2002 Napa Valley Vintage

Bud break sat in March on the Napa Valley Vintners chart and bloom in May, and the season's first trouble arrived in between. Frank Leeds, vineyard manager for Frog's Leap and Long Meadow Ranch, said the 2002 growing season began with several vineyards experiencing frost in April. Then, in late May, Merlot in the northern portion of the valley was blooming when unexpected rain arrived and caused a bit of loss. Leeds read it as a net positive: the May rain helped thin a potentially over-large Merlot crop while giving the vines a solid shot of moisture going into summer. The chart records 1.49 inches in May against 0.43 in April, and effectively nothing from June through August. After veraison in July, the Napa Valley Vintners described growing conditions as truly ideal, with warm days and cool, even cold, nights. Summer stayed long and mild, and the only heat came as a few manageable spikes in late September and early October, which sped harvest to a close. Picking started earlier than is typical. Sparkling wineries began bringing in fruit on August 13, and Sauvignon Blanc in the mid-valley started August 17. The whole run was compressed. Leeds put it plainly: normally we would be picking for eight to ten weeks, and that year it was six to eight. By the October 15 release, the bulk of the harvest was just about complete with roughly five percent of the crop left, and producers making botrytis-affected wines expected to start picking in late October and carry on through Thanksgiving.

• Several vineyards experienced frost in April, per Frank Leeds of Frog's Leap and Long Meadow Ranch
• Unexpected rain during late-May Merlot bloom in the northern valley caused some loss but thinned an over-large Merlot crop
• After July veraison, conditions were warm by day and cool to cold at night, described by the Napa Valley Vintners as truly ideal
• A few manageable heat spikes in late September and early October sped harvest to a close
• Sparkling harvest began August 13 and mid-valley Sauvignon Blanc on August 17, earlier than typical
• Harvest ran six to eight weeks against a normal eight to ten, with about five percent of the crop still hanging on October 15

The yield picture in 2002 depended on whether you were looking at a single block or the whole appellation. Per-acre tonnage that season was generally lower than average, but the overall yield of the entire Napa Valley appellation came in at average to above average because replanted acreage was newly bearing. Some of the drop was deliberate. Frank Leeds said that in some Cabernet vineyards they dropped two tons of fruit per acre over the course of the summer, and growers green suckered or pruned shoots and leaves a bit more often than normal to concentrate flavor. Dawnine Dyer of Dyer Vineyards, then president of the Napa Valley Vintners Association, pushed back on the idea that any of this amounted to oversupply: glut is not a word she would use to describe the situation. Dyer also made the point that a vintage summary flattens a place that does not flatten easily, noting that a cluster of grapes in the southern Carneros region experiences significantly different degrees of fog, sunlight, wind and precipitation than a cluster high on Spring Mountain, mid-valley.

• Per-acre tonnage was generally lower than average while the appellation total came in average to above average, thanks to newly bearing replanted acreage
• Frank Leeds reported dropping two tons of fruit per acre over the summer in some Cabernet vineyards
• Growers green suckered and pruned shoots and leaves more often than normal to concentrate flavor
• Dawnine Dyer of Dyer Vineyards, then Napa Valley Vintners Association president, rejected the word glut for the 2002 crop