US: From the Fields®, October 6, 2021

The end is near for harvest. It was a very early harvest compared to normal years. We'll be finishing this harvest probably three weeks ahead of normal. It was a mixed bag, a relatively light crop, lighter than average. It was a very dry year. The interesting thing about this year is we got not one spring rain. Usually, we get a few spring rains. I think that lack of water showed up in the trees and vines with these lighter crops. There were no other issues this year. It was a little bit warmer than usual, but not by much. The big difference was the lack of rainfall. We had to use more water to irrigate. Wildfires did not necessarily impact our crop. Ironically, I could see the flames from my house on the first night of the Caldor Fire. It started so close, but then it raced across the Sierras in the other direction, so there was never significant smoke for prolonged periods of time that would have affected grape quality. The market seems to be somewhat in equilibrium, with supply ...