As most of you know, my main employment is in the retail wine business and the last 8 weeks of the year are really tough. I make a quick trip to Asia to see our PrimeCellar customers on November 1st and then it’s back to the frying pan! By the time Christmas is over I feel like fried chicken, a bit older and in desperate need extended sleep.
After my batteries are recharged I start to feel the excitement of the New Year ahead. For all of us here in California the year is already off to a good start and that means there is already some decent amount of snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where the snowpack was at a 500 year low.
In California where we have endured 4 years of drought this is fantastic news and the key is snow! Our winter season is literally three months, December, January, and February and the accumulation of snow and its runoff are what fill our streams and reservoirs that are now also at historic low measures. We are only 1/3 of the way there but are cautiously optimistic that El Nino will replenish and revitalize our inventory of stored water.
Water conservation has been in effect for two years and in some vineyards in 2015 the yields are down because of the drought. This weather has been great for golfing, but bad for wine! At my home we are at 41% of our allocation, this is good but we are getting tired of “head showers with water buckets all around” brown lawns and not washing our cars. Please pray for more snow!
Thinks to look forward to….
Chinese New Year of the Monkey!
The 2015 California vintage looks to be good again but great vintages seem to be on the horizon for Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne.
I will be in Bordeaux on April 1st and will give you a complete report.
Cheers and Happy New Year #1 to all of you!
Ralph Sands
PrimeCellar Consultant
