California Vintage 2017
2017 gave winemakers the headache of a very hot end of the growing season followed by damaging fires that affected a small part of the harvest. And all this after a wet winter and perfect start to the summer had given rise to great optimism. Winemakers tried to contain sugar levels and harvested grapes like pinot noir earlier, before shrivelling and overripeness marred their potential. The later ripening cabernet benefited from relieving rains and cooler temperatures late on. To cap it all the fires came at the end of the harvest, though many areas had brought in most of their grapes by then. Napa and Sonoma had harvested 90% of their fruit and Mendocino 75%. The fires, as well as their direct damage to communities and forests, created smoke that tainted some fruit not yet harvested. It also cut power to many wineries, causing even more head and heartache to winemakers.
Thankfully, the untainted grapes that were harvested were of outstanding quality and the wines live up to the fruit, ...
