(NBBJ) - The North Coast winegrape harvest is set to get an early start this year, as Mumm Napa, one of the first pickers of each season, plans to bring its first grapes in this week.

Sparkling wine producer Mumm Napa plans to harvest grapes at dawn Wednesday from the 4-acre Game Farm Vineyard in the Oakville growing district on the east side of Napa Valley, according to a spokeswoman. That would be a day earlier than the vintner’s earliest start, July 23 in 1997.

Grapes for a number of sparkling wines typically are harvested weeks earlier than those in the same area for still wines, because lower sugar levels are desired.

The anticipated start this year is more than a week earlier than that of last year, which was two days earlier than in 2013, and nearly three weeks earlier than average.