Love that Grape Crush

It is harvest time in the Northern Hemisphere. I always liked the colloquial term “crush.” I suppose the association with the grape flavored beverage is part of the reason. The soda may even be responsible for the popularity of the phrase for everyone else. Whatever you call it, it is underway.

This is a delicate time for the grapes. Too much sun, too little sun, rain, frost, birds, these are all part of the litany of things that can effect the outcome of the vintage. It has been a wacky year for weather with much of the World getting soaked only to end up with earlier than usual picking times. Earlier than usual may be the one common thread.

It was warm all over. It is tempting to wag a finger at the omnipresent global warming specter, but weather trends are not the same as climate change. I read that a lot this year. Still, it was a warm year.

Wet, it was wet, with many parts of Europe plagued by rain. Wet means mildew, and mildew is an ancient nemesis of the vine. Chemicals help, as do thinning leaves and increasing air flow. It is not unheard of for higher end vineyards to hire helicopters to dry out the vineyards. Wet, especially combined with warm also means disease.

Without enough sun the grapes will not end up with enough sugar to make decent wine. With trends towards higher alcohol style wines, the grapes need that much more sugar. This means hang time, and hang time means gambling against the calendar.

Many great vintages have been concluded well into October. October can also see the first frosts, or the beginning of long rainy periods. Either of these conditions can ruin a crop that was waiting for the perfect degree of ripeness.

Ripeness doesn’t just mean sugar. It also means the development of flavors. Sugars increase during warm days, but flavors improve with cool nights. If there is not enough difference between the day time and evening temperatures, flavors will suffer.

Grapes evolved as a way for the plant to distribute seeds with the help of birds. Birds are quite willing to do their part, but most vineyard owners have other plans for the fruit. The scarecrow may have been replaced by ever escalating technology, but the birds haven’t given up yet.

Frost and mold have their places too. It is the mold botrytis that is responsible for many of the world’s greatest dessert wines. So we do want wet conditions, in the right place at the right time. Frost, or at least freezing rain is responsible for ice wines, another group of dessert wines I am fond of.

Crush then is a time to wish for sun, but not too much. Rain, but not too late or too early or too much. Cool nights, but warm days. Vineyard owners are also wishing for more help, more grapes, more certainty. Winemakers want more sugar, more flavor, more even ripening.

Wishes are not in my power to grant. If they were this would be a much different blog, and chances are I would not be writing it. I can offer a guarantee, with a modicum of solace. There will always be next year. Until there’s not.