Warm Weather Means Early Calif. Wine Grape Harvest

(AP) - There's no such thing as "normal" weather in California wine country, and vineyard operators say this year that truism could mean good news for wine lovers.

After cool temperatures slowed ripening and kept grapes on the vine until fall in recent years, growers in the nation's premier wine region are facing a heat wave that has made for one of the earliest harvests in recent memory.

"It has been a challenging year," said Michael Silacci, winemaker at Opus One in Napa Valley. "But it's shaping up to be an excellent year."

Weather hasn't been this warm across the region since 1997, a year that produced a highly regarded vintage. If the heat continues as expected it could mean fruit-intensive wines from an early and abundant crop.

"We're a full month ahead of 2009, '10 and '11," said Jon Ruel, COO at Trefenthen Vineyards and president of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers.

Dealing with changing weather patterns is part of the art of growing wine grapes, a long dance with the elements to achieve a precise combination of sugar levels and acidity expected from one of California's top commodities, a crop worth $3.2 billion on the vine last year, which created more than $34 billion worth of wine.

To bring in that harvest, growers are accustomed to being flexible. "There's no such thing as a normal year," Ruel said. "And this isn't a normal year."

Growers can remove leaves to let more sunshine hit fruit. They can drop clusters to improve flavors and quicken ripening in cool years. And they constantly monitor forecasts to know when an early shot of water will help get vines through a heat wave.