The heatwave is changing the grape harvest season in Santa Maria 

SANTA MARIA, Calif. — The heatwave impacted the central coast in many ways, including maturing the grape harvest sooner than expected. 

Grapes matured a couple of weeks early and had some impact from the remnant rain of Tropical Storm Kay.

Some vintners said the heat matured the grapes a lot sooner than expected. 

“After going through that heat spike, historically, two sugars will go down. It'll start to get the H and the acid and balance a little bit more", said Mesa Vineyard Manager Kevin Merrill.

Workers are quickly picking the grapes to begin their crushing process. 

Other vintners say they have other issues aside from the heat. Fires and farming diseases also impacted the harvest.

“So the grapes were not ripening and copper. In addition to that, we had fire issues. So the smoke from the fire in 2021 that came over the vineyard and it didn't allow the sun to penetrate. Sour grapes started open again. So we've had two back-to-back bad years", said Cottonwood Canyon Winery Partner Norman Beko.

Vintners say they've had to buy their grapes this year due to these issues and have had a tough two years since the pandemic.

“It was new to have a heat spell that lasted ten days. Usually, we get a heat spell last three days. We deal with that. Temperatures over 108 degrees for ten days in a row. That's a little different. And so now we're back on track. Things have cooled off a little bit", said Merrill.

Most vintners in Santa Maria are open for wine tasting and special events -- they hope business returns pre-pandemic.

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