Smoke Cleared - For Now
The weather has cooperated, helping firefighters tamp down the last of the local blazes, and the smoke has cleared from the air here in Sonoma Valley. But the north of the State is still smoky, especially from fires south of Big Sur and west of Red Bluff. The guys fighting the fires in Mendocino National Forest caught a break a couple of days ago when a persistent temperature inversion finally broke, improving visibility enough that grounded tanker planes and helicopters could finally take to the air.We are having unusual weather here for early July. It is relatively cool, but also relatively dry. The winds that seemed to blow throughout late May and most of June have subsided – lucky for the firefighters – but every little bit of weather that rounds the persistent trough off the coast brings the threat of dry lightning and more fires.
I was in the Estate vineyard this morning, and the set in the Pinot is really outstanding. This could be another fabulous Pinot vintage. By comparison I see that some of the Rhône grapes are showing wide variation in cluster development. On the same vine I see clusters with pea-sized berries and clusters just finishing bloom.
Fortunately most of the crop on these vines is in between. After veraison it will be easy to thin the clusters that are behind (they will still be green when all else is colored) and I'm not worried about the stuff that is far ahead of the rest – it is a small fraction of the total, and may actually pass raisining to dry husks before harvest. I'm expecting great things from our Rhône varietals this vintage as well, it's just going to take a little more farming effort than the Pinot.
For the last week we have had a marine layer and temperatures in the low 50's in the mornings, with early clearing and afternoon highs in the high 80's. Through the weekend we expect to see temps rise into the 90's, which would be good for the vineyard. I hope to see some veraison before the end of July – keeping my fingers crossed!
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