Pinot Noir

The grape harvest began earlier this month with champagne and chardonnay grapes. Most of the reds are still on the vines, but the crush is earlier this year than usual due to the drought. Many vintners are reporting smaller but sweeter fruit, and the prediction is for less production . The price of grapes fell by 40% in 2020. Wo knows what will happen to the price of a bottle of wine?

Many vineyards were affected by smoke taint again this year and a lot of winemakers have been trying to find ways to detect it in grapes before they are harvested. Smoky whiskies are quite coveted, so I don't see why the wine industry can't develop and market smoky wines, but I seem to be the only one who thinks this is a good idea. Some wineries with vineyards near us at the foot of the Mayacamas Mountains had to drop all their grapes following the Glass Fire.

Covid and the pandemic also affected the wine industry this year. Vineyard workers from Mexico, many  of them seasonal , were not allowed to cross the border. Others became ill and were unable to work.
There were concerted efforts made by many of the bigger wineries to get their workers vaccinated as soon as it was made available, but the transmission rate in the Hispanic community was very high. 

The biggest factor affecting the crop this year was, however, water. For the second year in a row the rainfall has been a fraction of 'normal'. Wells are running dry and reservoirs are historically low. There used to be a wide variety of crops grown in the county...fruit trees, vegetables, and hops. Dry farming was common. Now the orchards and the fields have all been converted to vineyards and agriculture uses a 70% of the water. Cities struggle to cut water use and  are restricting residential usage. There is talk of cutting water to the farmers and restrictions on taking water out of the Russian river are already in place.

Wine is a major industry in this county. I  have always wondered how the county could sustain so many vineyards and more than 425 wineries. Many of the smaller 'boutique' wineries are selling out to the giant wineries like Gallo or distributers like Diageo, who are unlikely to care how much water they are using.

But Mother Nature is going to have the last word. I predict that the water wars of the 20's and 30's will be returning to California.