The excellent 2020 spring growing season facilitated the establishment of buds and clusters for the 2021 vintage. The 2020/2021 winter did not cause any significant damage to buds, so conditions were set for a potentially large crop of grapes in 2021.
In many respects a vineyard is but a very complex and expensive garden. Vines require the appropriate regime of sunlight, warmth and water to produce ripe fruit. Not really any different from a garden. Over the course of a vintage, producers track the accumulation of warmth and rainfall and the development of shoots, buds, flowers and grape clusters. These observations are used to make vineyard canopy and crop management decisions.
Monthly Growing Degree Days (GDD) provides a measure for assessing the warmth of a vintage (Chart 1). The vintage can then be compared to the Long Term Average (LTA) and in this case a 48 year LTA. Cumulative annual GDD (Chart 2) shows that overall, 2021 was somewhat warmer than average. Especially the ripening months from August through October.
Chart 3 shows the monthly rainfall received in the Finger Lakes during 2021. Averages can be deceiving. April, May and June were dry. Consider how wet July and August were and most especially October.
Overall a bit wetter than the average for the last 48 years (Chart 4).
The deviation of GDD and rainfall data from Long Term Average can be viewed together as shown in Chart 5. April was close to normal. May was wet. June was wet and a bit warm. Overall spring weather encouraged early bud break and bloom.
July was wet. August was a bit warm and wet. Heavy late rains at the end of August did lead to some berry splitting in a few varieties as well as high humidity. As August and early September played out, many producers acted to reduce the crop in order to more fully ripen a smaller number of clusters per vine.
September was dry though veraison delayed by ten days or so. October was very warm and very wet.
A lot of rain makes vineyard work very challenging. A lot of rain in warm temperatures creates the conditions for significant disease pressure. A lack of warmth and sunshine delays ripening. By the beginning of October most vineyard managers were taking active measures to control disease pressure and to orchestrate harvest logistics such that a large crop could be harvested in optimal condition. This included extra passes in the vineyard to drop damaged fruit.
The 2021 month of October was very challenging with high humidity. Winemakers were working diligently to sort grapes and deal with preventative measures on the crush pad.
There was one other factor at play during the 2021 vintage. On average, the nights were warmer than usual. This has the effect of reducing acidity in some varieties.
Vintage variation is an inherent characteristic and a strength of the cool-climate growing circumstances of the Finger Lakes. The fortuitous combination of applied research and support from Cornell & the Finger Lakes Grape Program; the growing reputation of the region’s wines, and the developing and consequential technical abilities for vineyard managers and winemakers to recognize and deal with challenges, enables Finger Lakes wineries to produce noteworthy wines even in challenging vintages such as 2021.