(Wines&Vines) - Grapes have turned color in Washington state, marking a new phase in the march toward harvest.

Rob Mercer of Mercer Estate Wines told Wines & Vines this week that grapes across its holdings, including Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Horse Heaven Hills, are well on their way to an early harvest.

“We’re warm here; I’m guessing we’re three weeks early,” he told Wines & Vines. “We’re seeing véraison in pretty much all varietals, including our Cabernet in the Horse Heaven Hills.” 

Summer heats up

The warm weather puts Mercer ahead of 2014, when he anticipated starting harvest at the end of August. This year, the season has been even more accelerated, and that has some growers telling winemakers to start thinking about crush.

“If I was a winemaker, I would definitely get ready,” Chris Banek of Banek Winegrower Management LLC said this week.

Banek has been witnessing a similar turn among the hundreds of acres of vineyard he manages, including approximately 150 acres among the SeVein properties on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley.

“Tempranillo usually turns first, so I’m assuming it’s going to start here shortly,” he said. 

Avoiding sunburn

While he doesn’t expect harvest crews to move in until early September, his work as a viticulturist means he’s interested in protecting the crop from the summer’s intense heat and dry weather.

“If you overexpose fruit when it’s this hot, bad things happen. So we’ve been really cautious,” Banek said.

While access to water hasn’t been an issue in the Walla Walla Valley this season, training the canopy to ensure the right balance of shade and fruit exposure has been difficult.

Most vineyards received ample water early in the season, with above-average precipitation in February, ensuring good canopy development. Thinning canopies in the fruiting zone to manage photosynthetic capacity and ensure fruit remains in balance has had to take into account the season’s temperatures of 100° F.