As July turns to August, Napa Valley’s winemakers, vineyard managers, and seasonal workers usually hope to squeeze a few more weeks out of summer before it’s all hands on deck for harvest. Not this year. The mass mobilisation to pick fruit has already begun in earnest. While this year’s weather isn’t as severe as 2023’s—an extended “heat dome” slowed down grape maturation and ripening to delay last summer’s harvest—2024’s rainy winter and scorching July sped up ripening across the valley and is leading to the earliest harvest in a decade at many vineyards. In a season that has been blessedly devoid of other major weather occurrences or large-scale wildfires, Napa Valley agricultural teams began bringing in fruit on 5 August.
The grapes that produce sparkling wines are usually among the earliest harvested to maintain the highest levels of acidity and freshness. At Domaine Chandon in Yountville, director of winemaking Pauline Lhote expected to start picking on 2 August but pushed back until 7 August for Chardonnay and began harvesting Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier the following day. This is Chandon’s 51st vintage and Lhote’s 19th since she arrived in Napa from Champagne, and she reminds us that between frost, fire, rain, and drought, no two seasons are alike. The earliest she has picked were the back-to-back vintages of 2014 and 2015—when she brought in grapes in late July—making the 2024 harvest the earliest in the last nine years.
A little farther south, Remi Cohen, CEO of sparkling wine house Domaine Carneros, tells Robb Report that she expects to begin bringing in her Chardonnay and Pinot Noir this week. She has been visiting estate blocks on both the Sonoma and Napa sides of the AVA with her technical team and winemakers, and she states that July’s heat generated smaller berries than usual, which is not as bad as it sounds. “This is great since we have a nice set and solid cluster counts and are therefore expecting an average or slightly above average yield; the small berries will produce concentrated wines,” she says. “We are very excited about this harvest and are optimistic about the quality.”
Careful work in the vineyards throughout the season can protect sensitive grapes from severe heat, which occurs more frequently because of climate change and unstable weather patterns. Hugh Davies, second-generation proprietor of Schramsberg Vineyards in Calistoga, produces sparkling wine from grapes grown in Carneros, Sonoma Coast, Anderson Valley, and Marin County. Nighttime temperatures in the 50s and 60s helped to offset daytime conditions that often saw the mercury rising into the 90s and low 100s, but that diurnal swing alone wouldn’t be enough without human intervention. “We have managed larger leaf canopies, installed more shade cloth, and provided modest drip irrigation to keep vines happy through ripening,” Davies says.
While intense heat events are always a threat and could eventually make growing wine grapes nearly impossible in many parts of the world, soaring temperatures that might destroy an entire season’s crop can be a benefit if they occur in short bursts and at the right time. Christopher Hyde, who has been managing harvests at his family’s Hyde Vineyard in Carneros since 2010, expects to start picking sparkling wine grapes the last week of August and his Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for still wine starting the first week of September. “Fortunately for us, the extreme heat event that we experienced was earlier in the season this year, and the vines were able to bounce back,” he tells Robb Report.
Kurtis Ogasawara, director of winemaking at Robert Mondavi Winery, is excited to begin collecting grapes, which he anticipates starting around 19 August with his Oakville or Stags Leap District estate vineyard Sauvignon Blanc. This variety is usually among the first grapes to be picked for dry wine. While some of his sites experienced “sunburn,” he points out that ample winter rain led to fully developed leaf canopies that offered shelter from the harsh sun and excessive heat.
Lhote, like other winemakers we’ve spoken too, see a lot of promise in this year’s vintage. “Galileo’s famous quote ‘Wine is sunlight, held together by water’ perfectly sums up the 2024 Napa growing season,” she says. “Plentiful water and sunshine are a classic recipe for exceptional California sparkling wines, and we had both in abundance this year.” While we often grow tired of the hyperbole that surrounds each and every growing season regardless of its otherwise apparent attributes, after following the season closely and being in touch with many winemakers, we believe Lhote is completely accurate in her assessment: “While 2023 certainly set a high bar with its slow ripening and memorable quality, I think the 2024 vintage is one to watch.” Releases on these wines and the later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon (which just underwent veraison, or colour change) are a few years out, but mark your calendars and keep an eye on Napa 2024.
