Grape sugar levels rise in sustained heat wave
Continued hot and dry weather made for a busy grape week in the Napa Valley, as a string of 100-degree-and-better days caused sugars to soar beyond desired levels in many varieties.
With a generally light crop, existing canopies had no trouble at all manufacturing adequate quantities of carbohydrates, and the very low relative humidity — combined with an implacable early September sun — was beginning to result in some shrivel of fruit in both merlot and syrah. Were this a “normal” year tonnage-wise, wineries would be having one heck of a time keeping up with the amount of rapidly ripening fruit. In this low-yield year however, most have been able to keep pace so far without having to do lots of juggling of fermentation space.
With some chardonnay and zinfandel blocks picking out at 40-50 percent off their normal yields, it seems unlikely that such logistical problems will be an issue this year — especially as last week’s heat wave finally came to a blessed and very welcome end on Sunday.
Thanks to an upper-level low to our north, counterclockwise flow around it brought a deepening marine layer and much cooler temperatures — first to the coast on Saturday and then to the coastal valleys the following day when afternoon readings were confined mostly to the lower 90s, a good 10 degrees lower than previous day’s highs. The far inland valleys were still roasting, however, on Sunday, and Livermore’s high of 98 was only one degree under its Saturday maximum.
The strong marine push finally made its way into Pope Valley on Monday as a reinforcing shot of cooler air aloft helped to thicken the marine layer to more than 1,500 feet. With the forecast of a continuing sea-breeze for the week, it appeared that the worst of the late summer heat was behind us, and the possibility of several near- to slightly below normal temperature days was a huge relief to growers who were becoming as stressed out as their vines with the nearly week-long onslaught of hot weather that made any sort of outdoor activity seem intolerable. Some picking crews even opted to start their days at three or four in the morning so that they could get in a full day’s work before the heat rendered their toil unbearable.
The level of tropical activity kept pace with the harvest frenzy as well. Tropical Storm Hanna, after meandering aimlessly through the Bahamas for several days, set a course for the North and South Carolina border, then swept up the East Coast with lashing rains and wind that caused flooding in a few Middle Atlantic and New England states where five- to eight-inch rainfalls over a 12-hour period were not uncommon. At press time, the very dangerous Hurricane Ike, packing winds of 130 mph, was slashing its way lengthwise across Cuba, which had barely recovered from the beating it sustained from Gustav just a week or so before.
Those with no viticulture or winemaking concerns (and even some with!) found the TV images of pounding rain and wind almost irresistible for their cooling effects that seemed so unattainable. Even the most diehard fan of summer almost surely has had his or her fill of heat and relentless sunshine by now. Is it wrong to dream of wetness and puddles and sweaters and the like while grapes are being harvested in our comely Valley?
And speaking of ill-conceived dreams, the recent touting of Gov. Palin as the second coming of President Lincoln must certainly have set old Abe to spinning like a Sufi in his Springfield sarcophagus. To even imply that the smug, narrow-minded and mean-spirited Palin might be capable of the sort of vision, wisdom and compassion that make Lincoln one of the most highly regarded personages in our country’s history would be laughable — were it not offered seriously. A grasp of good government does not come from a 10th-grade civics book, nor does expertise in foreign relations mean that on a clear day you can see across the Bering Strait from Alaska to the Chukchi Peninsula. Our next vice president should have a curriculum vitae that is weightier than an onion skin (less Americana, more American History!) and be free of dangerously doctrinaire ideas that threaten the personal freedoms that all Americans cherish so dearly.