Hello and Welcome,
This is the abbreviated
Mid-September Climate Update. We wrote it quick, so you can read it quick.
We have survived the calm before
the storm, the storm, and we shall now begin the Great Cluster Pluck of 2015!
If our calculations are correct, we will begin harvest about a week in advance
of the Great Cluster Pluck of 2014.
The first half of September
continued to show warm days and warm nights, but also started the transition to
Okto-vember. Okto-vember is that wondrous 61 day period when we rejoice the
year’s bounty and consume an inordinate amount of ARBs (Adult Recreational
Beverages.) And duck. There will most assuredly be duck. And maybe a bit of
foraged fungus. Yes, duck and fungus – that’s the ticket!
The vines have also picked up on
this signal. That and the 0.83 inches of rain we received in the last week or
so. As was the case in 2012, 2013 and 2014, Ernie has waited for a little rain
before he pulled in any fruit. This allows time for the vines to rehydrate and
complete all the internal and external gyrations needed to fully ripen our wine
berries. And maybe an ARB to hydrate the harvest team.
Specifically, this means the high
concentrations of sugar in the desiccated wine berries have been diluted, all
the while allowing for additional hang time to develop aromas and flavors that
you can enjoy in the resulting lower alcohol wine. All we can say is that great
wines are made in the vineyard. Not so great wines are “fixed” in the winery.
Yeah, who’s your farmer?
Now we know that others have
started earlier and some have even finished by now. That’s called pre-mature
fermentation. But that is good news for us because it means the fixed labor
pool of harvesters may be more available to meet our harvest schedule. Don’tcha
just love it when a great plan comes together!
And then there is the walnut
tree. It channels Mother Nature and gives us the sign that it is time to
harvest our wine berries. The yellowing leaves are an age old indicator that it
is time to get them off. So we wash the bins and buckets and we select the
blocks for our first harvest target package - some Dijon Clones and Pommard.
The Wadenswil is special and we are gonna hang that just a bit longer.
And it’s really not all that hard. The vines are all laid out in a grid like pattern and we have the map.We know where they grow and we’re
comin’ to collect!
The numbers, while mostly
academic at this point are presented in a fair and balanced way, not subject to debate. They are the A.R.E. numbers and that, from our modest point of view, trumps all. And they show a
bit of temperament that seems to be lacking in the media frenzy at this particular time of year. Could the 2015 Hell-bent for Leather vintage be showing a little subtlety? Maybe not yet, but a really sweet spot of ripening is just ahead, on the horizon, not far from here in a reality near you, unless you couldn't wait and have prematurely fermented. Not the master of your own domain? Hmm...
We have recorded 168 degree days
for the first 15 days of September, 2015. The growing season to-date has now
accumulated a total of 2,165 degree days. Our high temperature was a
“blistering” 97.2 degrees and our low temperature was a “cold shoulder” 37.6
degrees. But here is the real reason we have tempered the vintage, in a word,
rain.
It started off slow, with a 0.23
inch teaser during the first week of September, but that was not even enough to
keep the dust down. But then at the mid-month mark, we collected a nice little
shower over a 48 hour period. Long, cool and continuous rain left us with about
0.60 inches in the rain gauge. When we add our 0.83 inches of rain for the
first half of September to our August to-date total of 4.53 inches, we finish
with 5.36 inches for the growing season to-date. And we still have the rest of
September to go with typical showers in the forecast. We should easily get up
to 6 inches.
Now, as you find yourself heading
into Okto-vember with an ARB firmly in your grasp, you can just imagine all the
fun we are having harvesting wine. In fact, you can sing along right here: Now
we’re at the seasons’ end with winds and rain, you bet!
Kindest Regards,
Dena & Ernie
