A California Winery Blog

April was not a very kind month for our vineyard. We had several days of frost which caused severe damage to every variety.  We are not alone, Sonoma and Napa also experienced frost damage, which is almost certain to result in a light harvest for 2008. A light harvest this year following a light harvest in 2007 will make the present grape shortage even more severe.

Grapes, as in most crops, have cycles of scarcity and over-production. In the case of grapes the cycle usually lasts 3 to 5 years — the time to plant and harvest producing vines. There will be a lot of planting the next few years, despite economic hard times. We are not exempt from this, hopefully not misplaced, optimism. We are planting another 30 acres of Pinot Noir in 2009, from land leased from our neighbor. Pinot Noir from the Santa Rita Hills, we think, will always be a rare commodity.

The slideshow shows the progress of a particular vine in one of our blocks. From the looks of it, it is hard to believe that the vine suffered frost damage. It is flourishing, there are quite a few clusters, mostly second growth. Second growth grapes ripen later and tend to ripen unevenly and be smaller. Time will tell. The photos start with the latest and go backwards to bud break.

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