Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/764739
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m J a n - F e b 2 017 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 4 1 "It flew in the face of historical numbers and averages." As a result of the bumper crop, a large amount of thinning went on in 2016. "Everyone had to work a little harder to thin down the crop to make sure we weren't haul- ing in massive quantities," Clubb says. "You had to count, recount, count, recount." Still, the harvest came in heavy." "At Phinny Hill, we made three passes on Cabernet and still ended up at four tons per acre," says Trey Busch, co-owner and wine- maker at Sleight of Hand Cellars in Walla Walla. O v e r a l l , t h e s t a t e p r o d u c e d more fruit than it could handle in 2016. "Fruit became available from some vineyards you never see fruit from," says Rick Small, owner and director of production at Woodward Canyon in Lowden. "There was a lot of fruit out there that people couldn't find a home for." Harvest started unusually early, though not quite as historically early as 2015, with people starting to bring in fruit in the third week of August across the Columbia Val- ley. "Once again, we harvested our first red grapes for Betz Family in late August, something I wouldn't have imagined before this series of hot vintages," Betz says. Betz started picking Syrah and Merlot on August 29 on Red Mountain and continued picking fruit until October 6. By contrast, in 2015, the winery started on August 26 and finished on September 25. Temperatures cooled down con- siderably in September, which let harvest stretch out. "We kind of flat lined," says Waliser. "Sugars stopped spiking. When we started picking in August and early Sep- tember, it was like, 'Rush, rush! Go, go!' Then it cooled off and fla- vors developed nicely, giving wine- makers time to adjust. As of early November, there was still some harvest of very nice fruit, but we were full." "We had a number of different spots where the numbers liter- ally didn't change for two weeks," Clubb adds. This took pressure off of wine- makers to turn bins. "The weather was so cool we were pulling things in when we wanted to," says Busch. The cooler fall temperatures also appear to have contributed to more modest sugar levels. "One of the best aspects of the 2016 vintage is that we saw physiological maturity at earlier potential alcohol levels," Betz says. "I expect to see final alcohol levels 0.2 to 0.5 degrees lower than other hot years." Acidities also held. "There's a little more natural acid this year," says Chad Johnson of Dusted Val- ley in Walla Walla. "We actually waited for some picks for the acid to drop out, which I haven't done in a couple years." In warmer areas like Red Moun- tain, harvest wrapped up by the Elevation Vineyard's Ziggy Stardust block of Syrah is harvested for Sleight of Hand Cellars in Walla Walla. Harvest 2016