Napa Valley Vintners Announce Launch of Harvest 2013 Website

Follow the story of Napa Valley’s wine grape harvest from Carneros to Calistoga

8/20/2013 - St. Helena, CA—The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) today launched its Napa Valley 2013 harvest website, which chronicles The Grapest Story Ever Told explaining what it takes, from bud break to bottling, for a grape to make it into a bottle of wine that lives up to Napa Valley’s reputation as a premier wine region.

The educational, engaging and interactive website will be updated from now through early November and features:

Real-time accounts as told by winemakers from the vineyard and the crush pad

At-a-glance briefs on the Napa Valley harvest from Carneros to Calistoga

A beautifully illustrated, downloadable 2013/2014 harvest season calendar, along with the chance to receive one of 500 desk-size printed versions

An extensive list of harvest-related events in Napa Valley

With a near ideal growing season in its final stages, the focus now is on picking white wine varieties, especially Sauvignon Blanc. Lighter red wine varieties will follow and Cabernet Sauvignon from the valley floor and then the hillsides will complete the later stages of Napa Valley’s harvest cycle.

"Some of the best growing seasons are the ones that, years later, you can hardly remember and 2013 is shaping up to be another such 'no drama' vintage,” noted Doug Shafer, president of Shafer Vineyards and member of the NVV Board of Directors. "We had a warm, dry winter and spring with ideal weather during bloom and set. For a while it looked like we were on track for a very early harvest, but fruit development has slowed given that it’s been spring all summer long – our July and August to-date temperatures have been more like May. The dry weather early on has given us smaller-than-average berries, which can be an indication of rich flavor, but overall tonnage looks to be average to average-plus. Time and time again I’ve seen an average year in terms of weather, fruit development and tonnage turn into something exceptional in the bottle, so I think we have a lot to look forward to."

About the Napa Valley Vintners
The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) is the non-profit trade association responsible for promoting and protecting the Napa Valley appellation as the premier winegrowing region. From seven founding members in 1944, today the association represents nearly 500 Napa Valley wineries and is a leader in the worldwide wine industry. To learn more about our region and its legendary American wines, visit www.napavintners.com.

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Contact: Cate Conniff, Communications Manager 707.968.4229 cconniff@napavintners.com