We're getting a lot of calls and emails about the rain likely over the next couple of days. There's likely going to be rain Tue and Wed over a lot of our vineyards. Here's the poop on rain:
Whether or not rain is a problem depends on the grape, the canopy, the amount of rain and the subsequent weather... and luck. Thin-skinned grapes like pinot can be at risk. Also clusters that have berries packed very tight. That's because water can get in there and, under the right (wrong) conditions, help create an environment for nasty stuff like botrytis to start growing. Thicker-skinned grapes like cab or syrah tend not to be so much at risk, especially since their cluster morphology (structure) tends to be elongated with space between berries so water doesn't get stuck in there.
But even for stuff like tight-berried pinot, it's not necessarily a problem. If you have cool weather and wind that follow rain (and an open canopy that allows wind to get in there), then the grapes will likely dry themselves without much impact. That is what we're seeing now... a couple days of spotty rain followed by cool weather for a few days. Having said that, we are accelerating a few picks of pinot to get ahead of the rains and then pushing back some stuff like cab a few days.
Just a reminder that in a world of open source-based social networking environments it still rains.
