12 May 2008
The main topic on everyone’s mind is the troubling Spring weather. We got enough rain this season but more during Spring would have been better. More water is always a good thing in California, and rain means warmer temperatures and no frost. According to the Sonoma County Winegrowers Association, the Spring of 2008 has been the coldest on record for 30 years. During that period many acres of new vineyard have been developed in areas once deemed frost free . . . until now. Younger vineyards are particularly vulnerable to serious vine damage but tender, new shoots freeze on all vines, regardless of age. Depending on wind conditions, damage begins at around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. If the primary shoot, the first that appears in March-April, is killed, secondary buds will push another set of shoots – usually. But these secondary shoots are not as fruitful as the primaries, even when they grow, and can only produce about half the expected crop. As you might expect, crop insurance claims are mounting.
Many vineyards have various forms of crop protection. At night, cold air, moving just like water, flows downhill from the mountains to the valleys, and from the high points in a vineyard to the lower basins. Heating the air with smudge pots in the lowest areas is one solution to freezing air. Moving the cold air with fans to mix it with warm air above is another solution. Another very popular method of frost protection is overhead sprinkling, if one has adequate water resources. Ice forms on the new vine growth, conferring up to 5 degrees of frost protection, or down to 25-26 degrees Fahrenheit. The sprinklers have to run until the sun is up because all the ice has to melt before they are turned off. Remember basic physics: it takes heat to melt ice, and if the vine supplies the heat, all is lost.
Up on Rockpile Road, we’ve been very fortunate to be over 1,000 feet high and not beset by the killer frosts. We’re in a vulnerable position, in that two months ago the rootstock was cut off above the grafted scion bud, and the soil was removed to uncover the bud so that it could begin growing. That single bud on each plant will become the grape vine above ground that produces all the fruit. And they’re growing! Now I’d be out mowing weeds if the Bush Hog wasn’t so late being delivered, coming all the way from Selma, Alabama!
Growers are worried about frost and wineries are worried about “the economy”. For example, the glass I bought in 2004 in which to bottle my first vintage has increased in price from $9 per case to $13 per case. Tin capsules or foils have also seen substantial increases in price, along with corks and labels. But the most worrisome phenomenon since March (impending tax payments? Subprime mortgages? Slow job growth?) is the downturn in restaurant business. Wine and spirits are restaurant profit centers, but wine is still optional for many diners. With business suffering, one would hope that at least some restaurateurs would try to attract business by abandoning their ridiculously high margins on wine. It’s not uncommon to see wine marked up to three times the wholesale price that a restaurant pays for it. No wonder that buying a bottle of wine is optional for so many diners, who then are at the mercy of the “wine-by-the-glass” selections.
Send your comments to
info@davenportwines.com.
If you’d like to order wine from me (and I have a vertical selection available from 2004 through 2006), use the same e-mail address or go to davenportwine@vinoshipper.com. And go out to dinner this week and order a bottle of wine or two. You’ll be making a lot of growers and wine makers happy!
