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We’re living in the land of Macro, Micro, Meso, and Canopy Climates. Do you know the differences?


THE


climates that exist in viticulture, you’ll have more knowl- edge


W affecting


about what’s the


fla-


vors of your wines, from vine to wine, as it were. Te cool- ing down of wine grapes each night, in wine


country,


produces exceptional wines of great balance, as they mature


BOUNTY


ith more under- standing of wine g r ap e s and the


OF SONOMA


from a tiny green berry to fully ripe fruit that’s ready to harvest wine. For all of the words that are used in writing


about a


vineyard’s climate terroir, there are significant differ- ences with each ex- ample. If you don’t have the luxury of a viticulture class close by, or you’re just too busy to at-


tend one, this is a good primer. Viticulture 101 brought some


COUNTY By Jo Diaz of Gyserville, CA. • jo@diaz-communications.com ~ Photo by Jo Diaz


interesting concepts to me, in- cluding that there’s a lot more than just microclimates, which we hear and read about all the time. Climatol- ogists rec- ognize that there are four lev- els of cli- mate that exist in vineyards, which are each de- p e n d ent on the size of the area that’s involved in defin- ing what’s what. I’ve added the aerial vineyard image, because it’s explained as a microclimate on rock located in an inter- tidal zone in Sunrise-on-Sea, South Africa, to demonstrate that microclimates exist in na- ture… period, not just within agriculture. Macroclimate is what exists


in the grand scheme of things, like the clouds image. It’s the overall climate of a specific re- gion, like a heavy fog that blan- kets the Russian River Valley, for instance. Mesoclimate is what hap-


pens in a region on a smaller scale. Te mesoclimate has


variables in altitude, soil types, and the distance from a river ~ where the fog will burn off fur- ther away from a river’s bank first, and evaporate to the riv- er’s edge as it goes t hr oug h the burn- ing off process. Micro-


climate is what exists within a few rows of a vine- yard. It’s in the mi- croclimate that vine- ya r di s ts have the most con-


trol of managing for distinct flavors and aromas of wine grapes and the resulting wine. Tis is the reason why we’re continually reading about mi- croclimates, over all the others. As I walked with Dick Keenan at his Kick Ranch Vineyard, Dick explained that those winemakers who are buying his fruit are very row specific for what they’re purchasing, because they’ve been in on all the vineyard practices for those exact microclimatic rows. Te winemakers know the rows so well, and have had a hand in shaping the vines’


Joke # 2


Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said:


“Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see.” Watson replied: “I see millions and mil- lions of stars.”


Holmes said: “and what do you deduce from that?” Watson replied:


“Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets,


it’s quite likely there are some planets like earth out there. And if there are a few planets like earth out there, there might also be life.”


And Holmes said:


“Watson, it means that somebody stole our tent.”


microclimates, that they’re not interested in anyone else’s vines, except as a curiosity. once the wine’s been produced. Canopy microclimate refers


to the environment around the individual foliage of a vine. While a vineyard would have had early morning fog, as it burns off, cool moisture re- mains under the vine’s canopy. While


it’s burning off above


the vine bringing in warmer air, within the canopy system, it takes a bit longer for the fog to evaporate, and consequently keeps the grapes a bit cooler for an extended period of time.


Accomplishment 8 • November 2018 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC. “You can only be afraid of what you think you know.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti


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