VINEYARD NEWS
Pleasantries have gone by the wayside. Recalling from the August newsletter, I described our mental and physical state at this point in the harvest might be somewhat grizzly. As I write this I am battling off my first cold of the year, have stopped answering my phone (still checking messages though), have a week’s worth of growth on my face and my feet and back ache constantly. My hands are cracked and purple, my kids act startled to see me at home and my wife Jill has been muttering something about her happy place. Not that I’m complaining or anything. I live for this time of year; it’s exciting and exhausting at the same time.
Many aspects of this year’s harvest have been weird or different though. Take for instance, the weather. Some newbie winemakers asked me last week if this weather was normal. We had some extremely hot and dry conditions during the day and below freezing at night. A lot of vineyards including mine were forced into hibernation by three nights of below freezing temps, followed by days in the nineties. I felt like I was living in an old western shot in sepia tone, all the dull drab browns and the dust. Anyway, so I think about it and realize no, it’s not normal. I don’t know what normal is. I have been farming here for almost twenty years and it hasn’t been the same twice! Another aspect of this year is the perpetual onslaught of fruit. Usually (and when I say usually, I mean hardly ever) fruit will come in waves with little breaks in between to allow us to get a grip, we have time in between to press off some older lots and take a breather. Not so much this year! We started early, in late August, and the harvest is just now showing some signs of slowing, only because of the cold snap. No aging gracefully this year, no extended hang times for late ripening varietals.
On the flip side, our Syrah and Zinfandel came off looking amazing! We had inky color development, deep purples and great flavor intensity. I am convinced that 2008 could turn out to be a stellar vintage. Also the new processing equipment that we added this year has been money well spent, and I am very encouraged by the end result. To see pictures and a play by play, read our blog entry for “Harvest” September 12th. We added an incline sorting table, which allows us to subject the fruit to a more intensive hand sort before entering the de-stemmer. Once relieved of their stems the grapes are dropped onto the second sorting table where jacks, raisins and other debris could be selected out. It has turned out to be a very gentle and effective way to bring forward only the highest quality fruit.
Finally I am very excited to release the 2006 Hell Block Syrah to the Cellar Club exclusively. A very limited amount of cases were made from this block, and are only available at the winery and through our wine club. So to sum up, this year has been pretty much what I expected, to expect the unexpected! No major injuries, a very fun and tasty Harvest Tour Weekend, thank you all who attended and see you soon back at the winery! Last but not least, a little light at the end of the tunnel. Harvest time is great, but we are happy to be close to the finish line.
Pleasantries have gone by the wayside. Recalling from the August newsletter, I described our mental and physical state at this point in the harvest might be somewhat grizzly. As I write this I am battling off my first cold of the year, have stopped answering my phone (still checking messages though), have a week’s worth of growth on my face and my feet and back ache constantly. My hands are cracked and purple, my kids act startled to see me at home and my wife Jill has been muttering something about her happy place. Not that I’m complaining or anything. I live for this time of year; it’s exciting and exhausting at the same time.
Many aspects of this year’s harvest have been weird or different though. Take for instance, the weather. Some newbie winemakers asked me last week if this weather was normal. We had some extremely hot and dry conditions during the day and below freezing at night. A lot of vineyards including mine were forced into hibernation by three nights of below freezing temps, followed by days in the nineties. I felt like I was living in an old western shot in sepia tone, all the dull drab browns and the dust. Anyway, so I think about it and realize no, it’s not normal. I don’t know what normal is. I have been farming here for almost twenty years and it hasn’t been the same twice! Another aspect of this year is the perpetual onslaught of fruit. Usually (and when I say usually, I mean hardly ever) fruit will come in waves with little breaks in between to allow us to get a grip, we have time in between to press off some older lots and take a breather. Not so much this year! We started early, in late August, and the harvest is just now showing some signs of slowing, only because of the cold snap. No aging gracefully this year, no extended hang times for late ripening varietals.
On the flip side, our Syrah and Zinfandel came off looking amazing! We had inky color development, deep purples and great flavor intensity. I am convinced that 2008 could turn out to be a stellar vintage. Also the new processing equipment that we added this year has been money well spent, and I am very encouraged by the end result. To see pictures and a play by play, read our blog entry for “Harvest” September 12th. We added an incline sorting table, which allows us to subject the fruit to a more intensive hand sort before entering the de-stemmer. Once relieved of their stems the grapes are dropped onto the second sorting table where jacks, raisins and other debris could be selected out. It has turned out to be a very gentle and effective way to bring forward only the highest quality fruit.
Finally I am very excited to release the 2006 Hell Block Syrah to the Cellar Club exclusively. A very limited amount of cases were made from this block, and are only available at the winery and through our wine club. So to sum up, this year has been pretty much what I expected, to expect the unexpected! No major injuries, a very fun and tasty Harvest Tour Weekend, thank you all who attended and see you soon back at the winery! Last but not least, a little light at the end of the tunnel. Harvest time is great, but we are happy to be close to the finish line.
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