Except for this year. If one loves to make wine, one usually loves to make it with, say, Mmm, grapes. This year the vines and the weather conspired to make more leaves and canes than fruit, giving many of us conniptions about what we were going to do with all of those empty tanks and barrels. Converting our 1200-gallon redwood open-top fermentor to hot tubbing not withstanding, this year there was more hand wringing and anguish than excited cries of joy in the cellar. On the up side, the quality was great, even though there was half of the expected volume in the barn.

So what caused this well-documented decrease in yield, especially for Pinot Noir growers and folks along the Sonoma Coast? Four words: "El Nino" and "Last Year". Let's deal with the latter first.

1997 was a good year: bumper crop, good quality, etc. ad nauseum. Last year was also the year that the total potential cluster count for 1998 was determined. It is the same every year, for many types of woody perennial crops; the next year's fruit primordia or genesis occurs in the year previous to its harvest. In the case of grapevines, the little darlings can do one of two things with the fruit primordia or anlagen as they are called in viticulture. The anlagen will either become clusters or tendrils, depending on a variety of factors. One of the factors is warmth. Another is carbohydrate storage and use. 1997 had a relatively cool Spring and a relatively large crop. One causes those anlagen to form tendrils; the other keeps the anlagen from being maintained as potential clusters because a larger amount of carbohydrate is being diverted to creating grape sugar for that large crop of the current year. The vine is saying "never mind next year: tomorrow we may get run over by a tractor or paved over for a shopping mall parking lot" or some other evolutionary wisdom that plants are so fond of following.

Then came 1998: wet, wet weather. Cold. Cloudy. All during the most important time in a current crop's life: during flowering. Rain on flowers = less fruit set which = fewer berries per cluster. The next important time in the crop's life is during fruit cell division and fruit cell expansion. If you guessed that I was gonna say, that cool weather continued to depress these factors, as well, you are probably ready to become a wine jockey, too.

But I digress. The result of the above meant long hang-time and fabulous clusters with tiny berries. In addition, a great deal of extract and intensity making some of the darkest reds and most flavorsome whites I have seen in years (1991 comes to mind). And a lot fewer grapes. Someone also said something about it being the best and worst of times and that can sum up winegrowing in years such as 1998.

What about 1999? Smart money should be placed on laying on more budwood and keeping that redwood fermentor ready for more hot tubbing. Any better ideas please let me know.

Vint With Honor,
Greg L Winemaker
Flowers Vineyard & Winery