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VINTAGE 2013 Vintage 2013 West Coast enjoys another stellar year; much of East Coast has dry harvest; Texas and Colorado severely damaged by cold By Andrew Adams G rowers and winemakers in the western half of North America enjoyed the rare treat of back-to-back harvests marked by good yields and high quality with few headaches from pests or weather. Many in California reported that a dry spring kicked off an early start to the growing season. Predictions in early summer that the state could see the earliest harvest ever soon proved premature, how- ever, as cooler temperatures slowed ripening, allowing winemakers and growers more latitude with their pick decisions. "In a nutshell, this vintage has given the extraordinary gift of enabling us to pick exactly what we wanted, when we wanted, at perfect ripeness and ideal hang time," said Paul Colantuoni, winemaker at Rocca Family Vineyards in Napa Valley. In many of the central and eastern growing regions of North America, a cool spring and early summer were followed by unseasonable warm and dry conditions that enabled grapes to ripen without much threat of mold and rot problems. "It was the fall that saved the year for us," said David Scurlock, the viticulture outreach specialist with Ohio State University. He said that Ohio's vineyards produced a large crop and that drier conditions in September helped ensure quality. However, the southwestern United States and almost all of the Texas wine Lionel trudel Workers sort clusters of grapes at Okanagan Crush Pad in Summerland, British Columbia. 108 W in e s & V i ne s january 20 14