In most years the local grape harvest kicks off in the first part of September and is really going by the end of the month. Often the later-ripening grapes are picked towards the end of October.
Not this year as a few wineries have already finished their harvest just as we officially hit autumn on the calendar.
2013's warm and dry spring gave us an early bud break leading to a very early harvest. 2014's warm, dry winter (aka The Drought) also brought early budding and another harvest that kicked off weeks earlier than previous years.
For consumers, the questions are, "what about quality" and "will it affect price?" There's no reason to think the earlier growing season in itself would be detrimental to quality, but we'll know more in a year or two when these wines come to market. The quantity of grapes coming in the past three years is above average. A large crop helps keep prices down.
So for now, all is well on the wine grape front.
No comments:
Post a Comment