Great News: Harvest Update
All Picked, Fermented and Barreled Down!
The Winery Dream Team: Jesse, Rebecca, Matt and Peter. Enjoying a 1996 Grands Echezeaux. Apollo and Athena in front row.
Time To Catch Up!
It’s been a while since I wrote the most recent newsletter. Last time harvest was just kicking in and so much has happened since then. So as Rebecca and I are sitting in the ranch house on a cozy evening with fireplace going, looking at the lit Christmas tree surrounded by her extensive Santa collection and with our 14 year old Artemis’ head resting on my slippers it feels like a good time to do some catch up. Did I mention the glass of Syrache next to me?
Picking Pinot Noir Pommard in Block 2. Pretty Clusters
Harvest Is Done - Now A Voice From Our Vineyard and Winery
You have probably heard the word “late” a few times this fall and that was the name of the game for harvest. The wet winter, cold spring, strong vines with long shots and nice canopy, mostly chilly summer and a very reliable fall did not push us into any early, panic harvest decisions – we had the most calm September I can recall in the 20 years we have been harvesting: Not a single grape entered the winery.
Then came October! Pinot Noir ripened up and all our seven clones got ready in a short window. Jesus and Chencho brought in the harvest crew and we picked 5 nights a week the first two weeks and the rest early the third week. Whew, what a race. And at nice yield levels too! Time for a break while we were waiting for the Syrah and Grenache to ripen? Surprise: They got ready so fast that we didn’t even get a week break - and they came in overlapping each other. Beautiful clusters arrived daily at the winery.
So when the harvest dust settled and I looked at the harvest calendar, we brought all our fruit in over just 30 days! Something that usually takes us around 2 months.
I love sharing this picture from one of my favorite moments of the year: Hauling fruit from the night picking to the winery. Such a great sense of accomplishment to drive my truck through the vineyard with a load of grapes as the sun rises
Winery Chaos - Business as Usual!
In our relatively small winery we are not really set up to handle this much fruit and that many fermenters at the same time. Usually we have some of our Pinot Noir already tucked away in barrels at the warehouse before the Rhone varietals arrive. Harvest is always shuffling fermenters, barrels, tanks and harvest gear around that reminds me of the 15-slide-puzzle game (the 4 by 4 slot game with 15 pieces): "Jesse look! There is an open slot - lets move this fermenter over there...". So when I pull into the winery with the second full load of this nights picking bins and we already have a packed fermenter floor and a full cold room Jesse shakes his head, pulls down the beanie and stands still for some minutes overlooking the chaos to create a plan.
It was Jesse's 11th harvest this year – and Matt’s 7th. Once again Rebecca and I realized how lucky we are to have this amazing crew! Powered by spreadsheets, lengthy text messages and nice long lunches we have figured out how to work together as a great team and jointly resolve the harvest puzzle.
Our warehouse and barrel storage is 8 min drive from our winery – almost all the way to the Pacific Ocean, which gives us an ideal, cold facility for barrel aging. As Rebecca or I haul the full barrels (12 at a time) over there during harvest it gives us such a great feeling of accomplishment – we are making wine! 21 trips this year!
Working on de-stemming - any available space is in high demand...
Jesse doing punch-down on our "Big-Bertha". Maybe we shouldn't have filled it this much....
Yeah, Yeah, That Sounds Good...But How Is The Wine?
When we make harvest decisions we focus on two things: Our senses and the numbers. We always strive for a balance between art and science. We taste, look and smell – and we measure with technology. Then we decide about picking. At the end of the day (or harvest) what we really care about is what our senses tell us: How is the (almost) finished wine doing?
During fermentations, when we do the punch-downs we observe the early indications of a wines potential, we may notice some ups and downs but when we drain and press the finished fermentations we start sensing the real wine. Colors, flavors and tastes are giving us an early indication of the 2023 vintage.
And during this harvest it was amazing! So stay tuned - or come by to do some barrel tastings!!! We believe 2023 is a very promising vintage!
Rebecca filling barrels - and enjoying the first impressions of the 2023 wines.
