After a hurried harvest up to Labor Day, nearly all of the growers are reporting that the cooler temperatures have dropped the sugars in their grapes and harvest has slowed down.

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

Diamond Mountain District — Dawnine Dyer, Dyer Vineyards, “There’s a bit of a lull in harvest on Diamond Mountain and a pattern is emerging. Seems those vineyards with sugars in the 23 Brix range prior to Labor Day continued to accumulate sugar during the heat, while those under 22 Brix held tight and are just beginning to move. So far the yields have been inconsistent, but most are reporting fairly normal crops on average. There won’t be much harvest activity this week, but if current weather conditions hold out (no rain on Thursday, please!) things are looking good for vintage 2007.”  

Howell Mountain — Pat Stotesbery, Ladera Vineyards, “The previously assumed rush to harvest has not materialized. Cool weather actually dropped sugars in many locations last week. Picking of non-cab reds continues from Outpost (except no grenache or petite sirah) on down but cabernet is coming off in dribs and drabs. While everyone’s spirits say ‘pick,’ the flavors don’t line up. Most are waiting until at least later this week for anything significant.”

Chiles Valley District — Volker Eisele, Eisele Vineyards, “The sudden switch from hectic scheduling to a complete standstill took only a few very cool days and nights. Temperatures have dropped 10 to 15 degrees below normal. Last night (Sunday) we saw a low of 40 degrees. The small blocks of merlot and cabernet sauvignon that ripened because of the heat spike came in extremely clean and even with wonderful mature flavors. Yields however were substantially down from last year, i.e. 15 to 40 percent, depending on location.”

Spring Mountain District — Stu Smith, Smith-Madrone Winery, “Because of the cool weather Spring Mountain has the slows. Not much happened last week and not much is expected to happen this week. The vines and fruit are looking well, with patience the name of the game.”

St. Helena — Eric Titus, Titus Vineyards, “Harvest has reluctantly started after the early September heat quickly faded to temperate levels a week ago. So far reports of early reds, primarily merlot, zinfandel and malbec, have indicated average sized yields with very good quality. The consistently warm, but not hot, growing season has resulted in even ripening, free of shrivel and raisining, with impressive fruit integrity, particularly in zinfandel.”

Rutherford — Jeffrey Stambor, Beaulieu Vineyards, “The cooling trend continues and with it a slow, even development of flavor and tannin in the fruit. We still have yet to pick any cabernet sauvignon in the appellation but I expect that to change by the mid-week. The classic signs of maturity — not only sugar accumulation — are beginning to appear: softening of the skins, absence of herbaceous characters, and the darkening and hardening of the seeds. The hope is for consistent temperatures and dry conditions which will lead to a even-paced harvest.”

Oakville — Pat Garvey, Flora Springs Winery, “We finished our chardonnay harvest by picking for Bob Pepi. That completes our chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio harvest. Quality is exceptional and tonnages are down slightly. The mornings have been in the 40s and that coupled with cool days has dropped sugars from their peaks a week earlier. We’re still ahead of our scheduled harvest dates.”

Yountville — Mitch Cosentino, Cosentino Winery, “Whites are for the most part finished in Yountville. Pinot noir has been harvested with excellent results. Cooler weather has allowed reds a bit of a reprieve with added hang time and flavor development. Things should get started in the next 10-14 days with the merlots coming before cabernets. Quality so far has exceeded expectations across the board on all varieties.”

Stags Leap District — Elizabeth Vianna, Chimney Rock Winery, “The famous Stags Leap District cabernet sauvignon grape is starting to make an appearance at a crush pad near you. No cab is in yet at Chimney Rock, but our hillsides are getting close. Michelle Edwards at Cliff Lede already has two hillsides picked and is now waiting for the ‘ripe tannin fairy’ to bring in more. At Shafer Vineyards, Elias Fernandez has also harvested his hillside cab. While waiting patiently for our cab at Chimney Rock, we continue to chip away at merlot. The numbers are in on berry size and our merlot could easily pass for cabernet berries this year!”

Mount Veeder — Brian Nuss, Vinoce Vineyards, “The weather has been cool which has been a good thing up here on Mt. Veeder. Over at Lagier Meredith, Carole says this weather has been great for their syrah, which they hope to start picking this week. We are picking merlot right now and should be into the cab franc and cab sauvignon by next week. Sugars are stable and the fruit is looking good.”

Oak Knoll District —  Michael Crane, Crane Ranch Vineyard, “We will be picking merlot next week, small berries, great flavor, average size crop. (We dropped about one-third of the crop to assure even ripening and intensity). Cabernet and syrah are both three plus-or-minus weeks away. Currently the cab is ahead of the syrah, which is three times unusual for Crane Ranch Vineyard. Looks like a great year for quality, average for crop size.”

Karl Bucher, Bucher Vineyards, “Flavors finally caught up with sugar and we completed our merlot harvest on Sept. 11. The yields were at the same level as 2006, which is near or slightly above average. The fruit was very clean, of good quality with well balanced flavors. The vine canopy has held up very well this year and the vines are carrying a good leaf canopy into the fall.”

Steve and Betsy Moulds, Moulds Family Vineyards, “Things are still looking great. It’s kind of like the guy falling out of an airplane who was asked how he was doing by a passing balloonist. OK so far! We are showing 22.4 Brix in the south block of cab and 23.2 Brix in the north block of cab. Berry size is small and seeds seem a little more brown in the south. LWP is high but canopy is hanging in there. Cooler temps are a blessing and we don’t expect to harvest for at least three weeks.”

Richard Kinst, Kinst Vineyards, “We got nine tons of beautiful petite sirah on Thursday. We picked our sauvignon blanc over two weeks ago and it was great. The zin is yet to come around, and the bees are killing us, but that should be good also.”

Jon Ruel, Trefethen Vineyards, “We are approximately 75 percent done with chardonnay. Looser clusters with smaller berries have resulted in per acre yields being a bit lower than average. Quality has been excellent. We have also been bringing in some malbec. Sugar accumulation has slowed in the cabernet sauvignon and we are happy to let that variety hang for a few more weeks.”

Stan Boyd, Boyd Family Vineyards, “We’ve picked three blocks of merlot this week about 50 percent of the merlot planted. Yields are very similar to 2006 and quality is exceptional. Syrah is 23-24 Brix and looking great and it should harvest is 2-3 weeks. Cab franc, malbec and cabernet sauvignon is 22-23 Brix and at least 3-4 weeks out. Canopy is holding up well and the cooler weather is providing time for rich mature flavors to develop.”

Carneros — Lee Hudson, Hudson Vineyards, “With the cooling weather we have all but stopped our chardonnay harvest at about the half way point. Merlot and syrah is hanging between 21.5 and 23.0 so at best that’s a long week away. Quality is extremely high but the crop has been very light.”

Wild Horse Valley — John Newmeyer, Heron Lake Vineyard, “We thought this weekend would bring everything to an unseasonably early close. But mild days this week have split our harvest season in two. Our chardonnay must wait a few more days, and there’s pinot noir at the north end of our upland valley that’s also well short of ripeness. Meanwhile, the pinot noir we picked on Labor Day is all fermented, crushed, and safely barreled down for the winter.”