1999'S RISING AS GOOD YEAR FOR WINE.

Byline: Kiley Russell Associated Press 

California wine aficionados are in luck - all indications are that this year's grape harvest could be the most tasty in 10 years.

A late harvest combined with a cool, dry summer and spring helped wine grapes develop the right amounts of sugar and the best color, according to Allied Grape Growers.

``Several vintners see the potential for great quality and a banner year and some are saying it's the vintage of the decade,'' said Gladys Horiuchi, a spokeswoman for California's Wine Institute, a research and marketing organization.

As with most things agricultural, the key to a good harvest is weather.

Last year's El Nino dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on the state's vineyards, leading to diseases, mildew, pests and a delayed harvest.

``Last year (the harvest) was late and this year it was even later,'' Horiuchi said. ``This year the harvest was between two and four weeks late because it was cool and (the growing cycle) started late and we never really had a hot summer.''

The cool temperatures and lack of rain allowed the grapes more ``hang time'' on the vine, allowing them to ripen more before being plucked and crushed.

``The crush has happened and people are able to taste the juice and can tell that it's going to turn out well,'' said Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

Louis M. Foppiano, a fourth-generation vintner and vice president of Foppiano Vineyards in Sonoma County, agreed.

``Quality wise, it's going to be a wonderful year,'' Foppiano said. ``The grapes themselves were very mature. They matured with a really nice sugar-to-acid ratio, which gives the wines their smoothness and balance. And I'm sure the wines will be long lived, which means our Petite Sirah should last about 40 years.''

Dry weather improved grape flavor, yet another boost came from spring showers that knocked pollen from the vines' flowers, Horiuchi said.

Those brief, blossom-drenching rains led to smaller yields per acre. That typically raises the overall quality of the harvest.

The spring rains and cool temperatures drove down yields per acre, although a higher amount of land in wine grape production means total production will actually go up, Horiuchi said.

The 1999 wine grape crop is expected to come in at around 2.9 million tons, according to an October forecast by the California Agricultural Statistics Service. Last year, about 2.5 million tons were harvested. In 1997, crop totals were about the same as this year.

The 1997 crop was produced on 374,000 acres statewide. This year, 410,000 acres in California are devoted to wine grapes.

So are growers happy with a lower yield crop that scores highly on the taste test?

That depends on where the growers are based, said Barry Bedwell of Allied Grape Growers.

``If I'm in the Napa Valley, I'm probably happy with price but disappointed with production. Overall income is OK but still not as good as '97, when we had large crops and excellent prices in almost every area of the state,'' Bedwell said.

A grower in the Central Valley, however, should be concerned about a glut in Central Valley varietals, possible price decreases and lower demand.

``The upper-end premiums remain strong,'' Bedwell said. ``Some of the softness in the marked is in the lower price categories - wines that sell for under $3 a bottle - and those are varieties that get their grapes more from the Central Valley.''

Southern California's inland vineyards produce the same type of grapes as the Central Valley.