The regional reports for fall of the 2024 vintage follow, these reports were compiled and edited by Jason Burrus.
Northern Regional Report
Jason Burrus, Sunset Hills Vineyard
2024, for the second year in a row, saw above-average Brix across all varieties. In fact, 2024 Brix numbers exceeded those for 2023 through September 16. The vintage was also high-yielding. Sunset Hills Vineyard saw a 20% increase in yield compared to 2023. While we experienced drought conditions in 2023, drought didn’t set in until the beginning of August. In 2024, drought commenced much earlier, by the third week of June. Mild drought is largely beneficial in grape growing. Reduced fungal disease pressure means fewer sprays, mowing, and under-vine weed management. And during veraison drought means more sunlight and photosynthesis to foster Brix development and ripening in general. Sustained moderate drought encourages smaller and more concentrated berries which generally improves red winemaking. But white wines can suffer as lower cluster weight negatively affects yield, and enhanced ripeness is less of a goal since most white wine varieties ripen fully in any vintage. Elevated alcohol levels can be problematic as well for white wines.
The mature vines, which are not irrigated, did not exhibit any obvious signs of drought stress with the exception of Viognier, which saw the basal leaves turn yellow. While basal leaves are the most productive for sugar accumulation this wasn’t an issue for Viognier as our vines achieved their target Brix of 22.0, and this was achieved two weeks before their traditional harvest date. New plantings however did struggle with the drought even with irrigation or hand watering.
September 17 marked the first of ten days of rain. Wineries in the region had already harvested all of their white and rosé fruit well before this. Many wineries were in the process of harvesting their earlier-ripening reds like Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The impending rain caused some wineries to harvest all their fruit by the 17th. At Sunset Hills Vineyard we harvested 30% of our Merlot on September 16 and left the remainder of our reds to hang through the rain. Our red fruit are all Bordeaux varieties and Tannat, and we wouldn’t usually start the red harvest until the first week of October. We felt there was substantial ripening potential once the weather cleared up, and the fruit was in good enough condition to withstand some amount of rot pressure. The early Merlot harvest, the earliest ever since 2020, was a hedge against the risk of dilution and rotten fruit. And it provided us a data point to compare the outcomes of fruit harvested on widely-spaced harvest dates.
Harvest resumed on September 28 and continued through October 16. The timing of harvest was based on the advancement of rot. Even though the weather turned dry and sunny for the remainder of harvest (except for a few very small rain events) managing rot was our primary concern since we are limited in our choice of fungal disease sprays due to short pre-harvest intervals. By the time the fruit arrived at the crush pad rot didn’t turn out to be substantial due to aggressive sorting in the vineyard at harvest and the use of technology (optical sorting) at the winery. In fact, acetic acid levels in the finished wine are particularly low, averaging around 0.35 grams per liter after malolactic fermentation.
So, while delaying harvest until after ten days of rain turned out to be at least not harmful to the fruit, was there any benefit to it? As a matter of chemistry, the results are mixed. Tannat was harvested below pre-rain Brix values. This variety was the first to get harvested after the rains. Tannat berries suffer from skin degradation at late ripening stages and the rains exacerbated the issue so this became the priority to harvest. However, Tannat is naturally a high Brix, low pH variety and the dilution lowered the Brix from 25.0 to 24.0 – an acceptable sacrifice. One could even argue the dilution was beneficial to the wine. Merlot and Cabernet Franc were harvested at pre-rain Brix values after recovering from substantial dilution, though pH values were higher by about 0.2 units. The second pick of Merlot occurred on October 10, 24 days after the initial harvest. The finished wines were not blended and are aging separately. Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot were harvested at Brix levels far higher than their pre-rain values (23.0 vs. 21.8 Brix for Cabernet Sauvignon and 26.0/23.5 Brix for Petit Verdot), these varieties exceeded their 2023 Brix numbers at harvest.
In hindsight, these results are in line with what you would expect: late-ripening varieties benefited from the two weeks of ideal weather conditions in early October, and earlier-ripening varieties appeared to just lose their excess water and return to their pre-rain chemistry. However, at least with the Merlot where I can directly compare the effect of harvest date, it is obvious that despite similar chemistry the later-harvested fruit made superior wine compared to the earlier-harvested fruit. And I suspect this holds true for the Cabernet Franc as well. As for Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, the 2024 vintage gave us a data point to support letting the fruit hang for as long as the season allows.
Central Regional Report
Benoit Pineau, Pollak Vineyards
Climate
We left the “Grape Press summer report” at pre-veraison with an overall dry season and good bloom-fruit set. The season continued to be dry until a major rain event of 8.5 inches on August 9th. The temperature was moderately hot.
Closer to harvest, the weather was perfect for ripening with dry hot days and cool nights. Then, the hurricane season began and took over our sky from September 17th for 2 weeks totaling an impressive 19 inches of rain.
