“Our cluster size was quite a bit smaller this year than in 2014,” he says. “Last year was a pretty good crop, and we were getting six to seven clusters per pound. This year that has increased to 10 to 12 clusters per pound.

“I tried to crop a little heavier by leaving more clusters on the head this season to provide some leeway later when I thinned the fruit. But I ended up not dropping any clusters because of their low weight. So, my tonnage isn’t down as much as others in the area. I’m seeing some growers with likely yields of about 1 to 1½ tons per acre. Mine should be more in the range of 1½ to 2 tons. Last year I harvested about 3 tons per acre.”

The prolonged bloom produced a wide range of ripening, Kessler explains. “When walking blocks of some of the Pinot Noir clones I might see 10 vines in a row that had finished veraison, and then there would be one whole vine with bright green, hard berries,” he says.

As a result, he’s ended up with a second, later maturing crop. “This second crop, which is at least a month behind the first, is pretty significant, too, with larger berries and clusters,” Kessler says.

Meanwhile, the quality of his crop looks promising, Kessler notes.

“If you’re judicious about not picking the green stuff this year, the quality of the grapes in this area seems to be really good,” he says.

The expected smaller crop should help keep spot prices firm, he adds – that is, if any growers have excess grapes. “I’m seeing buyers looking for fruit, but no one has any to sell,” he says.

Next year he plans to take several steps for boosting production in his vineyards. One is to leave more clusters on the vines. Another is to explore the use of re-grafting vines in certain blocks where he suspects previous frost damage is limiting yields. Over the course of two or three seasons he wants to switch rootstocks on 5 to 10 percent of his underperforming vines.

“We’ve had good luck before re-grafting vines that weren’t producing well,” he says.