Grape Harvest Begins, But Low Yields Projected for Pinot

If you think you saw full grape trucks coming in from the fields this morning, your eyes did not deceive you. But don't get your hopes up, the bulk of the grape harvest is perhaps a month away.

This year’s county harvest got underway Monday morning with the picking of champagne grapes for J. Winery on Old Redwood Highway, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The harvest at J Vineyards and Winery kicked off at 5 a.m . About 1.5 tons of pinot noir grapes were harvested by late morning, [J Winery spokesman George] Rose said.

Founder and president Judy Jordan presided over a brief ceremony “blessing” the grapes and crowning winemaker Melissa Stackhouse as Winemaker Queen, “complete with a rose-colored cape, crown, scepter and lucky, horseshoe eyeglasses” in a whimsical morning ceremony.

Other area winemakers were not as sanguine about the coming harvest. According to local winemaker , champagne grapes are “always 3-4 weeks ahead of the still wine harvest,” and he doesn't expect to harvest his pinot noir grapes anytime soon.

"September 15 at the earliest, and probably later than that," said Skewis.

Although the grapes are said to be of high quality and concentration, harvests are expected to be down by 20% across the board this year because of cool weather and late rains.

"At least in Russian River, I wouldn't be surprised if yields were off 20 - 30%," said Skewis.

another area winemaker, underscored the concern. "Yields are down pretty much across the board," he said. "I have two vineyards that are showing only 20% yield, two more about 20-40% cent, and a couple look normal."

To clarify, Staley emphasized that by 20-40% of yield, he meant his harvest could be as much as 60-70% below normal.

"Some varietals really took a hit," he said. "Sauvignon blanc did, viognier really got hit bad. Syrah's okay, sangiovese's fine, and the cabernet vineyards look okay. These are only the vineyards I have looked at, though."

Staley, a farmer for 32 years, said uneven harvests are "just part of the game," but went on to say, "If you ask me, I don't think there's any question about global warming. We've had aberrant weather for each of the past five years. We're not sure what normal is anymore."