Harvest Report Archives - Amanda Barnes

Written for Decanter.com

North America’s 2016 vintage saw advanced harvests across the board, with some of the earliest picking dates on record. Despite the early start many regions experienced cooler ripening periods, and drought was less of a defining characteristic than last year.

California

A warm spring jump-started the Californian season up to a month early, similar to 2015. June was hotter than normal and July looked to follow suit until temperatures peaked mid month, cooling off into August. The temperature drop was especially felt in Napa and Sonoma where locals coin the month ‘Fogust’ due to heavy marine fog.

‘This was my 40th harvest as a Napa winemaker and I can honestly say, one of the easiest with a very steady relaxed pace,’ says winemaker Robert Foley….
Read the full report (including reports on Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Ontario, New York & Mexico) online at Decanter.

You can also read my 80 Harvests vintage reports with winemaker interviews from around North America at 80harvests.com

With most of Argentina experiencing outstanding quality and Chile encountering one of the strangest harvests in their recent history, this year’s harvest has been remarkable.

Across Argentina the flowering period and harvest went by almost without a climatic hitch. In Mendoza, where the sun shines on average more than 300 days a year, the real risks for winemakers are frosts, hailstorms and burning Zonda winds sometimes of biblical proportions. This year as harvest comes to an end, winemakers throughout Argentina are celebrating one of their best harvests yet – without any climatic irregularities.

A mild spring and a cool summer, in these usually hotter climes, also helped with more elegant ripening and allowed winemakers to harvest at their own pace. “2013 is a promising year, especially for the grapes coming from the Uco Valley,” commented winemaker Leonardo Erazu from Altos Las Hormigas. “A more balanced ripeness was achieved… with wonderful natural acidity and less potential alcohol.”