北海岸2020年葡萄收获在冠状病毒问题上拉开序幕

在一个温和的夏夜,Wedne约30人sday picked pinot noir grapes from Schellville’s Sasaki Vineyards, ushering in the 2020 Sonoma County wine grape harvest amid the coronavirus pandemic that has fundamentally changed the North Coast wine industry.

选秀权产生了约20吨葡萄，从珍妮特（Janet）和铁托·萨萨基（Tito Sasaki）的葡萄园中产生。这与这对夫妇的前30次收获相似，将水果运到附近的Gloria Ferrer酿酒厂，可以制成起泡酒。

“Beautiful bunches. ... I think they look the best ever,” Janet Sasaki said, right before her crew began plucking grapes from the vines just after 9 p.m. “The season was beautiful this summer, perfect for slow ripening.”

这就是与该地区最大的经济作物末端的先前收获的任何相似之处。显然，人们担心农场工人之间的covid-19，这是一个可移植的水槽，用于在葡萄园里洗手，这表明与过去的收成有明显的差异。

更重要的是，由于只有在生产区域仅允许必要的工人，因此，在丰满的葡萄到来时，Gloria Ferrer酿酒厂（Gloria Ferrer）酿酒厂（Gloria Ferrer）酿酒厂（Gloria Ferrer）酿酒厂（Gloria Ferrer）酿酒厂（Gloria Ferrer）酿酒厂（Gloria Ferrer）早10天（早10天）都没有举行。费雷尔·酿酒厂女发言人苏兹·库卡吉·弗里奇（Suzie Kukaj-Curovic）说，通常的摄影师没有在那里记录每年的葡萄的到来，迫使那里的工作人员拍摄任何图像以记录关键事件。

Notwithstanding the pandemic, this year’s harvest started earlier than average with the first known regional pick occurring at Dutcher Crossing Winery in the Dry Creek Valley at 2 a.m. Tuesday. Picks also have occurred in the Napa Valley at Mumm Napa and Schramsberg Vineyards.

葡萄酒makers are predicting the 2020 crop will be lighter than the North Coast average, which over the past decade has produced almost 488,000 tons of wine grapes annually in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties. Last year, the North Coast grape harvest brought in $1.7 billion, a large financial boost to the area economy.

县和大北海岸的收获今年与葡萄酒销售的变平相吻合，以及近年来大葡萄作物之后的散装葡萄酒市场供应过多。

诺瓦托（Novato）的葡萄酒和葡萄经纪公司Ciatti Co.的合伙人Glenn Proctor说：“它似乎正在较轻的农作物与更大的农作物相比，今年早些时候似乎是在今年早些时候。”“我认为这两个都受到欢迎。”

The harvest should continue through the first week of November, when grapes for late red varieties such as cabernet sauvignon will be picked.

With risk of virus transmission among the pickers, wineries and vineyard management companies have put in place enhanced public health protocols in the vineyards and at wine properties. Worries still remain about the potential for workers to contract the highly contagious virus while living in dormitory-style housing provided on site by vineyard managers or when certain crews are transported in groups to vineyards.

在索诺玛县，有一个身份不明的农场工人宿舍，一名工人感染了Covid-19，迫使其他人居住在那里，搬到了替代地点。纳帕县经营的三个农场工人住房中心中有两个情况发生了同样的情况。其中一位避开了该地区以外的加利福尼亚农场工人。

上个月，纳帕谷（Napa Valley）的弗利·约翰逊（Foley Johnson）酒庄（Foley Johnson Winery）是圣罗莎（Santa Rosa）Foley Family Wines的一部分，在一名员工对冠状病毒呈阳性测试后，暂时关闭。这也许是唯一被大流行病关闭的地区酿酒厂。

除了潜在的致命病毒和行业的财务压力外，门多西诺县（Mendocino County）等小地方的文森（Vinters）也应对劳动挑战。

“总是很难找到员工来挑选葡萄，”在门多西诺县菲洛的汉德利酒窖的酿酒师兰迪·肖克（Randy Schock）说，劳动池不如索诺玛和纳帕县那样广泛。

Schock noted one unnamed vineyard management company in Mendocino County had four employees who tested positive COVID-19, and he worried about potential problems when he calls for a pick later during this harvest season.

肖克说：“我不知道，今年我们可能只有一半的葡萄。”

Most grapes harvested are sold via multiyear contracts between growers and wineries. There is also fruit available to buy on the spot market though in 2019 there was a lack of buyers that resulted in a larger number of farmers forced to let tons of their grapes go unpicked on the vines.

普罗克特说，他希望这次收获可能会有更多的交易，一些酿酒师现在对葡萄和寻找交易的需求更大。

“I think it may be driven by some of the out-of-the-area buyers looking for value versus some of the local wineries,” he said.

酿酒师说，即使面临所有挑战，北海岸葡萄的高质量仍然存在一些品种，特别是美味。

塞巴斯托波尔（Sebastopol）的Scherrer Winery的所有者兼酿酒师Fred Scherrer说：“肯定会集中注意力（在水果中）。“葡萄树没有过多的水。”

Dutcher Crossing in the Dry Creek Valley pulled in four tons of chardonnay grapes early Tuesday and winemaker Nick Briggs said they were at the right sugar levels to be crushed.

Briggs doesn’t plan another pick until next week, giving him a little break before harvest will speed up.

鉴于冠状病毒造成的未知道路，他说：“我们所有人都试图弄清楚我们应该做什么。”“我很高兴我们有一点时间进行调整。”

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