We hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. We wanted to reach out and give everyone a quick up date.
THE EFFECTS OF WEATHER
Here we are on the first day of summer and we probably will not reach 80 degrees this afternoon. Today reflects the weather we have been experiencing all during the spring. It has been mild with just a handful of days ever reaching 90 degrees F. The 10-day forecast has just three days reaching over 90s F towards the end of the cycle. Beautiful weather to enjoy but historically very cool for California agriculture.
With our very wet Winter and early Spring not only drought conditions disappeared very quickly, but grape vines may also be producing a potential heavy crop. The last few years have reinforced the adage that dry winters generally produce lighter crops and wet winters produce heavier crops. What makes this even more a potentially heavy crop is our current mild weather. Both bunches and berries keep growing. On some varieties the bunches are the biggest I have ever seen.
With cool weather and a big crop, we may experience a very late maturity for our grapes. The cherry crop was large and anywhere two to three weeks later than normal. We had the hope early that the grapes would start catching up but just the opposite occurred. Naturally the weather in the next few months will determine the exact timing of the crop, but it will not be early. The timing of veraison (color change) for an early variety like Zinfandel in July will give us an ideal about maturity. A lot of later areas are very concerned about whether their maturity will beat the fall rains.
To ensure proper maturity and quality grapes we may be recommending the thinning of grapes. We like this to be done after the color changes so the lighter and weaker bunches can be removed. In past years, we have also seen thinning be done very close to maturity. Not only does it remove weak bunches, but it invigorates the vines so that one can see dramatic sugar and color gains within a few days. At this time, we see that thinning may be essential for quality grapes.
MARKET CONDITIONS
Market conditions are poor. Like many industries there is an unknown factor that can’t be determined that concerns the future of the overall economy. Will there be a recession or just a slowdown or are we in one now? The wine industry is playing it very cautiously. Activity for non-contracted grapes is very limited, if existing at all. Of course, this will may change as we get closer to harvest. For some of the biggest wineries, there has been a decrease in overall case wine sales, and this scares the big wineries.
Initial materials cost seems about the same as last year and freight seems to be reasonable. Labor costs should not be higher this year, but there were some costs last year that were not anticipated. The major costs were power and insurance costs in our cold storage operations. If wineries do not change their purchasing outlook, it means there will be lower purchase price for most varieties that we can pass on to our buyers It will be a great opportunity to make wine for your winery or at home at prices not seen for a few years!!!
If you have aby questions or concerns about the upcoming season, please contact us.
