Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/437909
January 2015 Wines&Vines 129 vintage 2014 the wines are impressive and 2014 will be a vintage to be remembered. Weather: the summer was one of the warmest on record, mainly because there was less coastal fog to cool off the region with evening winds. high overcast weather re- sulting from residual clouds from tropical storms in mexico kept eve- nings warm, which also helped to accelerate ripening, as evenings did not cool down much below 60° F. harvest was compressed, and every variety finished early. as the harvest progressed, winemakers were mostly happy with the quality of the fruit, as it was free of mold and other defects. By oct. 15, har- vest was over for most our region. Pests/diseases: Both the new Virginia creeper leafhopper and the already-established western grape leafhopper were a problem for many growers this year. the warm weather encouraged at least one extra generation, requiring extra spraying. spider mites were also a problem in some drought-stressed vineyards. suPPly/demand: many vine- yards had lower than normal yields, off by as much as 30% of the average. some of this was likely a function of how much water growers had available for irrigation. if you had enough water, crops were near normal in size. the state Water resources Control Board curtailed water rights for many growers along the russian river, forcing them to cease irriga- tion. Dry-land vineyards around the region ended up with very ripe fruit and lower than normal yields. in Lake County, growers with good wells had near-normal yields, while those with smaller water supplies ended up with shorter than usual crops. smaller crops were helpful to the wineries, however, as some still had sizeable amounts of bulk wine to sell from 2013. Large car- ryovers from the previous two re- cord crops had many wineries scrambling for storage space to make room for this year's crush. J Vineyards & Winery in Healdsburg, Calif., brought in its first grapes July 31, starting what was reported to be an earlier-than-normal harvest throughout California.