Water Into California Wine: Is This 2023 Vintage the Best Of The Decade?
California wine regions were pummeled by wild weather spouting atmospheric rivers drenching us in the winter of 2022-2023. The big question all year has been, ‘What affect will that water have on the vines, grape and final wine product for the 2023 vintage?’
This last winter saw record rainfall. Empty lakes quickly filled to the brim. An ancient Tulare County lake gushed back into existence. Fear of flooding from heavy snowpack melt mesmerized the state’s residents.
This vintage had plenty of sunshine and water. To winemakers it looks to create a great wine vintage. The wild winter of water let winemakers from around the state harvest the most ‘beautiful fruit’ they’ve seen in years.
But, they had to be patient when heavy rain postponed first bud break 30 days. And when a cooler than normal summer didn’t heat the ground, grapes took their time ripening.
From harvesting the previous year’s dry grown crop to harvesting water soaked crop this year, California winemakers had to switch gears, learn new skills and try new techniques. Most harvests around the state were 30 days late, creating shortages of harvest equipment, harvest labor and grape juice storage.
We polled California winemakers about their hopes for this vintage, for this vintage year of wine. From Paso to Sonoma to Lompoc to Gold Country winemakers are excited by this harvest.
Stuart Johnson, Kendric Vineyards (Shenandoah Valley & Marin)
“It (the season) got a rip roaring start growing. It pushed the year back, everything was late, late, late. I just finished picking October 31. I am normally picking Syrah in the beginning of October. I was picking Pinot Noir in October instead. When we went to pick there was tonnage out there that I didn’t even know what to do with, all that juice. It should be a great wine. For me, everything points to a great year.”
Derek Sanchez, Corkwood Cellars (Lodi)
“Really, two things. With all the early spring rains it really pushed back our bud break, so it delayed our whole ripening year in growing. The soil profile was full of water, it really let the vine grow. We had a really great set this year. The grapes know. Our vineyard is over 100 years old and their roots are down really deep.
| “They’re old grandpas and they know what kind of year it’s going to be. In drought years they don’t put out as much fruit, they hold back a little bit. This year they weren’t afraid to (push fruit) with those really deep roots.” –Derek Sanchez |
They’re old grandpas and they know what kind of year it’s going to be. In drought years they don’t put out as much fruit, they hold back a little bit. This year they weren’t afraid to (push fruit) with those really deep roots. So even in the summer when the soil starts drying out they have those deep roots that are still getting water down there.
And not only did it benefit us this year with more foliage and more flavor, it’s probably going to help us out next year. We’ll have better fruit fertility. We should have pretty decent crop next year. 2023 wine is going to be excellent quality. Growers who were able to get all of their fruit ripe (and harvest) will have excellent quality. We have excellent ripeness this year. I’ve already tasted the wine. They have a lot of color in them and a lot of tannin . It should be wonderful.”
Michael Schriefer, Fest Wine Company (Sonoma)
“The rain really helped to bring the wines back into shape from the years of drought in 2021 & 2022. It gave us a long and even growing season without any influences from major heat waves that could have interrupted the growing season. I think 2023 is going to be a great year.”
Bryan Babcock, Babcock Winery (Lompoc – Santa Barbara)
“After being in a period of drought the place was looking pretty sorry, really dry. Lake Cachuma was empty. All of a sudden we received 30”+ of rain in Santa Barbara County. And it just refreshed the entire environment. The ground is all of a sudden saturated with moisture and every oak tree in the county was happy. Every grapevine was happy.
| “Now in the case of early-season ripening grapes like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, most of the grape I brought in was glorious.” –Bryan Babcock |
In conjunction with the rain that continued well into the spring we were continually rained upon and wet probably until April. And if even if it wasn’t raining 3 inches, it was still cold
The Pinot Noir harvest that we normally start in August, a lot of it wasn’t picked until October. The late-season varieties, Grenache for example, which we would normally see coming in late October, a lot of that stuff was pushed back well into November. Now in the case of early-season ripening grapes like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, most of the grape I brought in was glorious.
But I don’t think the late-season benefited everybody. I think the early-season grapes are spectacular and the late-season grapes, well, just depends on the variety and the vineyard as to whether it was as ripe as you wanted.”
