2008: The 'Limited Vintage' Syrah

Our 2008 vintage began last spring with killing frosts. Two weeks later, extreme heat waves.

The first reports of killing weather trickled out of Napa and Sonoma, where many vineyards lost over 30% of their spring growth and potential crop. Ho, we thought, at least we’re safe. But two weeks later, Paso was also visited by extreme cold, with a heat wave to follow. Although the damage in Paso Robles was not as widespread as to the north, many crops were affected by the frost. Our syrah crop was reduced by about 30%—and that is just the start of this season’s saga.

If spring weather is cool, an occasional frost does very little damage, because fewer fruitful buds have developed. But in a spring with fluctuating warm and freezing weather, more fruitful buds and canes have already started their spring growth and will be burned off by freezing temperatures. Some varieties are picky about where they will push fruitful canes out. Zinfandel is not picky and will push fruitful canes out of basal buds and even overlooked wood from the last pruning.

May followed with heat waves in the 90’s to low 100’s. While a May spike is not unheard of, heat waves continued into June, which is very unusual. Early waves of heat affect berry development—first, the heat may cause the flowers to drop off before the berries are fertilized, resulting in half-fertilized clusters; and secondly it impacts the budding plant’s health and the amount of sugar in the vine for developing berries, resulting in very small berries. In the early season, the vine is pushing outward and it needs a steady supply of moisture and nutrients in order to provide carbohydrates for new shoots, leaves, flowers and berries. By the time August heat arrives the plant is well established and accustomed to steadily warming temperatures. An awkward spring, with vascillating cool and hot temperatures, encourages rapid growth and then cuts off the carb supply to support it. This may result in leaves drying off early and underdeveloped clusters and berries. Our headpruned zinfandel has less leaf mass, shorter canes and shoots, and it’s "hut" style leaf canopy shades the roots and protects much of the vine from hot winds and transpiration loss. The syrah, which is leggier and more vigorous, was more affected by the swings in temperature.

A partially fertilized cluster is referred to as ‘hens and chicks.’ The cluster will have fully developed berries side by side with small, hard green beads or simply dead ends where the flower/berry fell off. We are seeing some of these clusters in the syrah (left), although not as much as we did after the very wet 2006 vintage, when spring rainstorms interfered with pollination and fruit set. So far, so good. The syrah was reduced but the vines were balanced, and the zinfandel was looking pretty much impervious.

Even on our ridgetop location with brisk ocean breezes, we occasionally experienced days of no wind and ultra-warm temperatures. In order to protect the health of the syrah vines, we would give each vine about 1 gallon of water just before a predicted heat spike, to keep the roots cool and the vine hydrated. Although temperatures were never over 92 degrees here (mid-afternoon), that’s still hot enough that the vines’ metabolism slows in order to conserve water. We also checked the crop load to make sure the vines weren’t overloaded (not much of an issue after the frosts, unfortunately).

As a warm fall descends upon us, we’re experiencing some pest pressure. Birds and small critters seem hard-pressed for food and moisture. Of the two vineyard lots, headpruned zinfandel and syrah, which do they prefer? The syrah, of course. Our syrah vineyard, Three Nuts, has three English walnut trees which provide shade and shelter, so our desperate wildlife have been tearing holes in the fence or finding other ways to get in. A large flock of turkeys visit regularly, and when Rebel chases them away from her beloved crabapples, she generally manages to chase them into the syrah.

So the bottom line for 2008 is: the zinfandel looks great—small dark clusters as usual, full berries and balanced clusters. Our ‘Limited Vintage’ syrah (right) has small, dark berries that should produce some inky, powerful wine.