I blogged a month ago exactly about the challenges of harvesting during the remnants of a particularly nasty tropical storm. As I wrote then, the rain was great for soon-to-be-harvested vegetables, but not so much for grapes, which will give a far tastier wine if the sugar is allowed to concentrate a little. William Layton of Layton’s Chance said that ultimately, 2011′s wine would be okay. But wait, there’s more!
Dave McIntyre blogged a few weeks about the effect of the rain on the vintage. Lenn Thompson and Evan Dawson of New York Cork Report blog about the harvest faced by New York state wineries. (These are excellent wine writers, by the way; if don’t already, I recommend following them for their excellent coverage of local wine.) I’ve seen numerous other thoughts on the 2011 harvest via Twitter, from wine writers, winemakers, and wine enthusiasts alike.
But it turns out this isn’t just the case on the East Coast. This month’s Wine Spectator opens with “Harvest 2011 Begins as a Nailbiter” on page 13. Writers Mitch Frank and Augustus Ward discuss 2011′s effects on Europe and our West Coast, not even getting to the weather’s effect on other states or other regions around the world. (Then again, if you’re not familiar with it, Wine Spectator usually only features Europe, our West Coast, and Australia and New Zealand.) The difference in perspective is interesting, though, and proof that, foreign or domestic, winemakers face very similar challenges regardless of locale.
(Update: Several pages later in Wine Spectator, James Molesworth writes about the place of the loca-pour ideology within the locavore movement; he focuses on the Finger Lakes region of New York State, but makes the point that “It’s time for sommeliers and retailers to take notice and show more support for the support for the efforts of the growers.”)
What are your thoughts on 2011? Are you just going to hunker down with your 2010s and wait for 2012? Or do you think we’re playing a game of Chicken Little?
