How does all that rain affect the grapes?

The good news is that grapevines are mostly unaffected by excess rain, and even outright flooding, as long as they are DORMANT. And the vines' dormancy period overlaps very nicely with the "rainy season" of our blessed Mediterranean climate.

That said, the power of flowing water can wreak a lot of physical damage on vineyard fences, trellises, and vines. Our recent local flooding did indeed damage a number of low-lying vineyards in the Russian River appellation, but in Dry Creek Valley the damage was fairly minimal. In any event, rain and flooding this time of year has little influence on the subsequent vintage. After a number of droughty years, it is nice to have the soil moisture adequately recharged before 'budbreak', which will begin in earnest in the next several weeks. We're hoping for additional rainfall into late spring, which will help to maintain soil moisture through our long dry season (approximately June to late October!)--but NOT during 'bloom', which occurs around Memorial Day! Bloom is the first big milestone in the vintage year, and excessive/prolonged rain at that time can negatively affect the 'set' of the crop (the pollination of all the tiny grape flowers-which will become tiny grapes).

Mar 15, 2019 at 1:55 PM Permalink