Physiological stage and related work
Up until the August rain, the ground was dry and the vines were thirsty. The Merlot acted dramatically and was showing every bit of his disappointment with the lack of water. The leaves were warm to the touch, closing, and droopy (even early morning). The vines restarted normal behavior after watering and/or the August major rain event.
The Cabernet Franc had a totally opposite behavior than the Merlot. It acted like a strong man not willing to show his emotions. It appeared fine with no signs of drought stress, until veraison arrived. Then, we could measure the consequences of the earlier lack of water with uneven ripening approaching harvest. Our lower block of Cabernet Franc acted better due to greater groundwater retention. The “much-needed” August rain sent the vines back to vegetative growth and we hedged for the last time of the season.
Fungal-Viral Pressure
The dry weather, especially Spring 2024, was key to our low mildew pressure. Also, this might have had an impact on the lower Pierce Disease symptoms noticed compared to the previous year. We believe that our insecticide program is starting to pay off in controlling our Leaf Roll Spread by mealybug.
Insect Pressure
The expected lantern flies arrived around harvest time. The adults started to crawl on our vines and lay their eggs on the end posts, especially behind the row tags. We did spray an insecticide hoping to decrease the population for a better start of the season 2025.
Vintage
We finished harvest before September 17th and the 2 weeks of downpour. Except for our Cabernet Sauvignon and some of our Cabernet Franc all the grapes were picked to our optimal maturation levels. This was due to the dry season; the vintage was approximately 2 weeks earlier than average. The later varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) were subject to a more aggressive sorting to eliminate the greener berries. Most of the lots harvested had great acid-sugar ratio and needed very little adjustments. It is worth noting that the sugar to alcohol conversion of the white varieties during alcoholic fermentation was unusually efficient. Concerning quantities, we achieved our targeted, except for the Viognier (see summer grapes press). Overall, we are very optimistic concerning the quality of our 2024 wines at Pollak Vineyards. The whites and Merlots being today’s highlights!
Southern Regional Report
Kevin Sutherland, Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards
We had a dry, hot summer and fall for the 2024 growing season, which can be both a blessing and a curse for grapevines. While the intense heat and sunlight can accelerate ripening, it can also lead to dehydration and sunburned grapes if not managed carefully. Leaf removal was adjusted and mowing and vineyard sprays were drastically reduced. While we irrigated heavily for the new block that was added, some of the replacement plants in the older blocks did struggle a bit.
Harvest was early for us on September 4th with Viognier. Followed by Chardonnay and then Merlot on September 22nd. Hurricane Helene was predicted to head our way the following week. We decided to let our Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot ride it out given the fact the chemistry could be a little better, and they both are planted on the steepest parts of the vineyard. That turned out to be the correct decision. Even though we received 7” of rain, they both enjoyed some warm sunny conditions for a few weeks following the hurricane and ripening continued nicely. Both were harvested in mid-October, with excellent flavors.
Our neighbors just to the south of us in North Carolina and Tennessee did not fare as well. Some of those mountain areas had rain totals that ranged from 14” to 30” during Helene. Those areas were totally devastated, roads, bridges and homes destroyed. The topsoil on bottom land farms removed. It will take years to rebuild, while some will never be the same.
Ultimately the 2024 growing season was one for the books. Berry weights were down, but they were concentrated, flavorful grapes. We are excited to see how this vintage matures!
Eastern Regional Report
Gonzolo Ortiz, Rustic Vintage
Here in the beautiful Northern Neck of Virginia our year was characterized by relatively mild temperatures and having two prolonged dry snaps.
We had no rain for 30-plus days in May into June and no rain for 45 days from late September through early November. July had nine inches of rain well spread out with 12 days above 90 degrees. August had seven inches spread out with six days over 90 degrees. September had about two and a half inches in the earlier part of the month without 90-degree days. No rain in October with about two inches in November and two inches so far in December. No 100-degree days on site this year. On site, we had nine nights from November 27 until December 7 with lows under 32 degrees which is uncommon this early.
Most of our vines are only in their second year, so the lack of rain stressed our young vines early in the year and again when going into dormancy. I am curious to see how mature vines with developed root systems will fare in similar dry conditions as our soils are well-draining but also deep. I did not hear of any hail events or of other complaints from other local grape growers. I saw some late-season powdery, but aside from that nothing unusual. On site, I was able to lime and cultivate the vineyards that needed lime, but only once soil moisture allowed.
The early cold snap is allowing me to more confidently begin pruning early as any tissue that is damaged is easier to identify earlier. I will double-prune the vines that I prune early to avoid trunk diseases, but start earlier to get things done. There is a lot of trellis work that will begin now that soil moisture allows and we look forward to the new year.