Scott Harvey, Scott Harvey Wines (Shenandoah Valley)
“Our Amador bud break this year was about three weeks late due to a wet cold winter and cold spring. So, harvest is about three weeks later than usual. No big heat spikes during the growing season. Amador is a warmer region than Napa so a cool growing season allows the whites to ripen further into the cooler months of fall which benefits the wine.
| “So far we find the whites exceptional. Good, ripe but not over ripe flavors with moderate alcohols and good acid balance.” –Scott Harvey |
So far we find the whites exceptional. Good, ripe but not over ripe flavors with moderate alcohols and good acid balance. The Rose is the same for the same reason. I say the best reds in Amador are made after the first rain. The cool growing season with rain 1-1/2 weeks ago is shaping up to produce some exceptional wines of maturity with good color and flavor. “
Jordan Crabtree, El Vinero Wines (Orcutt-Santa Maria Valley)
“The moist soil kept us out of the field for about a month, so the roots took a little longer to get going, to warm up. Everything this year was behind schedule and then getting into the growing season with all the rainfall there’s a lot more vigor, there is a lot more canopy, more leaves, more shoots more clusters which is a good thing for crop load but it also calls for more work.
| “They’re calling 2021 a vintage of a lifetime and I’d say this is nipping on its heels. Especially for Syrah and I’m lucky enough I made four different Syrahs this year.” – Jordan Crabtree |
So, more canopy management, more trimming more suckering, more weed control, more fruit thinning. All in all it’s been a very late year. But also a cool vintage that’s turning out to be really good so far. They’re calling 2021 a vintage of a lifetime and I’d say this is nipping on its heels. Especially for Syrah and I’m lucky enough I made four different Syrahs this year. Syrah is the rock star 2023 for sure.”
Raymond Smith, Indigene Cellars (Paso Robles)
“The 2023 vintages of white wine will be superior because of all the winter rain and California’s cool summer. It didn’t stay hot this year. The ground didn’t stay warm enough to achieve 24 brixs for making good red wine (as of October 11.) “
Paul Hoover, Still Waters Winery (Paso Robles)
“The biggest scores I’ve ever achieved on wine in contests like Wine Spectator have been wines I didn’t do anything to. All I did was put in yeast and put it in a bottle. I think that’s this year.
| “When we kept the grapes hanging (on the vine) like this year, the wine will be pretty amazing.” –Paul Hoover |
All the local winemakers are talking about it. Every wine maker in Paso Robles you talk to, none of us have ever seen it to this degree. Some of the wines could be a little acidic, because we cannot take it out. When we kept the grapes hanging (on the vine) like this year, the wine will be pretty amazing.”
Water and sunshine are to California wine like the Greek’s Philia, Eros and Agape are to love. You need a lot of each.
Over the past couple years we’ve had little rain but plenty of sunshine in California. The lack of water stunted grape growth, shriveling yield. It did produce good wine though.
We’ll see how 2023 stands up to the ’20, ’21, ’22 vintages. All the winemakers we spoke with say the 2023 harvest will create a marvelous wine, the best in years.
What does the winter of 2023-2024 offer? The National Atmospheric Administration predicts an 80% chance of an El Nino weather pattern similar to last year. This means the Pacific Southwest is pummeled with rain while the Pacific Northwest is dry. Recent El Nino years were 2009–2010, 2014–2016 and 2018–2019. The last time we saw back-to-back El Ninos was 2002-2007.
| ‘Will we have back-to-back ‘Super Wine’ years? Is there another wet winter lurking off our Pacific Coast?’ |
Will we have back-to-back ‘Super Wine’ years? Is there another wet winter lurking off our Pacific Coast? Will we have an abundance of grape and thusly an abundance of great wine? Will extra wine push prices down because of winemakers competing to sell high quality vino to a static number of wine drinkers?
There are many stories for us to ponder next year, 2024.
Bill & Erin Hodge write about California Wine, the estates & winemakers producing them and educational information about Vino. Living in California Wine Country provides a front row seat to the places you want to visit the most here in the Golden State.
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