The cool weather continues to allow the red wine grapes to ripen and flavors continue to deepen, while most of the whites have been harvested. Pat Stotesbery from Ladera Vineyards said the Howell Mountain district might be unusual, but added, “across the board we are ahead of last year.” Others, including Paul Smith and Dawnine Dyer, said the weather was cold last week, reminding everyone that fall is approaching.

By American Viticulture Areas, from north to south, the reports are as follows:

Calistoga (pending) — Paul Smith, owner, OnThEdge Winery: “Whites, early and/or young block reds trickle in. That horrid, wee-hour alarm waking some growers last week was Jack Frost intruding, which was rude and certainly uninvited. Jeanne Frediani, with more Calistoga non-AVA vintages cellared than years on my driver’s license, says this is the latest harvest she can remember. And she remembers very well.”

Diamond Mountain — Dawnine Dyer, Dyer Vineyards: “The destemmers and sorting tables are coming out of storage and made ready for harvest, but no one has pulled the trigger yet on Diamond Mountain. The cool weather last Thursday was a wakeup call that we’re moving into the shorter days of fall and people are taking a last look at crop levels. Candidates for first in are merlot at Sterling’s DMR & Sori Bricout and syrah at Constant.”

Howell Mountain — Pat Stotesbery, Ladera Vineyards: “Buckeye Ranch, Outpost, Hughes and Howell at the Moon all have sugars between 21 and 23 brix. We picked malbec at Ladera on Monday. Some small merlot picks have occurred and there is some concern that the cabernet sauvignon will all ripen at once.”

Chiles Valley — Volker Eisele, Volker Eisele Family Estate: “Hot and cold seems to be the name of the weather game. From temperatures in the high 90s at the beginning of the week temperatures dropped to a low of 35 degrees at night to a high of 70 degrees at the end of the week. As a result, sugars are moving slowly if at all. There was no picking activity and there is even some sauvignon blanc unpicked. Semillon looks like a week away hovering around 21 brix and chardonnay is a few weeks off. Some hillside cabernet is moving towards 23 brix; however, flavors are developing much faster than the sugars would indicate.

Spring Mountain — Charles Smith, winemaker, Smith-Madrone: “Harvest has definitely begun here on Spring Mountain. It’s still too early for most cabernet — with the exception of an early block at Schweiger’s — but Stoney Hill and Smith-Madrone are picking chardonnay, while Cain, Keenan and Schweiger have already brought in some merlot. Unlike the valley, last year brought below-average crop sizes for many varieties, but this year is different as substantial increases in crop size are being reported.”

St. Helena — Mark Porembski, winemaker, Anomaly Vineyards, “For most, the 2006 harvest has begun steadily and even sanely. With no major heat patterns to cause a frenzy of picking so far, sugars continue to climb steadily. Much of the white grapes in the warmer spots of St. Helena have been picked and merlot will begin coming off the vine in some vineyards this week. Our most planted varietal in the valley, cabernet sauvignon, is not too far behind the merlot in St. Helena — many vineyards reporting sugars at or near 23 brix. As expected, the beginning of the cabernet harvest looks like it will fall during the last week of September, with the majority of fruit coming in by mid-October.”



Rutherford — Jeffrey Stambor, director of winemaking, Beaulieu Vineyards: “Temperatures remain almost ideal for ripening — cool nights with no morning fog followed by warm days. We’ll start to harvest merlot this week and should get some idea of phenolic extraction by mid-fermentation. As we start harvesting we’ll also get an inkling of how close our crop estimates are. As I walk through the vineyards the cabernet sauvignon has great flavors as well as signs of phenolic maturity. These early days of harvest give us a feel for the vintage and how we will adjust our winemaking based on the year.”



Oakville — Pat Garvey, vineyard manager, Flora Springs Winery: “Weather has cooled and acids have remained high so harvesting has slowed for sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio. With anticipated heat this week we should complete harvesting of these two varieties toward the end of the week. The cool weather has pushed the remainder of our harvest into a very tight window whereby reds and whites will ripen at the exact same time putting pressure on tank space, labor and equipment. Grape quality remains exceptional.”

