DRINK

Last

Thursday afternoon I was flipping some magnificent rib eyes on the grill when I looked up to see a massive wall - like an enormous tidal wave of black and brown cloud - bearing down on me. The surrounding trees were whipping around like drunken hula dancers as branches started snapping and leaves mixed with walnuts flew through the air. The power line behind the house bounced and crackled in time with the gale-force wind blasting the region.

It was during dinner just a short while later as I sipped on an excellent Washington cabernet that I freaked. The storm was still raging and I immediately shifted focus and started fretting about this year's crop of grapes.

So far, 2013 has been a very hot year. Many of the locals I've talked with over this summer season say it's been a long time since they've experienced a summer this hot for this many weeks running. While the heat is great for grapes, when it is too hot for too long - above the 95f mark - the vines shut down, sliding into a dormancy slump, which slows or even halts the time-sensitive development of sugars, acids and overall ripening.

None of that matters an iota when a storm of the magnitude that ripped right through the heart of the Walla Walla Valley bears down with the full force of a bad Hollywood plot gone awry. I got on the phone early next morning expecting doom and gloom and a "well, there's always next yearhellip;" sigh of resolution. Instead I got this:

I called Trey Busch of Sleight of Hand Cellars to get a feel for the micro-situation - what was going on in his vineyards. Just a week earlier Trey had posted some sexy grape centerfold shots, with the fruit looking pleasingly plump, and already in the throes of veriason. Because Trey is one of the best hands-on vintners around, I figured it a good starting spot. We talked both pre, and post vineyards walk, and the fact that there was no damage at all was remarkable. "Did the storm actually pass over the vineyard?" I asked.

"Yeah - full force with the lightning, wind, rain hellip; everything" he replied. Trey's biggest concern was that some moisture might have been trapped inside some clusters without enough follow-up breeze to dry them out again. Otherwise he seemed pleased that the rain and ensuing cooler nights will allow Sleight of Hand to postpone harvest for another 10 to 12 days, allowing for better complexity and acidity to take hold. "The rain on the skins can dilute flavors a little but with the forecast for more warm, dry weather we'll be good" he concluded.

The next guy up was Ken Hart for the bigger picture. Ken has been managing many of the best vineyards in the Walla Walla area for over 25 years and knows every one of them as if they are his own children - some of them in fact are. Again - nothing. Sometimes, looking for a story that should be there and isn't is frustrating. Not that I want doom and gloom. I don't! But after the thrashing Dayton received I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Nothing, nada, zilch, zero - everything in each and every one of the vineyards that Ken had been through since 3 in the morning was fine. I started to wonder if maybe I had been beamed off to a different universe.

And then finally I got the bad news. I spoke last with Gordy Vinerri at Walla Walla Vintners. He had some leaves on the ground! Whew - I wasn't imagining things! At last - evidence that SOMETHING happened. I pushed further: "So were there leaves strewn everywhere, some clusters on the ground?" I prod­ded. Heavy silence. "No - just a few here and therehellip; we don't even need to clean up"hellip; more heavy silence , this time on my end. Really?

So that was the extent of the damage from arguably one of the most visually stunning storms I have ever witnessed. My guess is that 2013 may very well turn out to be one of the ripest and luscious vintages in memory. Cheers!