2009 grape growing update

Many people have asked me about the effects of this year’s weather conditions on the vineyards and grapes here in Massachusetts.  New Englanders don’t expect weather consistency.  Neither do we expect week after week of hot days, cool evenings and low humidity.  But rain/humidity every other day, and what seems to be a constant cloud cover is a bit too much.  The report: it SUCKS.  I would be lying if I didn’t say so.  The impact on the grapes and eventually the wine?  Well, a lot remains to be seen since it’s just early August and we have at least two months ahead of us before harvest is normally underway, but here is what we know thus far.

1. Due to temperatures a bit lower than normal and more clouds than sun, the vines are running about two weeks behind schedule.  This could result in difficulty ripening the grapes this year especially if Fall’s cool temperatures arrive early.  Think lots of Rosé and Sparkling wine if things don’t improve.

2. We’ll have less than normal crop size this year.  The reason is that we had poor fruit set and as a result there are less clusters on the vine.  Meaning?  Less grapes to make wine with.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for quality since the vines will have less grapes to ripen.  I’m eager to see what will be the actual impact of poor fruit set in the final quality of the grape crop.  From a business perspective, poor fruit set is a terrible thing since there will be less grapes to harvest and make wine with and therefore, a loss in revenue.

A couple of images to illustrate poor fruit set…

Here is what a normal Chardonnay cluster looks like:

 

 Here is what a Chardonnay cluster with poor fruit set looks like:

By the way… word “on the street” is that all the cloudiness in the Northeast this Summer is directly related to the eruption of the Redoubt volcano in Alaska back in March of this year.

Comments

[Robert Dwyer]

Thanks for this understandable and interesting update into what the impact of the weather might be on wines produced from this year's grapes. Really fascinating.

[Ben]

Thanks for the interesting update Marco. I guess when my lawn is green and vibrant in August, that’s not a good sign for the wine grapes. Every few years we seem to get a summer that’s cooler and wetter than normal, but it’s seldom consistently cloudy like this. It sounds like this season could still produce some stellar wines if the weather turns suddenly warm and dry for the next few months… not holding my breath.

The volcano theory may be spot on. In the 90’s there was a volcanic eruption in Indonesia and we had great skiing for a couple of years. Then there was 1816, “The Year Without a Summer” which was brought about by volcanic eruptions. Eh, it could be worse Marco ;)

[Marco Montez]

Robert... thanks for the comment. More to come later as we progress through the "Summer".

Ben... yeah, green lawn despite no irrigation means trouble for the vines. Thankfully we aren't dying from starvation like thousands did in 1816. Thanks!

[Meghan]

Have the hot days of August helped at all? I could think of worse things than lots of Rosé and sparkling :), but I certainly hope things improve for your sake!

[Marco Montez]

Hi Meghan,

They sure have helped! Starting to see signs of Veraison in the vineyard for some grapes which means that we may not be so far behind after all. However, the vines are still under a lot of pressure due to humid conditions even when it doesn't rain. It's work in progress and it could grape quality could still go either way... the next 6-8 weeks will be critical.

Thanks for asking!

[Derek F.]

All this rain from Danny is not helping right now. I am praying for some more hot days and cool nights.

[Elizabeth Snow]

Weather is something we just can't control. It's good that you are at least able to vary the kinds of product, so that you are still making something that works for this kind of weather. Be thankful for that - when poor weather affects tomatoes, as it did mine this year, there isn't a whole lot that can be done except picking prematurely to avoid crop spoil.

Something makes me wonder if a greenhouse environment could work in summers with poor weather. Have you ever heard of it being done for your trade?

[Marco Montez]

Hi Elizabeth... I hear you about the tomatoes. I have never heard of a greenhouse for grapevines so I don't really know the implications. I'm guessing that it could be done, but it would probably be very expensive for it to work. In the end, it would add yet additional production costs to a product that is already very costly to grow. Thanks for reading and commenting... really appreciate that.