Despite a few, half-hearted snow flurries in March, the beginnings of 2010 have been mild. In fact the gentle temperatures have been so consistent that blossoms and new growth arrived way before the official beginning of spring.

To those who do not know or work within the horticultural sphere, warm winter months raise questions about the repercussions of early springs. “Won’t an early spring mean that everything blooms and finishes to fast?”, “won’t there be waste if the crops are coming to fruit now?” Long time Lopez wine maker Brent Charnley dispels those fears with one comment, “it brings only positive things,” he says.

“Looking back through my records, this year things are blooming five or six weeks earlier than last year. We have had a string of 10 years of cold springs,” says Charnley, speaking from the grounds of Lopez Island Vineyards.

Charnley is cautious not to count his chickens too early, however. “The grapes will ripen faster and then there is a smaller window to pick” he says. “You have to keep tabs on it to make sure they dont get over ripe.”

Also, the brisk outburst of growth means the work load is double as chores that would normally be done later in the year are brought forward.

Chiefly, however, the wine maker is pleased. “It doesn’t make it easier but it gives it promise. The heat accumulated during growing determines the quality of the vintage, more heat earlier on means better wine.”

He adds that this is specific to cooler wine growing climates, introducing the topic of the San Juan’s bright future as wine growing country.

The waters around the islands create a buffer against the frosts that can affect wineries on the mainland. Additionally, the climate cycle identified as “the North Pacific Oscillation” has seen a 10 year margin of cooler weather.

Charnley quotes Greg Jones, a climatologist at Southern Oregon University, when he conjectures that we may be coming to the end of this cool cycle to be replaced with a warmer one.

The consequence of this would be a detrimental raise in temperatures in previously famous west coast wine growing eras. Charnely already notes a change in wine quality from eastern Washington where the sugar content in the grapes has risen, a sign of increasing heat. However wineries like the one on Lopez will be in the money. “We will do well here in the islands, premium wine production will move north to the Oregon coast and puget sound,” says Charnley, describing how a raise in temperatures will only prove an asset.

The warm spring may be disorientating, but for those at Lopez Vineyards, the early blossoms should bring a good year and a bright future.