Early Harvest this year?
Wednesday, August 14th, 2024
By Imed Dami, HCS-OSU
Last year, on July 31 2023, we had 1,571 GDD. This year, GDD were already at 1,948 on the same date, nearly 400 GDD higher in 2024 than in 2023, or the equivalent of 15-20 days earlier this year. As a result, we did our earliest berry sampling in the past 9 years. The following table summarizes the progress of sugars, pH, and acids in 2023 vs. 2024. It is clear that fruit ripening is progressing at a much faster rate this year. For example, we had similar Brix in Einset and Vanessa on August 14, 2023 that we had two weeks earlier on July 31, 2024; pH were lower and acids higher though this year than last year. We ended up harvesting Brianna 13 days earlier this year.
Fruit ripening progression of selected varieties in 2023 and 2024.
|
Variety |
Brix |
pH |
TA (g/L) |
|||
|
2023 |
2024 |
2023 |
2024 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|
Brianna |
14.9 |
14.7 |
3.06 |
2.92 |
9.0 |
10.6 |
|
Einset |
16.0 |
15.9 |
2.90 |
2.83 |
8.5 |
9.5 |
|
Vanessa |
17.6 |
17.7 |
3.02 |
2.63 |
6.8 |
9.7 |
Berry collection in 2023: date -14 August, 1829 GDD. Collection in 2024: date – 31 July, 1948 GDD.
In the past 20 years, 2024 had the highest GDD with the exception of 2012 and 2010, both were exceptional years in terms of wine quality. In our case, not only the warmth (GDD) has advanced harvest but also low yield overall for several reasons (spring frost injury, herbicide drift injury, bird damage). Bottom line, be ready for an early harvest as early as two weeks or sooner.