In 2024 a heat wave and the mountain AVA’s typical delayed ripening created a setup for a promising vintage.
El Dorado AVA, Sierra Foothills, CA (September 5, 2024) — El Dorado winemakers started bringing in fruit from their mountain vineyards for the 2024 harvest in late August. Early white varieties like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc and grape varietals for Rosés made it to crush pads first.
While other California wine regions reported the beginning of harvest closer to early or mid-August, El Dorado’s most distinguishing feature, high elevation, always pushes picking later. Most of the vineyards planted in the AVA sit between 2,500 and 3,500 feet above sea level.
Located in the northern end of the region, Lava Cap’s estate vineyards lie at 2,700 feet elevation. According to Nolan Jones, Lava Cap’s winemaker and manager, “The elevation means ambient air temperatures remain cooler later into the spring compared to other locations in California.” He adds, “This leads to a three- to four-week delay in bud break, and later bud break means harvest is pushed later into fall compared to other regions.” Consequently, much of the El Dorado AVA’s ripening takes place during the cooler months of September and October.
This year was not without a punishing summer though. Paul Bush, winemaker/owner of Madroña Vineyards, located in Camino, also in the northern end of the El Dorado AVA, comments on the results of a brutal heat wave in June and July: “We had an unprecedented stretch of heat (at least in our 51 years of growing grapes) up until about early August.” Bush adds, “We were blessed that the vines had budded out late this spring, starting the growing year a bit later than usual. However, this period of intense heat, with very warm temperatures at night, probably sped up the ripening process for the vines.” Fortunately, since the heat wave in June and July, the region has experienced more than a month of daytime temperatures in the low 80s, perfect for getting the fruit through veraison. On the heat wave, Rob Sinton, winemaker at Starfield Vineyards, says, “A lot of people think the vines shut down, but it doesn’t quite get hot enough here to shut the vines down physiologically — it just accelerated the harvest for us. We’re bringing our Grenache in this week, one week earlier than in 2023.”
Jonathan Lachs, owner of Cedarville Vineyard, an organically farmed estate at 2,500 feet elevation in the southern end of the AVA in the Fair Play region, picked Syrah for his Susan Marie Rosé during the third week in August and picked his estate Syrah and Grenache at the end of August. He explains that these varietals “both have light crops, with nicely developed flavor at reasonable sugar levels and, ideally, slightly lower pH and slightly higher acidity. Yields are way down from 2023.” About the vintage as it stands today, Lachs shares, “My very preliminary observation is terrific ripeness with higher acidity and lower pH than prior vintages, which is very promising.”
For More Information on the El Dorado Eight
Boeger Winery, Edio at Delfino Farms, Element 79 Vineyards, Cedarville Vineyard, Lava Cap, Madroña Vineyards, Miraflores, and Starfield Vineyards
www.sierrahighlands.org / 707-332-0857
