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Weather & Climate

A collection of 289 posts

A welcome dose of late spring rain

It has been a dry winter. After record low rainfall in December, we saw a brief break when one wet weekend in January dumped nearly 5 inches of rain on us. Then we returned to a weather pattern dominated by high pressure over the eastern Pacific, and the next two

A Closer Look at Paso Robles' Microclimates

This morning, I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Adelaida Cellars' Terry Culton, Eberle Winery's Ben Mayo, and Victor Hugo Winery's Vic Roberts for an audience of fifteen or so visiting Canadian journalists and members of the Wine Institute. Our topic was

Anticipating a Long-Awaited Change to Wetter Weather

After what seems like an endless stretch of cold, clear nights and sunny, mild days we're on track for something a little more wintery. Nearly two months after our last real rain, the forecast predicts a decisive change in the weather pattern later this week. Three storm systems

A Dry (but Picturesque) Beginning to the 2011-2012 Winter

In the post The unwelcome implications of another la nina winter for Paso Robles vineyards from early December, I worried that our winter would be cold and perhaps dry, neither of which are desirable for the 2012 vintage. It appears that, at least so far, it has been even drier,

The unwelcome implications of another la nina winter for Paso Robles vineyards

One of the benefits of being a member of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance is their commissioned agricultural forecast, which we receive each day. Normally this covers the recent weather and then looks forward both short and medium-term, and it's one of the tools we use to

The sun sets on the 2011 Harvest, light in yields but intense in character

OK, I guess I didn't mean that literally, though that was the last two bins of our estate Mourvedre coming in from the vineyard under the setting sun and rising moon yesterday evening. But our last grapes are coming in today, both off our estate (where we'

Harvest, Weeks of October 10th and 17th: Full Speed Ahead as Frosty Weather Looms

We've made an amazing amount of progress over the last couple of weeks. The conditions have been perfect, with an average high temperature of 83 (range 72-91) and an average low temperature of 50 (range 44-55). We've had ample sun every day. These conditions have meant

Why Paso Robles will make California's best wines in 2011

Last Thursday, as I was driving down to a couple of events in Los Angeles, I received an email (clearly addressed to a larger distribution list) from Tim Fish of the Wine Spectator. Tim was soliciting photos of inundated vineyards, rotted grape clusters or other signs of damage from the

Harvest, Weeks of September 26th and October 3rd: Things Ramp Up and then Pause for Rain

After a slow start to harvest, the accumulation of warm days produced a rush at the end of September. Between September 26th and October 4th, we harvested 112 tons of fruit, including most of what will go into our Patelin Blanc (mostly Viognier and Grenache Blanc) and perhaps half of

Harvest, Weeks of September 12th and 19th: A Quiet Beginning

As is typically the case, the 2011 harvest began quietly, with a few grapes trickling in over the first week or so before picking up steam. The first grapes of the season arrived on Thursday, September 15th: about three tons of mostly Viognier (there was a little Roussanne mixed in)