Weather  
Today

Against a backdrop of relatively warm weather over the last month, we are seeing temperatures cool a little bit to the low 80s, but with only 0.67 inches of rain in September the warmth and breezes are beginning to raisin some of the ripest fruit through desiccation.  In relative terms, 2002's September is normal, even though the growing season has been slightly above normal in temperature and below in rainfall.  

Based on a weather station we have at Stoller Vineyards, we have had 10 days over 80degF, 6 over 85 and 4 over 90, compared to an average over the prior 4 years of 12.5 days over 80, 7.5 over 85 and 2.75 over 90.  Degree days (a measure of the accumulation of heat over 50F) shows 2002's September ending with 453, compared to 448, 425, 460 and 496 for the prior four vintages (mean = 457).

Rainfall in September so far is 0.67 inches, compared to an average in the prior four vintages of 0.75 (a range of .04 to 1.92 inches).  There is a slight chance of some sprinkles Sunday and Monday (.2-.3 inches) based on forecasts, with slightly unsettled and uncertain weather 10-15 days from now.  Cooler for sure in 70s. 

HOT TO GO!

	Pinot noir ready for harvest

We're chomping at the bit, ready to charge forward into Harvest.  And Mother Nature is cooperating, asking for a quicker acceleration than normal, sugars ramping up quickly through desiccation, but with good flavors in many of our earlier-picked blocks.  As is not unusual, I am even a day behind beginning this, since we brought in 13 tons of Pinot noir from our Stoller Vineyards yesterday, from young, but precocious Dijon 777 and 113 blocks.

The winery, prepped and expectant

We are tired of anticipating and ready to implement.  We bottled 8000+ cases of great 2001 Pinot noir a couple weeks ago, for the first time bottling all Pinot before Harvest, due to the softly structured nature of the vintage.  We don't know yet, but this vintage could be similar due to fully ripening weather.  Barrels are segregated and staged for new wine, tanks and facilities are scrubbed and rescrubbed, the entire crew with one more person than normal is in-place, with jetlag behind them.  Three Kiwis and an Argentinean, who I'll introduce in a later page.

An extra person because we're assuming suddenly one day we won't have Cheryl in the middle of the fray, marshalling forces and directing the choreography of Harvest.  Cheryl is due the first few days of November with her and Sam's first child, a child who will spring forth, no doubt, with a critical opinion of breast milk, directions on how things should be done and a taste for foie gras. 

An extra person because we're doing more technical work also, working on some wayout instrumentation and normal semi-wayout experiments in the cellar.  More later.

	Fruit on vine, with shriveled "dropped" fruit on ground

Over the next four or five days we should be picking 25 tons more Pinot noir from Stoller, 20 tons Pinot gris from Stoller and begin Corral Creek with 18 tons of Pinot noir.  Tonnage is programmed to be the same as last year, when we did 221 tons, despite heavy crop sets.  We have dropped prodigious amounts of fruit on the ground to hit optimal tons/acre levels, but it's worth it and, with the weather, having more fruit on the vine initially (it's a little like a huge hunk of marble is to a sculptor, giving you no limit on what your imagination or technology can do) is a luxury we don't expect every year. 

A quick start.  

Regards,

Harry