Daily Wine News: A Strange Harvest

Posted by | Posted in Wine News | Posted on 08-26-2022

“It’s that special time of year in Wine Country: harvest. Grapes are getting ripe, crews are picking them off the vines, and all that juice inside the tanks is beginning to ferment. But ask any two winemakers how it’s going, and you may get vastly different answers.” In the San Francisco Chronicle, Esther Mobley reports on the unusual 2022 harvest.

Elsewhere in the Chronicle, Jess Lander reports that wine tasting in Sonoma costs 44 percent more than before the pandemic.

In the AP, Sylvie Corbet reports on the early harvests happening in Bordeaux and other French regions. “The harvest that once started in mid-September is now happening earlier than ever — in mid-August — as a result of severe drought and the wine industry’s adaptation to the unpredictable effects of climate change.”

In Wine Enthusiast, Virginie Boone looks at why Napa is embracing Petit Verdot, which is extremely prone to smoke taint, amid smoke and climate change. “All the coddling required of this variety — on top of climate change and fires — means Petit Verdot needs to be grown in the right place and given the right attention to be worthwhile, which is why there is so little of it in a place like the Napa Valley and why it costs so much per ton. Still, some will find it worth the hassle and persist.”

What does it mean when a winery claims to be eco-friendly? Dave McIntyre looks at certifications and steps being made in the Washington Post.

“Built between 1981 and 1984 on 1,300 acres owned by the University of Texas, Ste. Genevieve was a forerunner of the now-touted Texas wine industry. At one point it was the largest winery in the entire Lone Star State, so massive that it bottled wines for other small wineries and supplied many East Coast restaurants with their “house” wines,” reports Kirby F. Warnock in Texas Monthly. “But on August 10, an online auction was held to liquidate all the fermentation tanks, winepresses, and bottling machinery to satisfy a bankruptcy filing.”

In Food & Wine, Margaret Shakespeare highlights Idaho’s Snake River Valley.

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