2003 Napa Valley Vintage

Spring 2003 was the problem. Frank Leeds of Frog's Leap, then president of the Napa Valley Grape Growers Association, said the year offered up the nastiest first half of spring he could remember: on the fourteenth of May, he would have said it was the fourteenth of April, because the vineyards had simply stalled in the cold weather and rain, a month behind. Bob Steinhauer of Beringer Vineyards said the vintage got a late start because of the cool, wet spring, with weather trending cool overall and a very damp April. Fred Schweiger of Schweiger Vineyards said early rains and cool weather in April physiologically shut his vines down. The Napa Valley Vintners chart bears it out: 7.09 inches of rain in April, against 3.38 in March and 2.42 in May, and essentially nothing in June and July. Delia Viader of Viader Vineyards and Bob Long of Long Vineyards both described a very wet, rainy winter and lighter yields from small berry size and shatter caused by spring wind and storms. Bloom brought its own trouble. Steinhauer reported that a warm spell during flowering fueled a growth spurt in Merlot that caused a poor set in some areas. Then September changed the arithmetic. Steinhauer said eight to ten very warm days in the middle of the month pushed maturity in many varieties and had growers suddenly predicting an early completion, with the harvest time frame becoming compressed and multiple varieties arriving at the winery at once. Tim Bell of Freemark Abbey put it the same way: a heat wave in September suddenly made everything ripe, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet all at the same time. Jac Cole of Spring Mountain Vineyard said the heat spikes toward the end of September were a scare that made them think they would be forced into an early, unripe harvest, before moderate weather returned for the final three weeks. Wine Spectator credited a brilliant fall with saving the year, including a three-week run of 80 to 90 degree weather in October that Karen Culler called a thank-you-Jesus October. Harvest itself was uneven in pace. Elias Fernandez of Shafer Vineyards said picking started off quickly, with lots of tonnage coming in all at once, and then everything came to a screeching halt, before resuming and allowing extended hang time. As of the November 4 release, the Napa Valley Vintners expected most Cabernet Sauvignon to be picked by the end of October.

• The cold, wet first half of spring left vineyards roughly a month behind, with 7.09 inches of rain in April
• A warm spell during flowering caused a growth spurt and poor set in some Merlot, per Bob Steinhauer of Beringer
• Eight to ten very warm days in mid September pushed maturity across varieties and compressed the harvest
• Moderate weather returned for the final three weeks after the late-September heat scare, per Jac Cole of Spring Mountain Vineyard
• Wine Spectator credited a brilliant October, including a three-week stretch of 80 to 90 degree weather, with rescuing the vintage
• Harvest ran in fits and starts: a fast opening, a screeching halt, then a resumption with extended hang time

Quantity was the cost of 2003. The Napa Valley Vintners headline said as much. Delia Viader reported yields 40 percent down in quantity throughout all varietals in her hillside vineyards. Merlot specifically was described as a small crop by Bob Steinhauer, with other varietals slightly below normal. Frank Leeds said Zinfandel produced the lightest bins he had picked in twenty years. The late start also stretched the season out at the top of the valley and on the mountains. Richard Camera of The Hess Collection said that as of the November 4 release they had not picked even one percent of their Mount Veeder vineyards, with over 500 tons still hanging and at least four weeks to go.

• Delia Viader of Viader Vineyards reported yields 40 percent down across all varietals in her hillside sites
• Merlot was a small crop; other varieties came in slightly below normal, per Bob Steinhauer of Beringer
• Frank Leeds said Zinfandel gave the lightest bins he had picked in twenty years
• The Hess Collection had picked under one percent of its Mount Veeder fruit as of November 4, with more than 500 tons hanging

These are impressions recorded at or just after harvest in late 2003, not judgments on how the wines matured. Clay Gregory, then president of the Napa Valley Vintners Association, framed the year as a trade: the challenges presented by nature contributed to what most would agree is an excellent vintage, with lower yields and memorable quality. Peter Mondavi of Charles Krug said 2003 would always stay in his memory as a complex vintage to manage, while predicting the valley was heading straight toward a great Cabernet Sauvignon vintage, perhaps the best in the last ten years. Wayne Donaldson of Domaine Chandon pointed to the shape of the season rather than its peaks, saying a long cool summer meant fruit flavors evolved beautifully ahead of sugar accumulation. Peter McCrea reported extraordinary Chardonnay fruit with intense flavors in spite of very hot August weather.

• Clay Gregory of the Napa Valley Vintners Association summarized the year as lower yields and memorable quality
• Peter Mondavi of Charles Krug called it a complex vintage to manage and predicted a great Cabernet year
• Wayne Donaldson of Domaine Chandon credited the long cool summer for flavors evolving ahead of sugar
• Peter McCrea reported extraordinary Chardonnay with intense flavors despite very hot August weather