Most Americans think the act of making wine is all about what happens during that hectic period when the grapes are being harvested, rushed to a winery, turned into juice and fermented.

At that point, they think, wineries all slow down waiting for the new wine to settle down so it can be bottled.

Winemakers, however, often use the word harvest to refer to the entire growing year, from the moment that flowers appear on dormant vines, through the development of grapes during a long summer and leading into that frenetic two to three-month stretch when no one gets any real sleep.

Using the term "harvest" to refer to eight or nine months is not necessarily universal. Still, when you talk to winemakers about a specific year, they worked diligently to produce excellent wines, most of them can recall tiny details from March, July and October and almost every day in between.

With the 2025 wine grape harvest of Northern California finally over, a lot of the work is just beginning. It's that way almost every year because there is no such thing as an easy harvest period. Growing grapes and making wine is no picnic.

Most mid-size to larger wineries employ field workers who can do a lot of the handwork needed to manicure vines, like the February "suckering" in which the winter-dormant vines must be groomed.

Yet I know several winemakers who don't trust field workers to do it right. They choose to do their own suckering, even though it's hard work.

The 2025 growing season was uneventful, but it was one of the most stressful in recent memory because it was so remarkably cool. Except for one August heat spell, temperatures were well below normal.

California winemakers typically rely on sunlight and heat to produce high sugar content in grapes because it produces slightly better voluptuousness in the resulting wines. And it is that character trait that American wine buyers love.

The cool conditions produced more classic European-style wines in some cases, which several winemakers told me they were thrilled about. It let them make a wine with a little bit better structural balance, so the wines would go better than usual with food.

Some of the best wines produced in Napa and Sonoma this year will have a little better acidity than in a year like 2018, which produced richer aromatics and softer textures.

A quick summary of the last several vintages shows that 2022 was cool in the spring with a very warm summer, and many wines were rich. The 2023 harvest was cooler than normal, so wines were slightly better with food. And in 2024, the weather was warm but not hot, and the wines turned out to be very good.

Then came 2025 with its maddeningly cool temperatures that slowed down the vines' ability to make mature flavors and extended the harvest-time work.

Starting now, most wineries will be assembling their wines from various fermentation tanks and trying to create flavor harmonies within the context of a cool year. This will take additional tasting sessions.

The most frustrating time of all comes when red wines that are being aged in oak barrels will be left in a cellar for more than a year, with winemakers testing whether mother nature cooperated — and how their decision-making will come under scrutiny by critics.

Wine of the Week: Hanna Sauvignon Blanc, Russian River Valley ($18) — A California classic, this gorgeous white wine has always had hints of green tea, guava, tropical fruit aromatics and orange blossoms. This vintage turned out to be even more exotic, with traces of fresh fennel, green apple, Thai basil and lime. The wine is not austere and has ample richness in the aftertaste. Great with Thai food.

To find out more about Sonoma County resident Dan Berger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Dan Meyers at Unsplash