2018 Napa Valley Vintage

February 2018 was wet, and what followed was a long run of sunshine. The growing season began in late February with tiny buds emerging from dormant vines, a relatively late start, and spring stayed mild. Vines flowered uniformly and set even clusters, an extended flowering that Paul Goldberg of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers described as a very even bloom, followed by rapid veraison. For all the February rain, the stretch from January to May recorded only 0.61 inches, a very dry period measured against the same months in 2017 and 2019. Summer never got dramatic. Temperatures remained steady and warm throughout the growing season without any significant heat spikes, and the ripening period through early fall was void of extreme heat, which gave growers extended hang time and greater phenolic maturity. Domaine Carneros winemaker T.J. Evans put 2018 as cooler than 2011, widely regarded as the coolest vintage of the prior decade. The season did have its internal swings. Dan Petroski at Larkmead Vineyards recorded the first 20 days of August as the hottest on record at Larkmead and the last 11 days as the coolest, with September staying cool until the 8th, when a warming spell arrived alongside the start of red-grape harvest. Picking opened in mid-August, about a week later than 2017, with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier for sparkling wine, and other whites and still-wine grapes following in late August. Rain fell on October 2 and 3, the only mildly concerning hiccup of the season. By early October the majority of red varieties were ripening and coming in. The finish stretched out. Consultant and winemaker Jeff Ames, of Rudius and Tor, finished on October 29, two to three weeks later than normal, and other winemakers did not wrap until the first week of November. Chateau Montelena in Calistoga had picked an estimated 95 percent of its tonnage by the week of the last harvest report, Trefethen in the Oak Knoll District was wrapping up after starting in late August, Honig in Rutherford expected to finish Cabernet by the end of the following week while holding botrytis-affected Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc until mid-December, and several Diamond Mountain and Spring Mountain District vineyards expected to pick into November.

• Abundant February rain, then sustained sunshine and a mild spring with a relatively late bud break
• Very even bloom producing uniform clusters, followed by rapid veraison
• Steady, warm temperatures with no significant heat spikes; the ripening period through early fall was void of extreme heat
• Larkmead recorded its hottest-ever first 20 days of August and its coolest last 11 days of the month
• Rain on October 2 and 3 was the season's only mildly concerning weather event
• Harvest opened mid-August for sparkling wine and ran to late October or the first week of November, two to three weeks later than normal for some

The other story of 2018 was volume. Napa Valley Vintners and the Napa Valley Grapegrowers reported strong yields broadly, with Napa Valley Vintners noting a 20 to 30 percent increase over average crop volumes. Yields overall came much closer to normal averages than the drought-reduced crops of the several preceding vintages. The mechanism was cluster weight rather than cluster count. Consultant Daniel Ricciato, working with Thomas Rivers Brown, put typical average Cabernet cluster weight around 0.25 pounds and found 2018 clusters clocking in around 0.5 to 0.6 pounds, with some crop loads running up to 40 percent above average even after aggressive thinning. The pattern held across appellations. Volker Eisele Family Estate in the Chiles Valley District reported higher than average yields, Hyde Vineyards in Carneros reported high yields across the board, and Farella Vineyards in Coombsville put its crop about 25 percent over normal. On Atlas Peak, hit hard by the 2017 wildfires, grower Gordon Waggoner of Acumen Wines called 2018 a Phoenix-like vintage, with yields up almost 20 percent on average. Winemakers repeatedly reached for 2012 as the benchmark comparison for 2018, citing a similarly mild spring and summer and an extended growing season that delivered on both quality and quantity.

• Napa Valley Vintners noted a 20 to 30 percent increase over average crop volumes
• Cabernet cluster weights ran around 0.5 to 0.6 pounds against a typical average near 0.25 pounds, with some crop loads up to 40 percent above average despite aggressive thinning
• Chiles Valley District, Carneros and Coombsville all reported above-average yields, with Farella Vineyards about 25 percent over normal
• Atlas Peak yields rose almost 20 percent on average after the 2017 fires, which grower Gordon Waggoner called a Phoenix-like vintage
• Winemakers repeatedly compared 2018 to 2012 for its mild season, extended hang and combination of quality and quantity

2018 brought more fires to California, including deadly blazes in Butte County to the north and Ventura to the south, but Napa itself was largely spared during harvest. The one lasting mark was indirect and local. Smoke carried by the Mendocino Complex Fire was later identified in a small number of 2018 wines from Atlas Peak and parts of Howell Mountain, according to The Wine Independent's retrospective tasting notes. This was a localized finding rather than a valley-wide problem, and it did not shape the vintage the way the October 2017 fires shaped the year before.

• California saw significant wildfires in 2018, including in Butte County and Ventura, but Napa was largely spared during harvest
• Smoke carried by the Mendocino Complex Fire was later linked to taint in a small number of wines from Atlas Peak and parts of Howell Mountain
• The finding was localized and site-specific rather than valley-wide