The Wine Knows

The high today here in the middle of Washington's Columbia Valley is going to be around 85 degrees. The low will be somewhere around 50.

There are two reasons this is of supreme importance to winemakers.

-- 85 degrees is a perfect temperature for ripening grapes. About 10 degrees warmer than that and the grapes will start "shutting down" and will stop ripening.

-- The way it's been explained to me is natural acidity will begin to evaporate out of grapes during warm temperatures. Cool nights will allow the grapes to rest and the all-important acidity to stick around. That's why winemakers and grape growers crave daily temperature shifts of 30 to 40 degrees this time of year.

Our northerly climes also are a great equalizer this time of year. The sun definitely is dropping below the horizon earlier in the evening, but the Northwest still gets more sunlight per day than wine regions to the south.

Longer days and cooler nights equal balance, ripeness and the potential for beautiful wines.