone else waited it out. Waiting turned out to be the play.