The Dreaded, Needed Rain

While underground Lodi aquifers desperately needed Monday’s bit of rain, grapes clinging to vines above ground did not need this second watering of the season.

Last Tuesday-the-13th’s drenching greatly encouraged hanging grapes to form moldy gray or white beards, similar to what you’d see on leftovers in the back of your fridge.

All these days of below-average temperatures, filled with morning fog and heavy dew with little wind, have been enough to grow quite a crop of Aspergillus and Botrytis fungi, breaking down thin-skinned grape varieties, such as Merlot, Malbec and Petite Sirah.

Cabernet Sauvignon is still hanging in many vineyards, but its thicker, tannic skin and loose clusters make it harder for the molds to do much damage.

Luckily, with what now looks like a pretty large crop, pickers can leave behind anything that looks particularly nasty, meaning that when all is said and done, 2009 will perhaps weigh out to be near average on the books.

In the winery, we’ll be adding more sulfur dioxide than usual to grapes in the stemmer-crusher to kill off unwanted organisms, leveling the playing field for desired yeasts. Unfortunately, some molds can cause a bleaching loss of color, which could result in some recently-picked grape lots making lighter wine than usual.

But aside from rot, I was surprised to hear that last Tuesday amounted to a “perfect storm” of rain-heavy leaves with tons of grapes, loose, wet dirt, and strong southerly winds that literally knocked over whole vine rows like dominoes – a depressing, almost sickening sight.

I’ve received reports of over a hundred acres of rows on their sides in the Borden Ranch area, northeast of Lodi, and near Lockeford.

The slightly tipsy, top-heavy “quad” trellis systems were part of the issue, which fan out four arms per vine on T-shaped supports, rather than the usual in-line two.

The T-supports fortunately keep the vines from completely breaking off, and with the soft, water-soaked dirt giving way and cushioning the place where each vine bent over, these plants may not suffer any permanent damage.

To get them standing straight again, a crew will need to harvest the fruit from off the ground – backbreaking work. The lighter vines will then need to be lifted up with a line of workers as long as the row, all heaving together.

2009 may therefore be remembered as an excellent-mediocre vintage, with those who picked before the rain producing the most amazing wines.