Winery News: Harvest

It’s like Déjà vu all over again’

– Yogi Berra.

I always tell people every harvest is different and this year is certainly no exception. Unique issues and challenges come every year. Personally, I think we are much more tolerant of the unexpected after our last 18 months of excitement.

As I am writing this article we are just over halfway through crush. This is a couple weeks ahead of normal, and I am certainly not complaining. It has been an amazing growing year with regard to weather up until August and September. The extreme heat throughout the end of august and through most of September pushed several varietals forward, ripening a little earlier than previous years. Needless to say we were inundated with grapes when harvest first started. As the weather has cooled off a little bit in the last few weeks, we are starting to get more time between our crush days.

The good news is that we have been VERY happy with the quality and flavor of the fruit we have brought in. We have been lucky with timing as nothing has turned to raisens from the heat. Also, as an added bonus, due to the warm weather and inundation of grapes, we might be able to finish pressing everything before Thanksgiving. This makes things a bit more enjoyable around the holiday season!

We aren’t trying anything too new this year, other than the usual suspects. For the second year in a row we are bringing some Pinot Noir grapes in. This year we didn’t have a fire break out ½ mile from the vineyard so we are excited to compare notes and flavors from the previous vintage. We also brought in some lower sugar Pinot to make Rose. I thought it would be fun to try out a new variety for our Rose. I think we will be very happy with the results!

In other news, we are just releasing some of the 2019 vintage wines and they are fantastic! I don’t know why I should be surprised. We recently have released the 2019 Tuscan Nights, 2019 Bilancio 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2019 Altitude, and 2019 Sangiovese. The 2019 Tuscan Nights has certainly been a favorite when we pour it in the tasting room. I think it is tasting amazing right now, but it will continue to mellow out significantly over the next year. We served the 2019 Altitude at our Runway dinner, and it was surprising how smooth it was for such a young wine. I was very happy with the rich depth of this wine along with its soft mouthfeel, a terrific balance of flavors. Enjoy the new vintage!