As some of you may have heard Sonoma Valley is ahead of schedule this year for version and probably harvest by 1-3 weeks.  Here at Turtle Vines I think we are 1 week ahead of last year given all the clouds/fog the last 2 weeks.

We are about 85% into version with some vines still having green grapes.  I decided to test the sugar content of the grapes at different colors to understand how it correlates.

Green grape – 8%
Orange grape – 11%
Purple grape – 15%

Dark grape on the same vine where all the grapes have turned is 16.5%.

The rule of thumb is that the grapes shift by 1% per week in “normal” weather. If most of the grapes in the vineyard are around 16.5% and I want to pick at 24%, then I’m 7.5 weeks away, or 9/23…same as last year.