Wine production in Napa County declined almost 40% in 2020, data shows. As the first wines of the vintage are released in bottle, the valleyâs producers must now assess how best to stretch the inventory they do have.
Whites and roses from any given vintage are typically released by the following summer, according to Rosemary Cakebread, winemaker at Gallica Wines. Later ripening-varieties, like Cabernet Sauvignon and other red wine grapes, are usually not made available to consumers for another year and a half past that â by late 2022, in the case of the 2020 vintage, she said.
The nature of those release cycles give Napa Valleyâs wineries some time, but even so â those late-ripening varieties were dealt a double blow by last yearâs fire season. Anyone making Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot would have likely found themselves challenged by the wildfires, according to Cakebread, who said Gallicaâs production for 2020 is âstill