Recent rainy, cold spell not likely to spoil grape crops, expert says

Warm and sunny weather this week is rescuing Healdsburg's and Sonoma County's grape crop, an industry leader said Thursday.

"I think this warm weather this week is really helping," said Nick Frey of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission.

Early June's bizarre rain and cold -- bizarre because it felt more like January than June -- was replaced with normal heat and sunshine this week, giving area grape growers a chance to catch up, Frey said.

"We were behind on the development of this crop units -- behind a little from last year, which was a cold year," Frey said.

"But this heat is a welcome change," he said.

"It's also beneficial for growers because they'll be back in the field and catching up on their work there," he said. "This weather's the ideal antidote," Frey added. 

Frey said some growers may see lower yields from the cold weather.

However, wine quality should not be affected if the rest of the summer continues with the normal hot growing season, he said.

"Even if we have lower yields, the weather at this time of year doesn't affect the quality of the wine," Frey said. "That happens later."

According to an article in this week's Healdsburg Tribune, some Pinot grape vines are losing some of their top leaves -- a "dieback" syndrome from the cold weather, according to the article.

Frey said he examined some vine clusters after the rain and "they looked like they came through it real well,"  he said. He said he noticed that some of the caps -- or top leaves-- of the plants may be coming off, but Frey said that should not have long-time negative effects, he said.

As far as yields, growers will be monitoring that issue closely for the rest of the summer, he said.

"All in all, we'll just have to see where the crop is," Frey said. "It might not be a big crop, but it's too early to say exactly where that might be."

Frey said it will be a couple weeks until growers can see how well the crops are recovering from the rain and cold, but "it's encouraging," he said, referring to this week's warm weather.

"A lot of bloom is going on this week," Frey said. "it's nearly ideal conditions."