Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in August

Napa Valley Cabernet in August. It is the first week in August and vintners are getting excited and anxious about the Cabernet Sauvignon harvest. In the photo above, we see Napa Valley Cabernet in August. You can compare these same Cabernet vines with photos taken in June and July. We arrived in the Napa Valley on Monday. The entire day was overcast and temperatures never reached beyond 78 degrees. In the late evening a very light rain fell for just a few minutes. This morning it remains overcast and will likely stay that way the entire day. There is no sun in sight. The growing season is about two weeks ahead of normal but, if the current weather continues, harvest may be back on a normal time frame. Many of the vineyard managers started dropping fruit on Monday, as was done in this vineyard located in the St. Helena AVA. As you can see in the photo below, fresh clusters have been dropped from the vine. The purpose in this case is to increase the quality of the grapes on the vines.

Dropping Cabernet