Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/867389
16 WINES&VINES September 2017 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS QST offers its clients……. Professionally fabricated stainless tanks 35 years of tank fabrication experience Performance & reliability guarantees Custom designs & modern features Quick & competitive tank project pricing On site tank repairs & modifications Special application tanks of all sizes "In stock tanks" from 500 to 10,000 gallons 510 Caletti Ave. Windsor, Ca. 95492 Phone 707-837-2721 or Toll-Free 877-598-0672 www.qualitystainless.com Company Website winetanks@aol.com email contact/sales info Custom Fabricated Tanks for the perfect size & fit… or Ready to Ship "Stock Tanks" Either way QST is ready to assist our clients! Call QST today for information or pricing! QUALITY STAINLESS TANKS Other parts of the United States Harvest started early in Texas, where Dr. Justin Scheiner, assistant professor and extension viticulture specialist in the Department of Hor- ticultural Sciences at Texas A&M University, reported that, overall, the state had good grow- ing conditions and harvest should be from one to three weeks ahead of schedule. "We had an early bud break, no spring frosts and really good conditions. It was a fairly mild summer until the last couple of weeks when the weather got hot." According to Scheiner, the very southern- most part of Texas, the Rio Grande region, finished harvest in early June. Vineyards in the Hill Country west of Austin were at the peak of harvest during the first week of Au- gust, while the High Plains in northern Texas were not too far behind. Harvest in Texas will probably "end by mid- to late September," Scheiner said. Sugar levels vary by the variety of grape, Scheiner noted. "Whites are averaging between 21° and 24° Brix, and the reds are between 23° and 26°." He said with the recent heat and dry weather, some grapes will get to 28° or even 30° Brix, and pH levels could also be challeng- ing. "A pH of 3.5 would be perfect, but over 4.0 is not uncommon." In early August, growers in the Northwest were still reporting on véraison, but they ex- pected 2017 to be a return to normal. The past two years have seen growers prepping crush pads for harvest as August began, with the earliest-ever pick of grapes in Washington state occurring Aug. 7, 2015. This year's relatively normal timing of vérai- son has many growers around the region looking to receive their initial grapes about 10 days later than the mid-August kick-off reported in 2016. Rex Hill viticulturist Karen Peterson re- ported that fruit set looks a little larger than last year, following a long, cool spring that made a decisive shift to summer with the sol- stice. Daytime high temperatures leapt from the mid-60s to the mid-90s in the course of a week in Newberg, Ore., while in southern Or- egon and the Columbia Valley of Washington state, daytime highs had been consistently above 85° F since mid-June. "It's been kind of a wild ride, temperature- wise, this summer," said Ross Allen, co-owner with his wife Jennifer of 2Hawk Vineyard and Winery in Medford, Ore. While a wet winter gave vines the moisture they needed for vegetative growth, the sharp shift to summer temperatures made it tough to sustain the development needed to feed and shade the developing clusters. With vines shut- ting down during the day, and nights warm rather than cool, there's been a narrower win- dow for canopy development. "This year it was just like flipping a switch, where you're going from a younger, developing vine and trying to get your canopy develop- ment, to a lot of extreme heat very, very quickly," Allen said. "Fruit quality looks really good this year," said Christian Grieb, winemaker at Treveri Cellars in Wapato, Wash. "It doesn't quite seem to be the bumper crop of 2016 that we had, but there is still plenty of healthy fruit hanging out there." With véraison beginning on his Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, in line with long-term aver- ages, Grieb said he expects to begin harvesting on or around Labor Day. —Wines & Vines staff "It's been kind of a wild ride, temperature-wise." —Ross Allen, 2Hawk Vineyard and Winery