Weather and Wine

  Premium wine grapes grow in a fairly narrow climate range. They are generally planted for a average amount of yearly rain, maybe some is expected during the growing season, maybe not. High and low temps matter at different times in the vineyard. Heating degree days, humidity, and wind are also factors.

Hail damage

   Some of the major weather-related problems can be extreme cold during budbreak, heavy rain during flowering, hail during the growing season, rain, heat and humidity during the growing season, or a long stretch of heat near harvest. 

  Wine people wish for a long, dry, sunny, mild season. Mother Nature may have other ideas. A cool spring will shorten the growing season. Fungus can damage the crop if there's too much moisture. Hail can damage grape clusters, the leaves, and even the vines. Too much heat near harvest time means everything gets ripe at one and the wine making crew can't keep up so some fruit stays on the vines too long. Many of these problems can be dealt with to some extent.

  The fact is a great year for a wine growing region requires near perfect weather for many months. Some parts of the world are more susceptible to variability in weather so less likely to have a perfect or near-perfect growing season. While France and other regions deal with freezes, rain, hail and the occasional heat spike, California is more likely to be dealing with a hot or cool summer, heat at harvest, and more recently, smoke from fires.