Empty Glasses

Weather seems to be acting up strangely in North America this year.

Thanks to a summer definitely warmer than average, the grapes have ripened faster than usual. The New York Cork Report reported on August 21 that harves for pinot noir destined for the sparkling wines of Macari vineyards was starting to be picked. In the Finger Lakes (in upstate New York), data has shown that the season was almost 2 months earlier than last year and 28 days earlier with regards with an average year.

In Ontario, Tawse winery and Chateau des Charmes have already started picking (via The Wine Case). Summer in this part of the country has also been particularly generous and it will most likely produce wines of pretty good quality and (if it holds steady), there should be no problems of under-ripeness in these grapes.

On the west coast, things are not looking so bright. In California, it’s been cool, if not cold, and rainy for good parts of the summer. San Fransisco has recorded its colder summer since 1975. This procued devastating mold and mildew in the fields Recently, things have turned around and a heat wave has struck California, which give problems of sunbruns on the grapes. In order to combat the mildew, many producers exposed the fruits as much as possible to allow them to dry. “Everyone opened up their grapes to get as much sunlight as they could, then the sun came out and fried them.” said Kyle Cameron, winemaker Russian River. The situation is not quite different in Oregon or Washington.

Is it global warming acting up, or just an exceptional summer? We’ll judge from what we will find in our glasses, but we will have to keep an eye on the north american wines from 2010 as winemakers will have a much different playing field than usual, be it good or bad.