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“The Cabernet is in near-perfect condition as we head into the second half of September, and we are contemplating an early finish to what promises to be a spectacular vintage,” so says Kristin Belair, winemaker of Napa Valley’s Honig Winery. There are still a number of meteorological events (i.e. rain, cold etc.) that could put a damper, no pun intended, to this otherwise exceptional vintage. As a whole, the winemaking community in Napa Valley is very excited about the growing season up this point, and with the memories of the two more difficult 2010 and 2011 still lingering, their thoughts are of the very successful 2012 and 2013 vintages. 2012 is being lauded as a classic vintage in Napa Valley with perfectly ripened grapes that possess a wonderful balance of acids and sugar. What is especially gratifying to the many talented winemakers in Napa, is the return to normal quantities of harvested fruit. In 2013, the yields at harvest were also in the normal range, and the harvest was actually completed a couple of weeks earlier than in past decades. The full story of 2013 is yet to be told. It does hold much promise and could potentially produce very high quality wines, only time will tell.

Nearly ripe Cabernet Sauvignon at Napa Valleys' Stags Leap Wine Cellars.

In 2014, much of the valley’s Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, which was started in early to mid-August, is now complete, with Merlot, Chardonnay, Zinfandel closely nearing the end of their harvest. Cabernet Sauvignon is in full swing throughout the rest of Napa Valley, and by all accounts, this vintage potentially will be as heralded as 2012. Hopefully what I said earlier about the possibility of rain at this point of the season, which could damage the valleys pride n’ joy Cabernet Sauvignon, doesn’t occur…remember 1998? How ironic that I am worrying about the chance of rain, when California has been in near drought conditions for more than two years. That speaks to the individual terroir that you will find in the state's (country's) most famous wine region. We will just have to hold our breath and hope that nothing bad happens from now until the all the Cab is in, because everything about California wines seems to be better when Napa Valley has one of its stellar vintages.

Ken Amendola, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits wine supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekena

Not a barrel of fun in a Napa winery.

Napa Valley--or all of California for that matter--is one of the most beautiful wine growing regions in the world. Which is why it also attracts more visitors than most any major wine producing area on Earth. On most any day of the year and especially in the late summer and early fall, thousands of wine loving tourists, wine professionals or those that are just curious flock to Northern California to admire and sample some the very best wines in the world. This is pretty much how the day went last Saturday, August 23. The kind of day you would come to expect in Napa Valley, bright sunshine, gentle breeze, all the tasting rooms were bustling with wine geeks, all was good. But as the saying goes, all good things come to and end. And it did, because at approximately 2:00 on Sunday morning a magnitude 6 earthquake rocked the wine country of Northern California. The quake caused over $1,000,000,000 worth of damage and injured more than 100 people, but thankfully no deaths were directly attributed to the quake. This was the largest quake to hit the Bay area since 1989. Those of you that are baseball fans are sure to remember the World Series game between the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants that was postponed 10 days due to that crippling earthquake.

Some of the lost wine bottles in Napa Valley's iconic Silver Oak Winery.

The quake last week didn’t affect any baseball games, but it did do some major league damage to the city of Napa. Dozens of buildings were extensively damaged and a number of fires were ignited, but again, no deaths. Many retail stores did lose significant amounts of inventory, most significantly the thousands of broken bottles in wine shops. It will take more time to evaluate all the cracked and crumbled buildings, but it could have been much worse, especially in the vineyards. Many of Napa Valley’s wineries did sustain some bumps and bruises, mostly ruptured tanks and barrels (thankfully mostly empty) rolling free, wineries whose bottles in their library of older vintages were sadly lost. Ultimately the earthquake caused a lot of mess and disruption and it was a terrible thing, but had the earthquake occurred at the end of October or November instead of August, the loss of wine would have been catastrophic. At the end of October most of the vineyards would have been picked, all the tanks would have been filled and many with Napa Valley’s lifeblood, Cabernet Sauvignon. As it was the red wine barrels were mostly empty, still a lot of money in expensive oak barrels, but an empty busted barrel is always better than a full barrel!

One of the many sad-looking retail wine employees assessing the damage the morning after the earthquake.

So will the Earth shaking that happened last Sunday morning show any effect on your retail wine shelves, hard to say, but in a business that shows profit in single digit percentages ?? Who knows…

Ken Amendola, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits wine supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekena

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