Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/764739
3 4 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | J a n - F e b 2 017 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m with full reservoirs and good sur- face water." The drought's impact varies, as growers and winemakers experi- ence results as diverse as the state itself. In Napa Valley, growers are managing irrigation through a com- bination of methods, from environ- mental sensors that enable precise decision making to "the old fash- ioned technique of 'The best thing you can put on your vineyards is your own two feet,'" says Opus One winemaker Michael Silacci. In San Joaquin Valley, most of the region experienced above aver- age rainfall, but "it didn't make up for the severe overdraft or drought conditions of the last several years," says San Joaquin Valley Winegrow- ers Association executive director Peterangelo Vallis. Bud break and harvest started earlier than normal, and the weather was good through- out the growing season. Likewise, the Livermore Valley had very few heat spikes. Normally, temperatures top 100 degrees over a few days in July and August, but Steven Mirassou, winemaker and owner of The Steven Kent Winery, explains why the AVA is great for Bordeaux varieties. "Even though it's hot during the day, we get cold air from the San Francisco Bay blow- ing in every afternoon," he says. "The large diurnal temperature range is really great. It helps main- tain acidity and fruit on the cooler end of things in the evening." Weather patterns were more like normal in Monterey, so bud break was a few weeks later than 2015, though still on the early side, observes Stemler. "Similarly, har- vest started almost two weeks after last year, which places it early, but closer to normal. Slightly warm- er temperatures and a slight reduc- tion in summer coastal fog was still very close to the typical idyllic Mon- terey climates," she recalls, esti- mating normal to above-average yield and a pleasant surprise in the high-quality of grapes with great concentrations in the Pinot Noir harvest. Bud break was early in Lake County, and Shannon Ridge Family of Wines Director of Winemaking and Production Joy Merrilees says, "We all thought harvest was going to be early because of it. But a cool couple of weeks in August slowed down the ripening a bit." The tem- perature swings kept vintners guessing what would come next but, all in all, it was a good ripening season, she notes. Ledbetter says this could be the new normal in Lodi: "Bud break was about three to five days ahead of 2015 and roughly 10 to 14 days ahead of what we used to call nor- mal." It was also noticeably hotter. Instead of one or two heat spikes during the growing season, there were three or four. The early trend has been hold- ing true in the Livermore Valley for the last several vintages. "The years are getting warmer overall, and the vines are reacting to soil temperatures, air temperatures and the first budding out," says Mirassou. And it's true with all his varieties. "That period of time is moving en masse in a block, as it were, down the calendar." A temperate growing season in Sonoma County allowed grapes to mature on the vine longer than in 2015. Duff Bevill of Bevill Vineyard Management classified it as "the best in the last five years." Two cool weeks in August kept B a l l e t t o Vi n e y a r d s w i n e m a k e r, Anthony Beckman, on his toes. "We had seven to eight days of pure mayhem, where I was picking whole vineyards at once," he says. "We filled 42 open tops in a seven- day period. It was madness." Bevill concurs, "This is the first year that I remember pick- ing Chardonnay at the same time as Cabernet Sauvignon. It was an interesting, compressed year." But the highlight for Sonoma County was the clean fruit at har- vest, which Steve Sangiacomo, partner at Sangiacomo Family Vine- yards, attributes to delayed fall rains at harvest. "My dad has been farm- ing for 80 years and this is the clean- est he's ever seen fruit," he says. The sorters in his vineyards liter- ally had nothing to do, and Beckman relayed similar results at his sort table. "This was one of those years where we harvested it, processed it, put in the tank, then just walked way. I didn't have to add anything, which is the dream," he says. It was a decent year in Mendoci- no County, where Tim Norgard of Norgard Farms finished picking in late October. "Bud break started off early, but not as early as the year before," he says. "Fortunately, we Steven Kent Winery's Ghielmetti Estate Vineyard in Livermore Valley