2011 Napa Valley Vintage

NVV's own report on the 2011 harvest sets out the shape of the year in a sentence: what began with a wet winter and spring continued with rainfall into mid-June that delayed bloom and disrupted fruit set, leaving shatter in parts of the region. The numbers back it up. The precipitation measuring season ending June 30 found the region more than a third above normal. Cloud cover and cool temperatures delayed vine development by several weeks right at the onset of the growing season, and the vines never got that time back. Fruit set was the casualty. Chuck Wagner of Caymus told Wine Spectator that cool spring weather hampered set in most vineyards and cut the crop by about half compared to normal, with his own yields running anywhere from 0.5 to 3.5 tons per acre. NVV recorded the same unevenness from the other direction, with shatter hitting some vineyards hard enough to diminish the projected crop by more than 30 percent while leaving other sites nearly untouched and close to a normal crop. What the season lacked was heat. Few high-heat events occurred at any point, and growers responded by opening canopies to get as much sunlight, warmth and air circulation around the clusters as they could. Wagner put it more sharply to Wine Spectator: Cabernet Sauvignon thrives in the warm, dry weather that is the Napa norm, and in 2011 that weather was simply absent.

• Wet winter and spring, with rainfall persisting into mid-June that delayed bloom and disrupted fruit set
• The precipitation season ending June 30 ran more than a third above normal
• Cool, cloudy conditions delayed vine development by several weeks at the start of the season
• Chuck Wagner reported the crop cut roughly in half by poor set, with his own yields at 0.5 to 3.5 tons per acre
• Shatter was highly site-dependent, cutting some projected crops by more than 30 percent and sparing others entirely
• Few high-heat events all season, with growers opening canopies to chase sunlight and air movement

Harvest for the first sparkling-wine varieties began August 29, which NVV called the latest start in anyone's memory. From there the calendar only stretched further. Wine Spectator reported that harvest dragged on into November, bedeviled by rain and rot. October rain caused further delays and triggered the onset of botrytis in many vineyards. Wagner described the weather as like Europe and flew in a French consultant for advice on managing the crop under those conditions. Botrytis spread through Napa Cabernet vineyards to the point that some grapes were left on the ground, though no one made Cabernet from botrytis-affected fruit. Wagner's summary of quality was that it ranged widely, one vineyard fine and the next a failure. The Napa Valley Register's October 6 report caught the valley mid-scramble. Rain that week arrived before many growers were ready to pick a crop that was already running late, although most white grapes, the most vulnerable to rain, had already come in. In the Diamond Mountain District, Dawnine Dyer of Dyer Vineyards reported Malbec and Merlot coming in ahead of the rain at 24 to 25 Brix with Cabernet still about two weeks out, and noted that because the rain was cold, damage was expected to be minimal. P.J. Alviso of Duckhorn Vineyards and Paraduxx in St. Helena said simply that they had picked everything that was ready in the lead-up to that week's rains. On Spring Mountain, Stuart Smith of Smith-Madrone had finished most whites but had Pinot Noir as his only harvested red, with the rain stopping work for the week, and remarked that the year seemed like a repeat of 2009 and 2010. Thomas Brown, who makes wine at Rivers-Marie and for Schrader among others, told Wine Spectator the logic of the year: if you start late, you finish late, and with the smallest Cabernet crop most of them had ever seen they expected ripening to speed along, but again that was not the case.

• First sparkling-wine picking began August 29, the latest start in anyone's memory per NVV
• October rain triggered the onset of botrytis in many vineyards and pushed harvest into November
• Chuck Wagner compared the weather to Europe and brought in a French consultant to manage the crop
• Some botrytis-affected Cabernet was left on the ground; none was made into wine
• Diamond Mountain: Malbec and Merlot in at 24 to 25 Brix ahead of the rain, Cabernet still two weeks out, cold rain expected to do minimal damage
• Spring Mountain: Stuart Smith had only Pinot Noir picked among the reds when rain halted work in early October
• Thomas Brown noted that the very small Cabernet crop did not speed ripening as expected

Not everything in 2011 suffered from the cool. The whites and the sparkling base wines, which do not need the heat that Cabernet Sauvignon was missing, came out of the season well. Cameron Perry, winemaker at Chateau Montelena, told NVV that the mild, steady summer lacked significant temperature spikes and gave uniformly ripe Chardonnay with zesty green apple and concentrated melon notes, and called 2011 unequivocally successful for a cooler-vintage Chardonnay style. Keith Hoch at Schramsberg called it one of the best years for Pinot Noir they could remember for sparkling wine, with high-acid Chardonnay alongside it. Jon Ruel of Trefethen Family Vineyards in the Oak Knoll District, marking the family's 44th harvest, described the season as stressful and exhausting, with delayed ripening from the cool spring and summer pushing harvest back and the rain compounding it, but reported that the Riesling and Chardonnay lots finished dry and tasted fantastic despite lower sugars than some had expected. In Carneros, Jerome Chery of Saintsbury reported Pinot Noir harvest completed in mid-October. NVV also used the year to put the harvest on camera, running a #harvestNV feed, a season-long video series by filmmaker Bret Lyman and a week-long Harvest Live streaming series during the week of October 17 with vintners narrating conditions as they happened.

• Chateau Montelena's Cameron Perry reported uniformly ripe Chardonnay and called 2011 unequivocally successful for a cooler-vintage style
• Schramsberg's Keith Hoch called it one of the best Pinot Noir years they could remember for sparkling wine, with high-acid Chardonnay
• Trefethen's Jon Ruel described a stressful, exhausting season whose Riesling and Chardonnay lots finished dry and tasted excellent
• Saintsbury completed its Carneros Pinot Noir harvest in mid-October
• NVV documented the season live with a #harvestNV feed and a Harvest Live streaming series during the week of October 17