The Bay Area is having another record breaking hot day today. If this were 2004 or 2005, I would be worried but with the late start of the growing season, the hot weather is probably a good thing.
We have visited all of our vineyards over the last three weekends. Some notes and links:
- Brosseau (Arroyo Seco about 15 miles away and often warmer.)
- Chardonnay – light set with Ver Jus harvest date of about August 1
- Syrah – strong set on all clones
- El Dorado Vineyards(Camino weather station – east of Fenaughty about 1.5 miles.)
- Fenaughty Syrah looks great with a strong set
- Fenaughty Roussanne – yes something new for us – hard to tell.
- Girard Mourvèdre – this site is clearly behind where it was last year at this time
- Girard Grenache Noir – another new addition
- Wylie Syrah – Yep, we keep adding them but we didn’t visit
- McDowell Valley (Hopland weather station – 2 to 4 miles west )
- Old Vine Syrah – everything looks good
- Old Vine Grenache Gris – large crop
- Broken Leg (Boonville – vineyard is cooler and gets more fog)
- Syrah – shows a good set which will probably need to have some fruit dropped
- Viognier
- Vidmar (Boonville – vineyard is warmer with less fog)
- Syrah – shows a good set on both clones
- Marin County (Barnaby – not sure how similar the weather)
- Chardonnay – another new one
A great map with real time temperatures can be found at http://www.met.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman/mesomap.cgi?state=CA&rawsflag=1
Now off to the pool to cool down with my daughter.