The harvest is well under way and our correspondents are reporting excellent quality for the white grapes that they’ve harvested. Most expect some reds to be ready for picking in a week or two.

Listed by AVAs (American Viticulture Areas), from north to south, the reports are as follows:

Diamond Mountain District — Dawnine Dyer, Dyer Vineyards: “Even with the expectation of an early harvest, late August is still fairly quiet on Diamond Mountain.Von Strasser’s second vintage of gruner veltliner is in the barrel and Reverie’s roussanne should be ready soon, but for cabernet, the feeling is that things won’t really heat up until the third or fourth week of September. Veraison and green thinning are done, with most noting that the maturity is very even. Berry size is small and people are expecting a light crop.”

Chiles Valley District — Volker Eisele, Volker Eisele Family Estate: “A year has passed and we are in the beginning of another harvest. This year started out very nicely but then the rain failed to materialize. By now 2006-07 has become the third driest here in the Chiles Valley District. The driest was 1977 and the second driest was 1976. But at least the weather gods have so far given us a picture perfect growing season without any real heat spikes. This even weather has prevented the vines from being stressed and really suffering. The relatively light crop is helping as well. So far everything points to a high quality year. For us picking began Friday with sauvignon blanc and semillon.”

Spring Mountain District — Stu Smith, winemaker, Smith-Madrone Winery: “With the exception of some several small lots of chardonnay coming in this week, Spring Mountain is still several weeks away from beginning harvest. Because the summer has been cool with few heat spikes and a moderate size crop, most vintners are anticipating exceptional fruit from this year.”  

St. Helena — Lawrence Papale, owner, Red Wing Vineyards, “Steady, warm weather with no crippling heat spikes has accelerated the development of our merlot grapes this season and contributed to an expected early harvest. Canopies appear to be smaller but in healthy balance with the fruit due primarily to the lack of rain last winter. Crop size appears to be average to slightly less than average after thinning to eliminate clusters that were behind at veraison. This vintage will put the test to the notion that slower ripening produces greater flavor.”

Rutherford — Jeffrey Stambor, director of winemaking, Beaulieu Vineyards, “After an early start with sauvignon blanc on Aug. 17 the feeling around the winery, as well as the aroma, is one of preparation not active fermentation. Maturity, as measured by Brix and flavor, is more advanced at this date compared to last year with all signs pointing to excellent potential. It looks like we might squeak through the Labor Day weekend without harvesting any red grapes but with the forecasted weather it should be quite busy come Sept. 4.”

Oakville — Pat Garvey, vineyard manager, Flora Springs Winery, “Most of our sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio will have been picked by the end of the week. These varieties were picked on Sept. 14-15 last year, so we are slightly more then two weeks ahead of 2006. We have enough pickers and have a few men looking for jobs as we harvest. We are hand harvesting at night and will continue as the temperatures increase.”

Yountville — Mitch Cosentino, executive winemaker, Cosentino Winery, “Harvest is well under way in Yountville. Sauvignon blanc should be out of the fields by Friday of this week. Champagne grapes are all but finished at this time. Reds seem to be proceeding on track with pinot noir for still wines coming quickly in the next two weeks.”

Stags Leap District — Elizabeth Vianna, winemaker, Chimney Rock Winery, “Harvest 2007 is on its way and we couldn’t ask for better weather, with no temperature spikes or dips. We are definitely in store for an early harvest. At Chimney Rock we have merlot that is probably two to three weeks away. Our cabernet has a little longer to go, with berry size looking particularly small on our ranch. Stacy Clark at Pine Ridge just harvested a ton of her Stags Leap District chardonnay. Stacy says her reds have a while to go, but agrees the fruit looks very good right now. Michelle Edwards at Cliff Lede Vineyards says her merlot getting close and also commented on the small berry size. Michelle expects that once the reds begin, the harvest will be ‘fast and furious.’ Let the games begin!”

Oak Knoll District — Stan Boyd, Boyd Family Vineyards, “We just completed our final pass through the vineyard with our last green drop as veraison is now complete.  Looks like a fairly normal harvest time with syrah starting in four to six weeks and merlot to follow shortly after.”

Randy Wulff:  “At Lobo Vineyards, we grow cab, pinot noir, chardonnay and syrah. So far, we harvested 33 tons of pinot noir for Mumm’s.”

Trefethen Vineyards’ Jon Ruel: “We wrapped up the pinot for sparkling harvest this week. Quality was very good — yields were lower than in the past couple years. We expect to begin harvesting chardonnay right around Labor Day. In general, quality looks excellent across the board. We’ve seen great phenological ripening — seed maturation and flavor development.”

Dave Pramuk from Robert Biale Vineyards: “We began harvest by crushing sauvignon blanc from the Giovanonni Vineyard in Yountville. Some zinfandel in St. Helena is expected to be ready sometime this and next week. Slower ripening fruit from the Oak Knoll District looks excellent and, if the current weather pattern continues, is expected in two to three weeks.”

Carneros — Lee Hudson, Hudson Vineyards: “Mild weather conditions allow the sparkling wine harvest to proceed in an orderly fashion. Yields are slightly low to estimate due to lower than expected cluster weights. Must analysis shows optimal nature acidity with perfect sugars. The still wine harvest should start during this week and speed up after Labor Day.”

Wild Horse Valley — John Newmeyer, Heron Lake Vineyard, “It’s been an ideal summer for us up in Wild Horse Valley — much like 2004. Morning fogs cleared early, often bringing sunshine to our uplands while Napa Valley was still a broad white sea. Days were warm, rarely hot. As a result ripening has proceeded apace: Today our pinot noir is already at 22 Brix and our chardonnay not far behind. We anticipate a big crop, but not as big as last year.”