Some Grape Crops in State Damaged by Heavy Rains

The wine grape harvest in California’s north coast is either a disaster or one of the best on record, depending on where the winery is located or the grape variety.

Until mid-September, a long, cool growing season--which roughly lasts from spring to fall--had led agricultural experts to estimate that grapes on the vine would be 40% to 50% higher in tonnage than last year with exceptionally high quality. But heavy rains, which water down the grapes’ flavor and rot the fruit on the vine, fell in three small waves in the last half of September, leaving grape vines in some areas extremely damaged with rot but others essentially unscathed.

The first rain, on Sept. 15, delayed the maturing of the grapes. Rain hit on the same date in 1986, but that year the rain stopped for the next month and the harvest proceeded on schedule. But this year, two additional storms dumped more than 2 inches of rain on the region and accelerated the rot problem.

Andy Beckstoffer, one of the north coast’s largest growers, said damage from rot depends on the region and the grape variety.

In the Napa Valley, from St. Helena south through the Carneros region that butts up against San Pablo Bay, he said, the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc varieties were hardest hit.

Richard Arrowood, wine maker at Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma Valley, said the Alexander Valley in northern Sonoma County suffered, but there was much less damage in the Sonoma Valley to the south.

Hard to Estimate

However, wine makers in some regions--notably those whose vineyards are planted on mountainsides--experienced far fewer problems. “For me, it was one of the best vintages we’ve ever had,” Stu Smith, owner of Smith-Madrone Winery on Spring Mountain overlooking the Napa Valley, said. He said his Cabernet Sauvignon grapes needed some rain, and “we have good drainage, so we actually benefited from it.”

The rains have created delays but few losses so far for grape growers in the central valley who were a little farther along in harvesting their grapes. Robert Cabral of Escalon said he is a week to 10 days behind because of the rains. “I still have half of mine to go. We’ll finish up this week. The quality of black grapes is holding up pretty good. We’re not worried too much,” he said Sunday.

Other growers, such as Bruce A. Mettler of Lodi, beat the rains. Mike Henry of the California Farm Bureau said central valley grape growers are not likely to sustain “major losses” as are their counterparts, particularly in Medocino and Sonoma.

It’s hard to fix a dollar loss for the 1989 harvest, experts say. If the grape crop had been significantly larger than last year, spot prices for grapes would have dropped. With the crop now expected not to be much larger than last year, prices may not drop, reflecting the smaller amount of grapes available.

One estimate that the net loss to growers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties could reach $30 million was questioned by Beckstoffer, who said his ranches in the Mendocino County area were mostly picked before the second--and most damaging--rain fell in the third week of September.

“We came out of it very well,” he said. “When the rain hit in Mendocino, our grapes had already reached the right sugar, so we could pick. But some folks in Napa had to wait, and there will be some losses there.”

By this past weekend, most of the Cabernet in the Napa Valley was still on the vine, “and most of it looks beautiful,” Beckstoffer said. “Some vineyards were helped by the rain.”

Less Than Expected

He said his company was supposed to deliver 3,000 tons of Chardonnay, “which is significantly up from last year, and we will deliver 2,700 tons, which is still well above last year.”

The biggest disappointment for growers, said Beckstoffer, is simply that a month ago they anticipated a huge crop worth a lot of money. “Now it’s only going to be a good-sized crop, so the big surplus that we anticipated is over.”

In Lake County, most vineyards were harvested before the rains hit, according to Derek Holstein, wine maker for Guenoc Winery. And south of San Francisco, in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, little rain fell, and crop size and quality were reported high.