Saturday, September 27, 2008

San Luis Obispo Tribune

San Luis Obispo Tribune Friday, Sep. 26, 2008

Wine Notes: Light harvest follows hard season
Spring frost caused what’s called ‘shatter,’ when grape flowers fail to pollinate

by Janis Switzer

Now that we’re about a month into the 2008 wine grape harvest, you’ll hear two words often mentioned by just about every grower in San Luis Obispo County: “light” to describe the yield, and “shatter” to explain why.
“There’s not a lot of fruit hanging out there,” says Lisa Pretty of Pretty- Smith Vineyards in Paso Robles, “but what is there is looking really good.”
In San Luis Obispo County, projections on yield are similar to Northern California. Some growers are experiencing yields that are off as much as 40 percent for some varieties — cabernet sauvignon, merlot and other red varietals have been affected the most. Other varietals, such as chardonnay, seem hardly to be affected at all. And across the county and across most vineyards, berry size and clusters are small.

The main reason behind the lower yields and the smaller berries is a condition called “shatter.” It’s what happens to a grapevine when certain weather conditions, such as cold and wind, cause the grapevine flowers not to pollinate, and thus not to become berries, or “shot berries” in grape-growing vernacular. In some cases, very small berries and small clusters result.
This year shatter was triggered by a record-breaking spring frost that occurred the third week of April. Temperatures dropped into the mid-teens overnight for five days, and stayed below freezing from many hours. Winds were also heavy during that period, only exacerbating the condition.
When freezing temperatures happen during the winter during plant dormancy, no damage occurs. But this year the frost came just as the vines were putting forth flowering buds. Certain varieties, including cabernet sauvignon, merlot, Grenache and malbec, are more susceptible to shatter, and in many cases vineyards with those varieties lost more than 40 percent of their crop.

John Richardson, a member of the Independent Grape Growers of Paso Robles, reports his vineyard is almost 50 percent behind last year. Pretty says her vineyard is down about a quarter, mostly because of her cabernet losses. And Mike Sinor of Sinor-LaVallee says his Paso Robles vineyard is down by at least 20 percent, while his pinot noir vineyard in the South County is about the same as last year, thanks both to warmer spring temperatures there, along with pinot noir’s resistance to shatter.

Don Ackerman of Meridian in Paso Robles reports his yields have been “modest,” but thanks to some smart thinking and investing ahead of time, shatter didn’t affect him. “It didn’t really hurt our yields too badly because we can frost protect nearly all of our acreage.”
There is a silver lining behind the short crops across the state. “The glut of ’05 has really worked its way through the system and we’re now on the other side of the coin,” Sinor explains. Stacie Jacob, director of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance says, “Long term, this year puts supply and demand back into balance.” She further says that with a leaning towards demand, the market “should encourage earlier contracts between wineries and growers for 2009.”

The other good news to the 2008 vintage is going to be quality. “I’m very, very happy with what I’ve seen so far,” Sinor says of the quality of his fruit. Ackerman says, “it looks to be an overall great quality year.” And the combination of low volume and high quality works well for increased grape prices on the open market—where extra fruit is virtually impossible to come by this year, and where growers are finally moving prices up from the last three years of oversupply.
“Overall I think it’s going to be a good year for anyone with a vineyard,” Pretty concludes.

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