Warm weather means early wine grape harvest
Associated Press Reports:
Jason Haas of Tablas Creek expects early harvest
Jason Haas. Photo from Twitter.
There’s no such thing as “normal” weather in California wine country, and vineyard operators say this year that truism could mean good news for wine lovers.
After cool temperatures slowed ripening and kept grapes on the vine until fall in recent years, growers in the nation’s premier wine region are facing a heat wave that has made for one of the earliest harvests in recent memory.
“We would worry that if we had a warm year and a low crop level we’d end up with excessive sugar and tannin development and a very early harvest,” said Jason Haas of Tablas Creek.
“Higher yields mitigate against excessive sugar and tannins, which is great,” he said, mentioning the compound that gives a dry and bitter finish to red wine.
Haas expects to harvest his Rhone grapes in Paso Robles about a week ahead of last year’s season. If August weather goes as expected, “we should be right in line with what we saw last year,” said Haas, who describes the 2012 vintage as “excellent.”
Read the full story in Yahoo News
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