Wine Education

California vintners surveyed by the Wine Institute are reporting a strong 2018 wine grape harvest in both quality and quantity, in line with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's August forecast of 4.1 million tons, up 2% from 2017 and above the historical average of 3.9 million tons. Vintners said the 2018 harvest began anywhere from 10 days to three weeks later than in 2017, and was characterized by consistent growing conditions and cooler temperatures. Producers in Napa and Sonoma in particular noted that the moderate conditions led to both higher yields and quality for this year's harvest. According to Impact Databank, California table wine volume in the U.S. was up 1% to 205 million 9-liter cases last year, representing about 71% of the total table wine market by volume. - Shanken News Daily 10/31/3018

All grapes have tannins. They are the natural preservatives in the skins and pulp. In fact, lots of foods have tannins, including cherries, persimmons, pomegranate seeds, chocolate, beans and most berries. But white wines have lower levels of tannins than red wines because in grapes, tannins come primarily from the skins, seeds and stems. To make a white wine, the juice is separated from the grape skins and seeds immediately after the grapes are crushed. Red-wine production, on the other hand, includes a great deal more contact between the juice and the crushed grape skins and seeds (through a process called maceration), causing the wine to absorb more tannins.

It's probably a good thing that white wines usually aren't tannic, because tannins can come across as bitter, and that would stick out in a delicate white wine more than a red.

Glera, also known by the name Prosecco, is a lightly aromatic white grape of Lombardy, the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions. Some like to say that Prosecco's ancestor was the Pucinum wine that was much praised by the chroniclers of ancient Rome.

In fact, the reason why the Glera grape became known as Prosecco is that it was the town of Prosecco that first began producing this delightfully sparkling wine and for many years the name of the town that originated the wine was used interchangeably. Today, Prosecco refers to the growing area located in the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia where the Glera grape grows to perfection.

One of the most important moments in a grapevine's annual lifecycle is the onset of ripening, when the grapes turn from green to red and naturally begin to sweeten. The French call this process veraison ("verr-ray-zohn"). Veraison also occurs in white grapes, but without the color changes-white grapes simply become more translucent.

Veraison is very much the tipping point in a grapevine's annual lifecycle. It's when the vine alters it's focus from energy creation (through photosynthesis) to energy consumption where it concentrates its energy into making sweet grapes. The changing color (anthocyanin) and development of other polyphenols act as protectors to the grapes from sun, wind and other stresses. Following the onset of veraison, the ripening process then takes anywhere from 30-70 days for the grapes to become fully ready to make wine!

Some grape varieties have bunches that ripen very unevenly. Some will have ready and ripe berries on the same bunch as berries that are still green. Extreme uneven ripening is called millerandage and can produce wines that may smell sweet but that taste unbalanced, unripe or, "green." Uneven ripening happens commonly in varieties like Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Malbec, Gewürztraminer, and Zinfandel; this is why they're considered some of the hardest grapes to grow in the business!

For more wonderful information about this subject and about wine I direct you to Wine Folly.Com. It is a terrific web site and source of publications.

Global wine production dropped 8.6% to 250 million hectoliters* in 2017, according to the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV). The OIV projects that production in Italy declined by 17% to 42.5 million hectoliters, France dropped 19% to 36.7 million hectoliters, and Spain fell 20% to 32.1 million hectoliters. Production in the new world was mixed, with the U.S. declining 1% to 23.3 million hectoliters, and Chile falling 6% to 9.5 million hectoliters. Argentina, up 25% to 11.8 million hectoliters, and Australia, up 5% to 13.7 million hectoliters, performed best among major wine producing regions in 2017. Analysts say the lower global output has the potential to strain pricing looking ahead, especially at entry-level price tiers

* (hectoliter: a unit of capacity equal to 100 liters or 26.418 U.S. gallons.) - Shanken News Daily

While tens of thousands of acres of oak wildlands as well as entire residential neighborhoods have been scorched the wine country blazes so far appear to be mainly an urban catastrophe. The toll from those losses is expected to be enormous. But so far, only a handful of winery buildings have been destroyed. The region's wine industry adds $57 billion to the state's economy.

"Vineyards save lives." Fire officials have said they considered the relatively open space of vineyards, which hold more moisture than oak forests, to be a natural firebreak that allowed their forces to concentrate on protecting populated areas and structures.

As much as 85% of the grapes had already been picked but the vines had not yet gone dormant. There also was very little cover crop between rows to burn

Vines can be heat-damaged. That's where we're really going to have to wait and see. They won't show the effects instantly. It's not like a piece of kindling that goes up. It's more like a house plant that you don't water.

At times, however, the fires proved powerful enough to turn comparatively lush vineyards into fuel. Then the fire's just so hot it mows right through it.

