Napa Valley winegrowers begin harvest this week on 2009's

Matt Taylor, winegrower for Araujo Estate Wines, pronounced that "Harvest is upon us!" He and his team began harvesting Sauvignon Muscat Monday morning before racing to Trefethen Family Vineyards to join three other Valley winegrowers for the The Napa Valley Grapegrowers 5th annual "Wine Harvest Forecast" press conference.

The local winemakers provided a glimpse into the 2009 harvest and also discussed how the economy was affecting winegrowing among their share of the Valley's 45,000 planted acres.

Overall, they were optimistic about harvest and seemed to echo one another in their assessment that the 2009 vintage, so far, has been a "mild" one. This is in contrast to the 2008 vintage of climate extremes, which Jon Ruel, director of viticulture and winemaking for Trefethen Family Vineyards, termed "fire and ice" due to an abundance of smoke-tainted vines and frost damage. "But Mother Nature has been shining on us this year, weather-wise," he said.

It was estimated that this year's rainfall was about 75 percent of 2008's, and this year's yield appears to be up from last year; however, last year's yield reportedly started out on the low end. According to the presenting winemakers, a primary difference with this year's vintage has been in the timing of rain and heat, with more late-season rain in 2009 than in 2008, a mild June and July, and some welcomed late-season heat spells in recent days and weeks: seven out of the last ten days in Napa Valley have seen temperatures above 90 degrees.

This has hastened veraison, with ripening occurring at a nice pace. Ruel said this year he sees veraison happening quickly, and earlier with the Cabernet than the Merlot. Ruel, who farms 100 percent estate-grown grapes, said their first picking is scheduled for this Wednesday, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to begin just following Labor Day.

Michael Beaulac, general manager and winemaker for Pine Ridge Vineyards also spoke, and predicted an "average harvest," with picking at Pine Ridge to begin on September 7th. "Notable this year is that veraison happened quickly in most of our vineyards; and in comparison to last year's frost, this year there was none," he said.

"2008 was a difficult harvest," said Remi Cohen, vice president of operations for Juliana Vineyards and Merryvale. "But 2009 has been smooth going, so far." Cohen attributes this year's "mellow" vintage in part to the dry, cool winter and mild frosts, as well as the one inch of rain in May that contributed to more lush canopies than in past years, necessitating extra passes and a second suckering.

Cohen, who said that they are about five to ten days behind the average start date for picking this year, anticipates starting harvest by week's end, beginning with Sauvignon Blanc, followed by Pinot Noir, which she said is currently at 21 brix. "It's going to be an exciting year," she said.

"It's been an incredible growing season, and I'm finding a beautiful natural acidity in the grapes," said Taylor of Araujo Estate Wines. He noted that even without the frosts of 2008, quantities, however, are still on the low side. "But with the late-season rains and heat, things have moved quickly and look very promising for the year," he said. "But it's not over yet; we're keeping our fingers crossed."

As for the economy, by the end of 2008 bulk wine was already drying up, which has worked out well given the downturned economy and decrease in consumer wine buying. "If this recession had come in 2005," said Ruel, "there would have been way too much wine." As far as the sale of grapes this year, 
Jon Ruel speaks during Napa Growers 2009 Harvest Conference
Ruel noted that in Napa Valley most vineyards were already set in contracts going into 2009.
However, despite a pull-back by consumer buying at certain price-points, overall wine drinking per capita has continued to rise through 2008 and 2009 due to the abundance of lower-priced wines in the U.S., noted Ruel, adding that when the recession turns around wineries will be well positioned to give consumers what they want. Additionally, he feels the mild growing season has allowed wineries to concentrate more fully on sales and cultivating industry partnerships and relationships, and worry less about grape growing.

The presenting winemakers also touched on the strides their wineries are making ecologically, including restoring fish habitats, becoming solar-equipped, running equipment and vehicles on biodiesel, using whey in the vineyard instead of sulphur and individualizing care of vines and cover crops according to sub-blocks, just to name a few.