First Harvest Report
It sure has been a very interesting and fun summer and early fall for Rebecca and I. So much going on in our little Ampelos world. Time for another update:
And Now: The Weather Report
Enjoying a glass with a nice view...
Lets start out with a little weather update from Sta. Rita Hills: Given the wet winter, the cold spring, the delayed flowering and fruit set and the late veraison we were expecting another “late year” like 2023. Early September we did get the same crazy heat spikes – something we have seen a few times before the last five years. Back in 2004 we got the same thing but then the vines were not ready for it – now days it seems like they are! Somehow the vines are getting used to this weird weather stuff – we think it is all about the right farming. We call it SOBR for Sustainable, Organic, Biodynamic and Regenerative.
First week in September we had a 49 low and 105 high in 24 hours – never seen a diurnal of 56F before! I have had four winemakers that we sell fruit to in the vineyard since the heat and they all confirm our observations that the vines are “cruising just fine”.
Flowers And Fruit Set
Chencho stirring the BD 501 Biodynamic prep
August and early September was the quiet before the storm at the ranch. The vines had reached full shoot length, the Pinot Noir clusters were done with veraison, sugars were rising and acids softening. Plants are all covered with bird nets, tractors have been serviced, tools sharpened, tires on all equipment checked and we are ready for harvest
As a part of our biodynamic farming we apply the last mist of BD501 (quartz crystals) two weeks before the picking days – which is always a little hard to guess…. According to the Biodynamic calendar we found a good day to do so and all the Pinot Noir plants got a light mist in the fruit zone to enhance ripening.
So now it’s the time of the year: Harvest!
Great time Harvesting
It’s a dark (but not stormy) night! And it’s the time of the year: Harvest time! Sitting here in my truck while the picking crew is taking their “breakfast” at 4AM - time for a catch-up.
After having carefully checked the vineyard and the vines’ development over the last few weeks we noticed a nice, slow ripening of the clusters. With the heat boost we got a week ago things were moving forward. After checking sugars, pH, flavors, cluster integrity, color release etc. we decided it was time to get the ship moving.
So here we are: Tractors are going with the strong led lights on - the boom box is playing 106.7 with traditional Mexican songs – Jesus is managing the crew to gently cut the black, tiny Pinot Noir clusters and Chencho is bringing them back to the picking bins where we remove leaves and other mog (material other than grapes…). Soon I will be loading up the bins onto my trailer and I am off to the winery.
Aging Ampelos Wines – And Library Wines.
It is always great to hear from our “filos” wine club members when they share their experiences from opening our wines. So exciting when they tell us about opening old bottles of Ampelos wine - so when Kim and Brian Brown told us that they were going to open nine different vintages of our Nu single clone Pinot Noir we asked them if we could “participate”.
Fast forward a few weeks ago we joined them and their wine loving friends on a Zoom show to taste through the lineup: 2011-2020 (2014 missing). We popped a 2007 Nu which was our first vintage. Notes back from Kim: “I think the overwhelming opinion of the crowd was that 2012 and 2020 shined. But EVERY BOTTLE was a gem in its own right. We had enough to revisit some pours and taste some of the same clones side by side. So fascinating! So fun! So YUM!”
And this one in from another filos member a few weeks ago:
“On Sunday my wife and I opened a bottle of the 2010 Nu we had squirreled away -- and it was amazing. Not surprisingly, it held up beautifully over the years and evolved in the most delightful way throughout the evening. Every sip was thoroughly enjoyed. Just brilliant. In any case, we wanted to pass on our appreciation and compliments to the winemakers! - Sean”
It is emails and events like these that make Rebecca and I love what we are doing!
Wrapping up for now! Hope you enjoyed reading this – I love writing it.
All the best from Rebecca and Peter!
Be good to yourself and others - and enjoy great wine!
Cheers to Harvest in Sta Rita Hills!