Debby and the Grapes

Very early Friday morning.

As I write this, Debby is passing just to the west of Linden. We’ve had a lot of rain. Four+ inches is my guess at this point. Over the weekend we’ll have a better idea about this rain’s impact on the vines. Coming after a serious drought there are many unknowns. Here are my hopes and fears:

• Hopes: Previously struggling vines (until yesterday they had received less than 2” of rain all summer) are refreshed and in a much better position to ripen balanced wine grapes. A potentially very early harvest is delayed and grapes ripen in cooler September instead of hot August. This makes for better quality and more balanced wines.

• Fears: The grapes swell causing bunch rot and disease that will have to be meticulously sorted out during harvest.

Timing is everything and fortunately we are probably far enough away from harvest for the grapes to recover, especially given the forecast for the next week. Each vintage has its personality, but I’ll sign off with this excerpt from vintage 2017 (one of my all-time favorite vintages):

2017

June and all of July was very dry. Shoot growth was less than normal with very little hedging needed. Young vines and less water retentive soils showed drought stress. 

We needed rain, but not the 3.5 inches that fell over a few hours on August 11. Although we saw some berry swelling, the vines did not restart vegetative growth. The rest of August was uneventful allowing clusters to lose some compactness.

Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Hardscrabble Journal: August 9, 2024