VARIETAL DESIGNATIONS Varietal designations are the names of the dominant grapes used in the wine. Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Merlot are examples of grape varieties. A varietal designation on the label requires an appellation of origin and means that at least 75 percent of the grapes used to make the wine are of that variety, and that the entire 75 percent were grown in the labeled appellation.

OTHER DESIGNATIONS Wine labels are not required to bear a varietal designation. Other designations may be used to identify the wine, such as Red Wine, Rose Wine, White Wine, Table Wine (if no more than 14% alcohol by volume) or Dessert Wine (if over 14% alcohol by volume). Some imported wines are designated with a distinctive name which is permissible only on specific wines from a particular place or region within the country of origin, for example, Asti Spumanti from Italy and Bordeaux from France.

"If you don't find mildew in your vineyards, you haven't looked hard enough." After years of drought conditions, California vintners are enjoying wetter conditions this year. But that means vineyards are being plagued with a new problem: mildew, including downy mildew, a form rarely seen in the Golden State. From cooler coastal regions experiencing an increase in a damp marine layer to Central Valley vineyards with more moisture than usual due to a very wet winter, growers and vineyard consultants alike are on the lookout for mildew.

San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties, the cooler coastal areas in those counties, have been ripe for powdery mildew this year.

Warm and wet spring weather, following the earlier wet winter, has created perfect conditions for mildew in both counties. Both types of mildew are capable of damaging plants and berries and impacting quality and quantity of wine.

The conditions for mildew are simple: It loves moisture and lower temperatures, temps between 70° F to 85° F, and it stops when grapes reach about 18° Brix. The Russian River Valley and Green Valley are powdery mildew heaven because of the marine layer, which brings the moisture and the lower temperatures that mildew loves.

Prevention and early detection are the keys to any type of mildew management, with aggressive spraying of sulphur and canopy management techniques leading the fight. If you don't get on top of it from the start, you have trouble.
One way to get ahead of mildew is early detection. Roses are one way to do this. Roses are more susceptible to mildew than grapes. If rose bushes are planted among the grape vines they become a very pretty "early warning system." If mildew appears on the roses the grapes can't be far behind.

Careful canopy management has the added advantage of appealing to growers and consumers who prefer to avoid spraying the vines and grapes. Sulfur sprays can be used by organic growers as well as conventional, but no one wants to spray if they can avoid it.
Best bet: watch the roses.

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In 2015 the Napa Valley saw a 24 percent drop in grape production value and 29 percent drop in grape tonnage after three very good harvests, in part, because of the weather. A cool, windy May during bloom led to grape clusters failing to develop properly, a condition called "shatter".

Still, Napa County wine grapes on average fetched a state-high $4,05 per ton. That value compares to the $670-per-ton average for all of California.

"That differential show our strength, our beautiful soils, our climate and professional farming skills in the county." say the Napa County Farm Bureau.

While the overall grape production value fell, grape prices rose. The average 2015 price per ton for red wine grape varieties was $5,181, compared to $4,867 in 2014. The average price per ton for white varieties was $2,394, compared to $2,313 in 2014.

Cabernet Souvignon was king in three major categories: with 21,376 acres planted, 53,195 tons harvested and $6,289 per ton yielded in the marketplace.

"You can make bad wine from good grapes. But you can't make good wine from bad grapes."

With the combination of warm temperatures and relatively little recent rain, bud break has begun in Napa Valley, marking the beginning of the wine grape growing season.

"Buds on Chardonnay have begun swelling and bursting on a few vines. With this warm weather and no real rain or cold weather in the near forecast, it shouldn't be long before everything takes off," said Brittany Pederson, viticulturist at Silverado Farming Company and a member of the Napa Valley Grape growers.

"From what we are seeing throughout the valley, in comparison to last year, we are anticipating possibly about five days to a week ahead of schedule with the bud break".


As spring approaches and mustard blooms throughout Napa Valley, grape growers have been working to prepare the vineyards for the 2016 growing season. As temperatures warm and soil becomes dryer, vines emerge from dormancy and begin to push water up from their root systems. Miniature buds on the vine, developed during the prior year, begin to swell eventually producing shoots from the bud. These shoots will then spring tiny leaves that help accelerate growth, especially as temperatures continue to increase.

With the arrival of bud break, grape growers typically keep a close eye on nighttime temperatures and prepare for the threat of frost, which could damage the delicate shoots at their most vulnerable stage. Heavy rain could also be harmful for young shoots.

More rain would be great for vineyards and the environment in general, but growers would prefer to see it after the shoots have established themselves a bit more. The long-term forecasts suggest Northern California may get rain in late March and early April. That could help keep the frost risk low.

See More: https://napavalleyregister.com