Hot Topic - July 21, 2023

Photo credit Photo By Agne27 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

As my coffee steeped this morning, I returned a phone call to Frank Musto, my grape guy. When he began to speak about this years grapes, I grabbed a pen and jotted down notes. Frank is the most knowledgable man, in regard to grapes, that I know. He was clearly wide awake at 9 AM this morning and I had not had my coffee yet so I promise I’ll do better sharing information after our next conversation.

Last year, Suisun had a very hot March. This kind of quick heat causes the skins to be thin which leads to “shot berry” or Millerandage . (Photo above). Shot berry is when the grape cluster has small, immature berries intermingled with larger berries. Since we crush the entire cluster at one time, this directly impacts the amount of juice from the grapes.

The vines at Lanza Vineyards were thinned to prepare for this year and now with the cooler spring, the vines and foliage are healthy and the grape skins are thick. I asked specifically about the Primitivo because it was so greatly impacted by shot berry that Frank did not carry it last year. This year we will be making Primitivo!

Because it has been cooler in Suisun this years harvest will most likely be a few weeks later than last years. This could change with a hot spell, but I think we are looking at mid October for crush.

I did share with Frank our awards from the Finger Lake International Wine Competition and I also shared that some of our wine friends made their way out to Wooden Valley Winery and Lanza Vineyards in Suisun. We are very fortunate to have this relationship with both the fruit and the growers because at the end of the day, it is all about the grape.

Slange Var,

Sharon