So, I may have already mentioned that the harvest for sparkling wines in Santa Barbara started this year on June 30th. That's the earliest they have ever seen it. Similarly, harvest for sparkling wines on the north coast has already started as well.
Now, segue with me here. On Tuesday, I found myself in Windsor, just north of Santat Rosa. (With the cost of shipping constantly going up due to diesel pricing, it made more sense for me to drive down to pick up barrels and corks in Sonoma. (Crazy, but that's business!)) In traveling through Napa, I of course look at the vines as I'm driving by. I could tell that the fruit was through veraison, a key period of the phenolic ripening of the berries. (Essentially on red grapes, it's when grape berries turn from green to red, but also is a bit of a timestamp of when to expect harvest.) I suspect that the variety I was seeing was Pinot Noir as I traveled down Hwy 12.
Depending on the temperatures and timing, harvest can be 4 to 6 weeks after veraison. The earlier the veraison in the year, the more likely it is that harvest comes sooner on those 4 weeks (due to the longer days in August and the warmer termperatures). Upon arriving at the winery where I was purchasing some once-used white wine barrels, I got the chance to talk to their winemaker. I commented on the purple grapes, and she said she thought harvest might be starting (for Pinot) on August 4th. (For reference, the earliest she'd seen harvest in that area in the past was on August 12 in the year 2022.)
Some of the early harvest can be attributed to the extremely early budbreak we all saw this year (due to the mild winter). But some of the early harvest could also be due to the smaller crop size (from the rains and cooler weather in spring impacting the fruit set). In addition, the vines have a heavier canopy (amount of leaf growth) due to rains in the spring and a lighter crop. But regardless of the reason, harvest is coming, and it's coming more quickly in California.
Ironically, this impacts wineries in ways one might not imagine. When you pick grapes, you need somewhere to put the juice to ferment. Wineries often wait to bottle to be as close to harvest as possible (both for financial reasons and for making sure the cooperage (barrels) doesn't dry out, etc.). But now with an early harvest, wineries will be scrambling to open up space in the winery for the incoming grapes.
In addition, hot days (like in August) during harvest often equate to a truncated harvest season. Ideally, we would like about 7 weeks to complete our harvest (longer if the weather holds). But a three-week harvest season means endless work and a triaging of picking decisions (grapes that have to come in and grapes that could wait if necessary), understanding that the fruit just keeps ripening. Cooler fall temperatures with shorter sunlight days are preferable, giving time for decisions and sleep.
And finally, more wineries are sized assuming the grapes will be coming in at different times (and not all at one time). Once you have filled a fermenter, it will remain filled for the fermentation (red grapes) for at least 9 days before pressing. That simply means that you can't put any other pickings into that tank until the previous lot has been pressed. And we only have some many tanks!
For us up here in the mountains, our vines are just going through veraison right not. Yes, it seems a bit early and probably means we'll be picking some early varieties in the heat of August (which is not preferable for either the grape quality or for those picking the fruit). Fingers crossed that temperatures will remain cool this August and push our harvest into September, giving us that wonderful hangtime on the vine (and the added complexity in the fruit). We'll just have to see and be prepared as mother nature (or climate change) pushes the envelope of where it's possible to farm quality fruit!
(On a very side note. When we were traveling in northern Portugal, we talked to several wineries about harvests. For them, there is no question of climate change as they are now picking up to a month earlier than they did 15 years ago. And on another side note, they have the additional challenge of picking in August, that the picking crews (from European countries like France, Poland, Slovenia, etc.) traditionally are on vacation (like all Europeans do for the month of August). Wineries are having a hard time finding people to pick who aren't on vacation!)
Isn't Farming Fun?!?