OK, it’s the end of August and my grapes show no sign of changing color yet. If this wasn’t so bad it would be funny! Just about all AVAs up and down the west coast are experiencing some lateness from just a couple of days to almost a month. I’ve heard reports that Napa Valley is running 3 weeks late. Some parts of the Willamette Valley are running at least three weeks late and veraison just started within the last week or two which is not good news if we get early and heavy rain showers. Here in the Puget Sound we are running about 3 weeks late.
If you look at the graph to the left you’ll see a graph I put together every year. What you are seeing is the departure from the average high and lows for the day. I take the average temperature for the day and compare it to historical averages and just tally up the difference and keep a running total. The top line is average and is represented by Zero. As you can see right off the bat on April 1st we went negative and never recovered. It was a steep decline in averages until about August 20th when there was a slight upswing, but I have to say it’s way too late to make up the difference.
What does all this mean? At least in WA state we have a choice and in Eastern WA things are running late by three weeks or so, but I think it could be similar to last year and things weren’t too bad last year except for that early freeze. We are definitely pulling out of the La Nina trend now and should be going into a warmer cycle next year. For Western WA state, there might be a significant decline in harvest this year except for the very earliest ripening grapes.
Perhaps 2011 is a year to make sparkling wine from the pinot noir grapes?