January 7, 2004
2003 IN REVIEWEarly Bud break and a Great Vintage
In my January 2003 Times column I wrote "On the 24th of January, I was walking White Hawk Vineyard with owner Barry Henley out on Cat Canyon Road. Bud break was happening. Two days later I had lunch with Lane Tanner and she told me bud break was happening in Bien Nacido Vineyard east of Santa Maria. My roses, too, are developing new leafy growth too. This is scary because the plants think spring is here."
"It is this bud break-the new leafy green-on the vine that is vulnerable to frost. And the earlier the bud break, the greater the propensity to getting zapped! As the late Joe Heitz, celebrated California winemaker, once quipped, 'Mother Nature is a mean old lady.'"
Wes Hagen named director of Santa Barbara County Fair Wine Competition for second year
In my February 2003 column I wrote "Wes Hagen, vineyard manager and winemaker at Clos Pepe Estate in the Santa Rita Hills and CCWGA 2002 Grower of the Year, has been named Director of the Santa Barbara County Fair Wine Competition for the second consecutive year. The judging takes place at the Fairpark Plaza in Santa Maria Tuesday, May 13."
In May, this wine column goes from monthly to weekly
I wrote "From monthly in a weekly to weekly in a daily! Starting today, this wine column runs weekly in the Santa Maria Times. I'm excited and I have to admit, I run into people all around Santa Maria who have been reading the column since it started in the Times back in July of 2000..."
My career as a wine writer goes back to December 1984 when The Weekly (now the Santa Barbara Independent) hired me to do a monthly column. I was also the wine columnist for Santa Barbara Magazine for several years. With this new year, I have covered the county wine scene for almost two decades.
Eighteen double gold medals given at the Santa Barbara County Fair Commercial Wine Competition
In May 2003, I wrote "Eighteen double gold medals were awarded-one for sauvignon blanc, three for chardonnay, one for viognier, one for blush, seven for pinot noir, three for syrah, one for nebbiolo and one for dessert."
And four of the double gold winner wines took "best of show"awards: * White wine-Chardonnay-J. Kerr, Santa Barbara County, Bien Nacido Vineyard, 1999 * Rose wine-Lucas & Lewellen, Mandolino, Santa Barbara County "Rosato" 2002 * Red wine-Casa Cassara, Santa Rita Hills, Burning Creek Vineyard, 2001 * Dessert wine-Santa Barbara Winery, Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Ynez Valley, Lafond Vineyard Late Harvest, 1999
In the annual growth cycle of the vine, after bud break we see "flowering." Flowering happens in late spring. Weather conditions can have a big effect on flowering and berry set which usually spell out yields at harvest.
Midyear projection for the 2003 harvest
I wrote July 9, 2003 "So far this season, Jeff [Newton of Coastal Vineyard Care Associates] told me, pinot noir is looking like an average crop with no surprises. Timing, so far, is about normal. Given no excessive and lengthy hot spells, it's looking like a 'normal year.'"
"Jeff added the crop, so far, looks balanced and it looks like it will be high quality. Here we are in early summer and Jeff told me he's excited about the potential of the 2003 quality of pinot noir.
"With regard to the Bordeaux reds (cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc) and Bordeaux whites (sauvignon blanc and semillon), the yields are down significantly, he told me. The reason he said was the seven days of overcast weather in June that coincided with full bloom.
"The syrah crop, he told me, is down in yield slightly, but "looks to be a very good vintage." Syrah, by the way, is the noble red grape of the northern Rhone valley of France, the grape that produces the great Hermitage wines and Cote Rotie wines of France."
The appraisal was pretty much right on, except pinot noir yields were down significantly in Santa Barbara County for 2003. While yields were down, quality of the fruit was sensational. Both 2002 and 2003 are hallmark vintages, particularly for pinot noir.
I'm not sure anyone really understands the dynamic that takes place preceding harvest for pinot noir. You may recall yields in 1995 were disastrously low for pinot noir too. These situations always seem to catch the growers by surprise.
To 2004!
Wine lover and Santa Maria Times Wine columnist, Bob Senn, lives in the Los Alamos Valley and owns the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium.
