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“Will they be what the buyer originally intended them to be when they bought them, in terms of the correct brix and pH andacidand thephenolics that theywant? Are theygoing tobeable tobeharvestedat that optimumtime?” Hesaidhebelieves the farmer shouldbe able to harvest while testing is underway. “It’snot really fair to tell agrower that he can’t harvest until those results come in, andby theway, when that day comes, that your grapes may be over the hill and then you still can’t harvest,” Bitter said. Blagg said some wineries have been conducting smoke detection throughmi- crofermentation—making small batches of wine for a taste test—and said research into detectionmethods continues. Themid-August heat wave accelerated some grapes, such as old-vine zinfandel, she said. KevinSteward,whomanages vineyards inAmadorandSanJoaquincounties, start- ed harvest late last week in a grenache vineyard in Amador County, which yield- ed 5.5 tons per acre—“a good crop for this area and our style of farming,” he said. Themid-August heat sent his vines into survival mode. In extreme heat, he said, “the vines aren’t doing anything,” in order to protect themselves, but that his vines had “held onwell.” In the Lodi area, most harvest happens under the stars. “The majority of our grapes are har- vested by machine, and that is tradition- allydoneat night,”Blagg said. “The grapes arecooler; theyare removed fromthevine easier when it’s cooler.” Shinn expressed optimism about the long-termoutlook for thewine business. “I think this year, witha lighter cropand hopefully if demandstaysup, theLodi area should be doing better, I’d say, in anoth- er year or two,” he said. “That’s my hope. Farmers, what we have is hope.” (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
didn’t have towatch themhang again.” AmyBlagg, LodiDistrictGrapeGrowers Association executive director, said farm- ers in the area report average to slightly belowaverage yields so far. “That can help to bring the winegrape supply back into balance,” Blagg said. Statewide, about 3.9 million tons of winegrapes were crushed in 2019, down fromnearly4.3milliontons theyearbefore, according to the CaliforniaDepartment of FoodandAgriculture. This year, California farmers are predicted to produce about 4 milliontonsofwinegrapes, according toan estimate fromAlliedGrapeGrowers. “We had a large crop in 2018, which cre- ated anabundant inventory of wine on the market that carried over into 2019,” said John Aguirre, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. “Consumerdemandforwinehadleveledoff, and thenCOVID-19 hit—andwe all know about thedisruptionsassociatedwiththat.” Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, saidhe thinks therecentpast fore- tells thenear future forwinesales. “I anticipate continuedmarket channel shifts like we’ve seen, where consumers arebuyingmore ingrocerystoresandcon- suming at home, and buying less out on premise, whether it’s at the restaurant or in tasting rooms or at events,” Bitter said. As the harvest season began, lightning
Zinfandel grapes await harvest near Lodi. Grape growers this year confront a market severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about the potential impact of wildfire smoke.
strikes ignitedwildfires acrosswide swaths ofNorthernCalifornia.Thatraisedconcerns grapes might acquire an off-taste, which can occur when compounds fromwildfire smoke insinuate themselves into the vine andthegrape.Aguirresaidwinemadefrom affectedgrapes “has anashtray taste.” Karissa Kruse, president of the Sonoma CountyWinegrapeCommission, noted the fires struck near the beginning of harvest, ratherthanattheendasinthepastfewyears. “We did have an early onset of harvest all through the year,” Kruse said during a webinar last week updating the status of the Sonoma crop. “Wewere already about 10-plusdays intoharvestwhenwe firsthad
those lightning strikes that resulted in fires all over California.” About 15% of the 2020 Sonoma vintage was already in when the Walbridge Fire broke out in the hills west of Healdsburg, she added, and she said many vineyards were nowhere close to the blaze. “If there is any impact (fromsmoke), it’s really early to know,” Kruse said. Aguirre said his organizaiton has been “actively pushing and supporting efforts in Congress to fund additional research on how smoke exposure can affect grape quality andwine quality.” “There’s a desperate need for more re- search that allows us to predict effectively the riskof problemsand then,whereprob- lems arise, how can we remedy those de- fects related to smoke exposure?” he said. Bitter said thesheer scopeof the fires led to a backlog at testing labs. Turnaround time has gone fromtwodays tomore than threeweeks, he said. “The problemwith that is that you of- tenhave tomake a decision about harvest withinthreeweeks,”Bitter said, noting that buyerswant toobtaina sampleandget re- sults as close to harvest as possible. Meanwhile, the grapeswait on the vine. “Will the grapes hold up?” Bitter asked.
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