Harvest Update
In the past few weeks harvest has gotten crazy! We began picking in August this year (see the blog post), and by today’s writing (September 13th), we have brought in Rutherford Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma Valley Pinot Noir, Napa Valley Pinot Noir, Calistoga dry-farmed Merlot, and within the next 4 days we’ll be bringing in Pinot Noir from Filigreen Farm in Anderson Valley, and our favorite Chardonnay from the Loma Blanca Vineyard in Carneros. To say we’ve been busy wouldn’t really begin to explain….early morning picks, entire days de-stemming and racking into barrels or tanks, whole days hand-pressing in the basket press, twice-daily pump overs (on the Merlot), and daily lab work. And of course, tastings!
Gremlin Vineyard Pinot Noir was pressed by hand in two lots this week after spending 17 days in the concrete egg. We’re jazzed with how good this tastes already – it feels to us like a blend of our 2013 and 2014 Pinot Noirs … it has beautiful round fruit reminiscent of the 2013, but also a really welcome kick of acidity, like the 2014. It’s now going to rest in a selection of new and neutral French oak barrels for about a year. We also produced about 100 cases of some kick-ass Rosé from this vineyard for next summer, instead of our typical 25 or 30 cases.
Pressed the day it came in, the Sauvignon Blanc from Rutherford is tasting delicious already. We fermented it in some new and some used French and American oak barrels, and it’s been resting in a selection of 33% new and 64% neutral French oak since the completion of priumary. It will continue to mature for the next 8 months. Read more about that here.
Our Napa Valley Pinot Noir from the Kim Giles Vineyard came in on September 2nd, and after partially de-stemming the fruit, we racked to barrels for fermentation. The wine is now dry, and we’ll be pressing this tomorrow (!) If you’ve been in the winery recently, we’ve lifted the heads off these barrels for you to smell, or even punch down….the aromas are savory – rosemary, thyme, and gamey – intensely delicious.
And, our Calistoga dry-farmed Merlot…oh my goodness. While this one surprised us immensely with how quickly it ripened and developed on the vine, the way it’s tasting in tank….soft, velvety, smooth…just wow. It’ll stay in tank for another good month, before pressing.
Filigreen Farm’s biodymanic Pinot Noir comes in on Friday, and our Loma Blanc vineyard Carneros Chardonnay on Sunday, along with the dry-farmed Calistoga Cabernet Sauvignon! For those picks we’ll have lots of friends and family to help and we couldn’t do it without you. Thank you in advance…
After that we’ll be waiting on two remaining Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards to come in, and of course lots of fermentations to watch and fret over. Thankfully temperatures have leveled off a bit from the blistering 3-digits we were seeing…it’ll give the grapes some more time to fully develop those mature and complete flavors we love in our signature wine.
We hope everyone’s autumn is starting out well. If you live in any of the areas affected by the natural disasters that mother nature has thrown our way, our hearts and thoughts are with you. We are raising our glasses to you and your spirits.
Member shipments will be going out by early October, so there’s still time to sign upif you’d like an early gift to yourself this year.
Juliana & Sean
