(Wines&Vines) - As the wine grape harvest wraps up on California’s North Coast, we’re completing our month-long tour of vineyards throughout the state. Some growers report that harvest is complete before picking would normally begin.

The drought brought challenges of course, but in general growers were happy to bring in high-quality crop, with some reduced tonnages because of smaller set and berry sizes. Some Sonoma growers reported larger crops. As in other regions, the most notable pests were voracious vertebrates hungry for juicy fruit: Bears, turkeys and ground squirrels devoured Zinfandel and Cabernet grapes.

 Sonoma County
A Sept. 9 dispatch from Sean Carroll at Sonoma County Winegrowers and Sonoma County Vintners reported: “Harvest season started earlier than normal, first grapes being picked July 29 for sparkling wines. Since then, growers and winemakers throughout Sonoma County have been holding a steady pace on grape picking for still wine varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Pinot Noir and others. With the moderate, cool-climate weather and typical Sonoma Coast fog patterns throughout most of August, fruit maturity on the vines slowed down and allowed the grapes to ripen at an optimal pace.”
On Sept. 16, Barry Hoffner at Silverwood Ranch in Sonoma’s new Pine Mountain Cloverdale Peak AVA, weighed in from the county’s highest elevation appellation.

“We have consistently tracked two to three weeks earlier than normal from bud break through véraison all the way to harvest. This will be the earliest harvest that we know of on Pine Mountain, with likely 100% of all wine grapes harvested before October. Normally, Pine Mountain Cloverdale Peak picks well into October. By mid-September, roughly 50% of the wine grapes were harvested, with the 5% of white wine grapes on the mountain all picked in August