Albemarle Terroir

For more discussion of the 2010 Virginia growing season weather and it’s effect,  see this article. And another.

We’re going to take a culinary diversion.    I make a butternut squash lasagna 6-10 times per year that is just fantastic.      It turns out that butternut squash seeds from my compost pile came up in my garden this year and we decided to let grow.   Now, in late August,  we have a crop [...]

A recent C-Ville Magazine has a nice short article on how the Albemarle drought and warm summer affected local wine growers.     The hot dry summer resulted in harvest starting as much as 3 week early. The reduced amount of water reduces yields because the vines can’t fill the grapes as much as normal. [...]

2010 is not 2009.   2009 Bordeaux wines were released earlier in 2010 with much fanfare because of the near perfect climate conditions during the 2009 season.   As shown below,   the 2010 Bordeaux growing season is shaping up to be significantly cooler than 2009.   The Growing Degree Days (blue line) for 2010 [...]

I had work off on Friday and decided to head over to Sugarleaf Vineyards.  I’d been reading about it for over year and hand not had the chance to try their wines.   Driving up to the vineyard is an experience in itself but once there you are ensconced in a beautiful Albemarle County rolling [...]

On December 19, 2009 it snowed in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.   The relation to wine?  None.  But I had to write about this (I’m a meteorologist, after all).      The snow started on Friday the 18th at about 4:30 PM.   By  8 AM the next morning we had about 23 inches of [...]

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services recently released statistics showing the Grapes reached the top 20 by value in agricultural production.     The Cville Weekly reports that in 2008 Albemarle County grape production increased 20%.    Unfortunately, I can’t find the original report referenced in the story.

Somehow a whole growing season passed without any Bordeaux climate updates.   Here it is. The climate is fairly unremarkable in terms of both temperature and precipitation.   The first graph shows the daily average temperature at the Bordeaux-Merignac airport.  With only one significantly warm period,  it’s safe to say the temperatures were rather average. [...]

Below I have prepared two graphs that detail the development of the 2009 Albemarle County Wine climate through the end of August 2009. Based on earlier posts on this blog regarding Bordeaux and California wine quality and climate, the Albemarle season is not shaping up to be great one.      The precipitation graph below [...]

I came across an article describing the effects of recent heat in Padthaway (Australia) wine quality. The last sentence is quite interesting:  “and the heat damage to the grapes means 2009 will not be one of the great years for wine quality.”   This and other recent readings suggest that a wine quality index must include [...]