Amador County’s Wine Grape Growers Association president Jess Gibson indicated that final figures will not be available for another 3-4 months, but the Amador County yield is expected to be 10-20% less than the usual 10,000-11,000 tons. He said that zinfandel grapes have made a strong comeback this year, and the quality of the harvest should be better for all varietals than recent harvests. Gibson also stated that since most vineyards in Amador are dry farmed, the dry winter and cool summer contributed to the slower ripening -- which is expected to improve the quality of the wine.

Although the sugar content of the grapes reached preferred levels for wine production, some grapes are still not ripe enough to bring out all their flavor. When asked how rains may affect this late harvest, Gibson said he would expect the harvest to be pushed up in most vineyards to prevent the potential of “bunch rot” fungus that can adversely affect the flavor of the wine. This month’s Big Crush wine festival added more pressure to the already busy vineyard activities – but a bonus to event goers since the harvest was still underway and visitors were able to see all phases of the harvest. Jamie Lubenko of Amador Vintners Association said this year’s Big Crush brought an estimated 4000-5000 attendees.