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Weather & Climate

A collection of 289 posts

Rain... finally!

We're in the middle of a true Pacific winter storm, with driving rain and 20-30mph winds. This is badly needed; we're coming off a winter with only about 35% of typical rainfall, and we've only had about two inches so far this year. This

A little reminder of why we're in California (and a look back at Vermont)

Many of you probably know that my dad's wine career started in the Northeast. He was born in Brooklyn, grew up in suburban New York, and moved back to Manhattan to work at his father's wine shop M. Lehmann. Even after my grandfather sold that shop

Grenache Harvest Photos

As we'd hoped, the rain from the end of last week was followed by cool, sunny and breezy weather, and the half-inch of rain that we got didn't have any negative impact on the hanging fruit. This week, we're bringing in the rest of

Harvest rain in Paso Robles

After several big harvest days this week (mostly Grenache, as well as the rest of the Syrah and the beginnings of the Mourvedre) we're taking a break for the first significant rain of the year to pass through. As of Friday afternoon, we'd already received about

Harvest, Week of September 24th

The weather in Paso Robles warmed up last week, and we started harvesting in earnest. We've brought in most of our Syrah, the first big chunk of Grenache, and are finishing up Grenache Blanc. Viognier and Marsanne are in. I'd estimate that last week, we brought

Harvest, Weeks of September 10th and 17th

2007's harvest got off to an early start, driven by a dry winter and resulting low yields, and spurred by the warmest stretch of the summer in mid-August. Since we've hit mid-September, though, it's cooled off here, with daytime highs in the 70s, marine

Harvest 2007 Begins!

The 2007 harvest is underway. As I've written about this year, we've had a relatively unusual year for weather, with a very cold, dry winter delaying the beginning of budbreak and flowering, and then a remarkably moderate summer, with few days over 100 and no extended

Cool climate? Hot Climate? Paso Robles is both.

There is an ongoing debate, being waged in the wine press and trade, as to the benefits of cool-climate viticulture. The evidence tends to support that wine grapes tend to do best at the coolest limit of their range, perhaps because there, the grapes stay on the vine longer than

The Greening of the Vineyard

Our rain is coming, later than we'd expected it, but no less welcome. This past weekend's storm dumped about 2 inches on the vineyard, and although we're still behind our typical winter's pace, the cover crops are vibrantly green, the creeks are

Winter Rain in Paso Robles

This winter, so far, has been cold and dry. We've had three consecutive weeks (ending this weekend) where temperatures dropped into the mid-20s or colder, including several nights down around 10. This is no problem for the vineyard, which benefits from being forced into total dormancy. But, the