2017 Napa Valley Vintage

The season opened with relief. Winter rains ended five years of drought, and the water in the soil led to vigorous growth in the vines and their canopies. Then came heat. June had five days at 105 degrees, and a near-record spike in early September took downtown St. Helena to 113 degrees. Russell Bevan said 2017 had more days over 107 degrees than any vintage in the last 50 years. Growers used shade cloth, misters and sprinklers to keep grapes cool on the hot days. Bevan ran overhead sprinklers for 30 minutes on every block, every two hours, on days hotter than 98 degrees, and sugars in his vineyards accumulated slowly, from 22.9 to 26.2, across the six weeks from September 1 to October 15. Andy Beckstoffer picked a lot of grapes at 25 to 26 Brix, against the usual 27 to 28, and Cabernet clusters were looser with smaller berries after the Labor Day heat. About 90 percent of the grapes and 75 percent of the valley's Cabernet Sauvignon had been picked by the time the fires began late on Sunday, October 8. The remaining grapes were all Cabernet Sauvignon, which has a tougher skin than other varieties and can resist damage, even from smoke. In Oakville, the Silverado Trail stayed closed, with residents along it and in the eastern hills under evacuation, until late on Thursday, October 12. Harvest reports from that week varied by site. O'Shaughnessy Estate on Howell Mountain expected to finish before the end of the week. Smith-Madrone in the Spring Mountain District expected harvest to continue for at least another week or more, mostly with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Bell Wine Cellars in Yountville brought in the majority of its Cabernet that week. Trefethen in the Oak Knoll District had picked nearly 90 percent of its grapes before the fires. At Hyde Vineyards in Carneros, harvest was winding up for many.

• Winter rains ended a five-year drought, leaving soil moisture that drove vigorous vine and canopy growth
• Five days at 105 degrees in June, and a near-record early-September spike at 113 degrees in downtown St. Helena
• Growers used overhead sprinklers, misters and shade cloth; Russell Bevan ran sprinklers 30 minutes every two hours above 98 degrees
• Sugars rose slowly under sprinkler cooling, from 22.9 to 26.2 between September 1 and October 15 in Bevan's vineyards
• Andy Beckstoffer picked a lot of grapes at 25 to 26 Brix rather than the usual 27 to 28
• About 90 percent of the grapes and 75 percent of the Cabernet Sauvignon were picked before the fires began on October 8
• In Oakville, the Silverado Trail stayed closed and the eastern hills stayed under evacuation until late on October 12

On the night of Sunday, October 8, 2017, the Atlas Fire, the Nuns Fire (a combination of five fires on the west side of Napa Valley and the east side of Sonoma and Santa Rosa) and the Tubbs Fire west of Calistoga and north of Santa Rosa began burning across Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Solano and Lake counties. As of October 18, Napa Valley Vintners had heard from 330 of its more than 530 member wineries. Forty-seven had direct fire damage, and a handful experienced significant property loss. Containment that day stood at 83 percent on the Atlas Fire, 80 percent on the Nuns Fire and 91 percent on the Tubbs Fire. Smoke was worse in the city of Napa than on the valley floor from Oakville and Rutherford to St. Helena, or on hillsides such as Pritchard Hill and Howell Mountain, where most of the valley's Cabernet Sauvignon is grown. Smoke from the Nuns Fire could easily be seen from the valley floor near Oakville over the weekend of October 14 and 15. Opus and others harvested by the light of the flaming hills above To Kalon at night. Saint Helena Winery had about 50 percent of its Pratt Avenue estate harvested before the fires and resumed picking on October 14, roughly four days after it had planned to begin on the rest of its estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The crop came in at normal Brix with very few raisins, partly due to overhead sprinklers on high-temperature days in September. Angwin on Howell Mountain stayed relatively clear and O'Shaughnessy Estate continued its harvest, and the Spring Mountain District escaped the fires and most of the smoke. Andy Beckstoffer said his crews delivered over 4,000 tons of grapes to over 130 wineries and that nobody rejected any grapes.

• Atlas, Nuns and Tubbs fires began the night of Sunday, October 8, 2017 across five counties
• As of October 18, Napa Valley Vintners had heard from 330 member wineries; 47 had direct fire damage and a handful had significant property loss
• Containment on October 18: Atlas 83 percent, Nuns 80 percent, Tubbs 91 percent
• Smoke was worse in the city of Napa than on the valley floor or the Cabernet hillsides at Pritchard Hill and Howell Mountain
• Saint Helena Winery resumed picking October 14, roughly four days after planned, with normal Brix and very few raisins
• Beckstoffer crews delivered over 4,000 tons of grapes to more than 130 wineries, with none rejected

As growers and vintners picked their Cabernet Sauvignon, they tested the grapes for smoke taint. A test on October 16, a week after the fires started, compared two clusters from one vineyard: one was bagged as picked, and the other was washed of dust and ash before bagging. Both went to ETS, a testing lab in St. Helena, and neither sample was smoke-tainted. Beckstoffer said there was not one bit of difference between the two in the test. Geoff Smith, who owns Blueline Vineyard off Dutch Henry Canyon Road, took samples from rows blasted with water and rows not blasted. Neither sample showed signs of smoke taint, and Smith said they got zero difference. Roy Piper tested his wine in the fermentation tank, and levels were way below any detectable levels. Grapes he picked on Pritchard Hill on October 17 came in at the lowest level the lab can measure. Timing mattered. In 2008, when fires and smoke also hit Napa Valley, the grapes were still green and pre-veraison, so the grapes and skins absorbed the smoke. In 2017 the grapes were post-veraison and their skins were hard, so the smoke did less damage. When grapegrowers and vintners gathered in St. Helena on November 2, 2017, their conclusion was that the heat of the growing season, not smoke, would define the vintage.

• A washed versus unwashed cluster test on October 16, sent to ETS in St. Helena, found neither sample smoke-tainted
• Geoff Smith of Blueline Vineyard found zero difference in smoke taint between water-blasted and non-blasted rows
• Roy Piper's fermentation-tank wine tested way below detectable levels, and grapes he picked on Pritchard Hill on October 17 came in at the lowest level the lab can measure
• Post-veraison hard skins in 2017 meant less smoke damage than the green, pre-veraison fruit of 2008