The Wine Lover: Wine moth causes trouble for Santa Cruz Wineries

The weather has been oddly cold this summer, and it has caused local grape growers to wait longer than usual to harvest their grapes. Santa Cruz County grapes will most likely be harvested about three weeks behind schedule. If the weather stays good, that won’t be a problem. But there is one guaranteed problem: the European wine moth.
The European wine moth has been invading Northern California. Aside from eating grapes, it lays its eggs on the fruit and vines, causing mold. It hasn’t made its way to Monterey or Santa Cruz yet, but we are certainly going see an effect from it.
Many areas of Napa, Sonoma and Lodi have been quarantined in an effort to try and stop the moth from infesting other appellations. This affects Santa Cruz, because we buy many of our grapes from those places. The quarantine has made it so that local vintners can’t get the grapes they usually do.
The reaction for many winemakers is to simply cut back on production. The quarantine, coupled with a likely low-yield harvest, means smaller production as a whole. As one local winemaker put it, “I haven’t been selling as much anyways. The economy is still affecting sales, and it wouldn’t be such a bad year to cut back a little.”
The wine moth is a pest, but it won’t be a catastrophe. If we can keep the moth out of Santa Cruz, that will be victory enough. And there is a silver lining: More Santa Cruz wine will be made from Santa Cruz and Monterey grapes.
Between the use of local grapes and smaller production overall, the 2010 vintage could end up being quite good. From smaller production, there is almost always a rise in quality. It’s just a matter of a winemaker having to keep an eye on considerably less wine.
The same rule applies to the vineyard. If grape growers are having a tough time getting fruit to ripen, they will cut away some of the fruit to give each plant a chance to concentrate on its strongest clusters. That, in turn, means smaller production and very high-quality grapes.
If it stays warm for about one more month, look for the 2010 vintage to be smaller than usual but very high-quality.
Austin Twohig is a certified sommelier and partner in The Santa Cruz Experience, which conducts winery tours in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Contact him at au****@th********************.com.