Saratoga's hillside vineyards brought in one of their smallest grape crops in memory this fall, but growers say what they did pick looks unusually good, according to a harvest report published Wednesday by the Los Gatan.
The damage started months before harvest. The newspaper's account traces it to an out-of-sync year: January was warm enough that vines never fully went dormant, so buds broke far earlier than normal, only to run into a cool, wet February. Heat returned in March, then April turned cool and wet again just as white grape varieties were flowering.
That timing caused what growers call shatter, when flowers fail to set fruit, leaving thin crops across the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Saratoga growers
Marty Mathis of Kathryn Kennedy Winery in Saratoga told the paper his white grapes came in far short. His estate albariño, a Saratoga godello and sauvignon blanc from the Imperial Vineyard on the shore of Lexington Reservoir, all made under his M. Mathis Winegrower label, had very low yields. White varieties flower earlier and took the brunt of the spring weather, the report said.
His estate cabernet was another story. "In all my 50 years of harvesting, I cannot recall seeing such perfect looking cabernet fruit," Mathis said.
Vineyard consultant Ken Swegles told the paper that yields from the Peter Martin Ray Vineyard in Saratoga were the lowest ever. By his account, the aligoté from Saratoga's Hawk Feather Vineyard turned out exceptionally well.