Genevieve Janssens, winemaker, Robert Mondavi Winery: “We love this weather. We can walk and taste in the vineyards, picking on flavor with no pressure. The clusters are handling extremely well as we harvest. We do have an eye on the combination of low humidity and cool temperature, which can stress the grapes, but so far harvest is going beautifully.  The sauvignon blanc is 90 percent in, and we started picking semillion last week. Pinot noir and chardonnay are on the schedule for this week, with merlot and malbec about 10-14 days away and cabernet sauvignon from around the Napa Valley and from our To Kalon Vineyard most likely not harvesting until the end of September.”

Yountville — Mitch Cosentino, winemaker, Cosentino Winery: “Sauvignon blanc is finished as chardonnay begins. Some merlot blocks look approximately 10 days out. Cabernet is looking two to three weeks out, depending on the site. All Champagne grapes have been picked. Overall quality looks excellent for 2006.”

Stags Leap District — Elizabeth Vianna, winemaker, Chimney Rock Winery: “Fruit in the Stags Leap District has started to trickle in this week. John Emmerich at Silverado and Michelle Edwards at Cliff Lede are bringing in their first SLD merlot. Stacy Clark at Pine Ridge will soon bring in a little chardonnay, but no reds yet. We’ve been sampling this week at Chimney Rock, and it looks like merlot and cabernet sauvignon will start to roll in around the same time. We still have some waiting to do as those magical SLD flavors fill out.”

Atlas Peak — Patrick Elliott-Smith, Elan Vineyards: “Despite the cool weather last week, we are still on target for harvesting our merlot and one block of cabernet sauvignon at the end of this week. Doug Hill reports that he will be starting to harvest cabernet sauvignon this week also. The flavors have really developed uniformly, acids are a little high.”

Mt. Veeder — Brian Nuss, Vinoce Vineyards: “Fall is in the air, nighttime temperatures are cooling off, leaves are changing colors in the vineyards, and harvest has arrived on the hill. Sky Vineyards reported that they picked six tons of beautiful zinfandel over the weekend. The numbers were perfect and the flavors delicious. They are just under half way and should finish up by the end of next week. Kathy from Wing Canyon reported that they have just started picking their chardonnay today, Monday.”



Janet Myers, winemaker, Mount Veeder Winery: The Mount Veeder ranches have enjoyed many sunny mornings. At the higher elevations the vines stay above the low clouds and have been maturing at a little faster pace. We are seeing the reds in the Rosenquist ranch at Mount Veeder ahead slightly in ripeness and the malbec is starting to show its trademark juicy, blueberry character, delicious even at 23 brix. The first picking of cabernet sauvignon is still a few weeks out but the fruit is looking good.



Oak Knoll — Bob Biale and winemaker Al Perry, Trefethen Vineyards: “Because it is a cooler area, sugars for several OKD vineyards have moved up to around 20 brix but are behind other valley vineyards.” Biale will be crushing zinfandel and petite sirah from Rutherford and St. Helena this week. After sampling vineyards today he reports, “This year could be something special — the flavors right now are amazing.”

 Kevin Corley of Monticello Vineyards reports that the final pinot noir harvest was done Wednesday and the chardonnay harvest is 15 percent complete. Further chardonnay picking will continue next week.

Stan Boyd, Boyd Family Vineyards, says “The merlot is 22 brix, the syrah 20 brix, and malbec, 19 brix.  I think we are running about seven to 10 days behind last year.”

Los Carneros — Michael Richmond, GM and winemaker, Bouchaine Vineyards: “We always talk about the cool foggy Carneros; this is a year that is exactly like we say it is … cool, low clouds that do not burn off until noon. This is one of the latest harvests that I have seen with regard to pinot noir. I have never started harvesting pinot noir later than the second week in September and we haven’t started yet.”

Lee Hudson, Hudson Vineyards, said: “With cool weather, flavors continue to develop. The sparkling wine harvest is in full swing but the end is in sight. With warmer weather predicted this week still wine harvest should start in earnest by midweek.”



Wild Horse Valley — John Newmeyer, Heron Lake Vineyard: “We’ve had several cool days this past week, with tongues of fog lingering in our upland valley well into midday. Brix levels have increased by a point or point-and-a-half. We anticipate beginning harvest around the middle of the last week of September, providing that warm sunny days prevail. Crop size looks bigger than in 2004 or 2005.”

Contact David Stoneberg at wines@sthelenastar.com.

Register Features Editor Sasha Paulsen contributed to this report.