{"id":5761,"date":"2011-09-30T08:52:34","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T12:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hagarty-on-wine.com\/OnWineBlog\/?p=5761"},"modified":"2011-09-30T08:57:21","modified_gmt":"2011-09-30T12:57:21","slug":"2011-virginia-grape-harvest-a-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hagarty-on-wine.com\/OnWineBlog\/2011-virginia-grape-harvest-a-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Virginia Grape Harvest a Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cool, Rainy Weather Forces Wineries to Scramble<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Within the wine industry, one is reluctant to speak of a poor harvest. The world of wine is centered on the romantic image of undulating rows of vines hanging heavy with ripe fruit, ready for transformation into gold and ruby nectar.<\/p>\n

But this year in the Old Dominion it will be a challenge to elicit praise from proprietors and winemakers as to the quality of their grapes.\u00a0Virginia\u2019s climate will have its way from time to time and acceptance of a poor vintage is a worthy trait among the state\u2019s vintners.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cAt the end of August we had good fruit hanging in the vineyard.\u00a0 We were excited with its potential.\u00a0 But in September, much of the crop failed to mature given the cool, wet weather.\u00a0 This is my thirty-second vintage and you need to accept that Virginia\u2019s climate will not produce an ideal harvest every year.\u00a0 One needs to respect each vintage for what it is,\u201d explains Jim Law, owner and winemaker at Linden Vineyards.<\/p>\n

In fact, such a lament is periodically heard in most wine growing regions, including France, the home of world-class wines.\u00a0 Even California\u2019s harvest is two to three weeks behind schedule this year due to a cool and rainy early season.\u00a0 Growing wine grapes is farming and farming entails risks.<\/p>\n

The delicate Eurasian grapes that produce over 80% of Virginia\u2019s wines need relatively dry weather in the final weeks prior to harvest; a touch of drought is ideal. \u00a0Such conditions increase sugar levels with a corresponding decline in acidity.\u00a0 A balanced grape harvest leads to balanced wine.<\/p>\n

In Charlottesville, vineyards were exposed to 12 inches of rain in a nine day period in September with episodes of hail damage also occurring.\u00a0 First Hurricane Irene dumped heavy rains followed by the slow moving tropical storm Lee.\u00a0 \u201cLegally you must cease spraying for a period of time prior to harvest.\u00a0 This year the weather left the fruit exposed to fungi leading to sour rot and Botrytis.<\/em> \u00a0We lost much of our Viognier and other varieties were also hard hit,\u201d said Stephen Barnard, winemaker at Keswick Vineyards.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a winemaker to do?<\/strong>
\n\"\"Experienced vineyard mangers try to anticipate the vagaries of weather by employing strategies such as aggressive leaf pulling to expose the fruit to more sunlight and encourage ripening.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve closely managed our Chardonnay crop this year.\u00a0 And while this is not a great vintage that fruit is hanging nicely.\u00a0 Now we need some dry, sunny days to successfully bring it into the cellar,\u201d says Chris Pearmund, owner of three Fauquier County wineries.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Given the potential of poor harvests, experienced wineries react to such conditions in a variety of ways.\u00a0 An obvious tact is to simply not produce as much wine in a poor vintage year.\u00a0 Other approaches involve making more Ros\u00e9 wines in lieu of full- bodied reds or blending different wines to build depth and complexity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a year to focus on \u2018pretty wines\u2019.\u00a0 Such wines are lower in alcohol, more delicate, with a bit more acidity and mineral notes and not as long aging,\u201d explains Law.\u00a0 \u201cI anticipate years like this and hoard some of my full-bodied reds.\u00a0 My 2006 and 2007 Hardscrabble reds are pouring nicely.\u00a0 I will release them next year,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Another important strategy is to aggressively drop underripe or rotten fruit in the vineyard, enhancing the potential for the grapes that are harvested.\u00a0 While this reduces overall production, it enables quality wine to be made in off vintages.<\/p>\n

Most Virginia wineries only use only Virginia grown fruit but state law does allow up to twenty-five percent of out-of-state grapes to be blended into their wines.\u00a0 In difficult vintages, this provides an opportunity for winemakers to craft wines that are fuller-bodied while still reflecting the state\u2019s terroir.<\/p>\n

A good portion of the state\u2019s red grape crop is still in the vineyard.\u00a0 If the weather cooperates, good quality fruit can still be reaped.\u00a0 \u201cWe are using every technique in the book to produce good wines this year.\u00a0 It\u2019s challenging,\u201d says Pearmund.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Published in\u00a0the\u00a0September 30, 2011 edition of\u00a0the\u00a0Fauquier Times-Democrat.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Philip Carter Winery Vineyards<\/p><\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cool, Rainy Weather Forces Wineries to Scramble\u00a0 Within the wine industry, one is reluctant to speak of a poor harvest. The world of wine is centered on the romantic image of undulating rows of vines hanging heavy with ripe fruit, ready for transformation into gold and ruby nectar. But this year in the Old Dominion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[382,118,90,262],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n