Harvest Update: from David Coffaro

Since I live in San Francisco and work in Sunnyvale, I track the harvest and weather in many ways. Some of the most accurate information is from the grape growers or winemakers. I frequently check David Coffaro's Winemaker's Diary for any information. In his entry yesterday, he provides some insight into this year's harvest.

His prediction is cautiously optimistic,

I am very honest about these predictions and often I am wrong, but I will state the facts as usual. I hear from many of my winemaking friends that they see a drastic loss in crop due to the wind and rain a few weeks ago. I agree that I do see some shattering (lack of berries in the middle of the bunch), but there still is a big crop in our vineyard this year.

Coffaro feels that this year's harvest could be the biggest since 1991, which produced great quality wines. However, he want implement his lessons learned since then,

1991 Produced great quality, but I thought I could have done better. In 1991 I was just selling grapes for a living and saw dollar signs with this big crop. I did not thin (cut off crop), and the weather stayed warm. That enabled me to harvest cabernet as late as November. Since I remember 1991 and want to do better, I have Caterino [his vineyard manager] thinning many bunches this week. I have complete confidence that I will produce good wine. Only the vintage can determine whether it will be great.