Winemaker's Journal

September

We began harvest in Napa Valley on August 31st
August 31, 2007

High pressure over the region brought hot and dry conditions to Napa and Sonoma counties this week. Oakville and Rutherford were the hotspots logging in at 106 degrees on Wednesday the 29th, while Healdsburg was at a cool 101 and Cloverdale 104. This greatly accelerated ripening in all locations.

We began harvest in Alexander Valley with Cabernet Sauvignon from two hillside vineyards in Cloverdale on Thursday August 30th. We also picked some Merlot. The juices are dark purple with explosive cassis aromas.

In Napa Valley, we began harvest on August 31st with Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from St. Helena. The prediction is that the hot, dry weather will extend into next week, so we will see many other vineyards reach ripeness in the next 7 days.

September 8, 2007

The extreme heat tapered off, but the weather continued hot and dry until the blessed fog came in on Thursday. Sugars didn’t rise as rapidly as last week and by Friday we saw a leveling off.

We had a huge week in Alexander Valley with Cabernet Sauvignon from four hillside vineyards in Cloverdale, as well as five vineyards from the main part of the valley. We began harvest of our Miraval vineyard on Friday and we will continue straight through until it is completed. This usually takes us seven days. We also pressed our first tank. The wines are extremely dark in color and very intensely expressive aromatically. So far so good! We will continue at the same pace for the beginning of the week, but harvest may taper off if the mornings remain foggy.

The Napa Valley vineyards are about a week behind Alexander Valley. We picked three more vineyards in the St. Helena area and one in the Pritchard Hill region. We also brought in some Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from our Soda Canyon Ranch.

September 14, 2007

The marine layer established itself over both counties this week. Wednesday was the coolest day with high temperatures in the mid-seventies. Maturity leveled off or decreased as the thirsty vines rehydrated after a few weeks of heat. Harvest slowed down in both wineries.

We had a very big day of crushing in Alexander Valley on Monday and then quantities tapered off as the weather cooled. We continued to crush on Tuesday and Wednesday and then had another surge on Friday. We profited from the lighter crush load by pressing quite a few of the early tanks from the Cloverdale area. The wines are incredibly dark in color and the aromatics are very impressive. We are just over half finished in Alexander Valley.

The Napa Valley vineyards sort of took a breather this week. We brought in some Cabernet Sauvignon from Pritchard Hill, some Merlot from Soda Canyon and some Petit Verdot from south county, but we are right on the cusp of really getting going. I expect that the pace will pick up toward the middle of next week as the vines get back into equilibrium from this cool snap.

September 21, 2007

The weather warmed up through Tuesday and then cooled on Wednesday and Thursday as a brief storm passed through the area. Although the sky looked as dark as it does in tornado country on Wednesday evening, only a small amount of rain fell. Thursday afternoon was sunny and Friday was warm and dry. A threat of real rain on Saturday spurred on our pickers to get every ripe grape off the vines by Friday evening.

We continued to charge forward in Alexander Valley with big days of crushing and pressing all week. We picked on our Miraval and Red Tail ranches as well as contract growers in Cloverdale, Healdsburg and Geyserville. The wines continue to impress with dark colors and rich aromatic expression.

The Napa Valley vineyards started to wake up, but the majority are still a week away from ideal maturity. We brought in Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from our Soda Canyon Ranch. We pressed the first of the Cabernet tanks as they reached dryness. As in Alexander Valley, the wines are dark and expressive. It looks like it will be a great vintage!

September 28, 2007

The weather warmed up Monday and Tuesday and peaked on Wednesday with temperatures in the high 80’s and low 90’s. Oakville was the hotspot with a high of 93. Thursday remained sunny and warm and then it cooled significantly on Friday. Despite Barry Bond’s last home game as a Giant (or maybe because of it), the grapes ripened significantly and picking became frantic, especially in Napa County where most vineyards had been stalled for weeks.

In Alexander Valley we finished harvesting our Red Tail Ranch and brought in fruit from four outside growers in the Chalk Hill Road and Geyserville areas. We had a big week of pressing as tanks went dry and the tannins smoothed out. We have one more block to pick at our Miraval Ranch and harvest will be finished in Alexander Valley.

The Napa Valley Cabernet skins had really softened up and the heat induced a concentration of sugar and flavors. We picked Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from our Soda Canyon Ranch, Petit Verdot from Rutherford and three hillside Cabernet vineyards from south and east county. We also pressed our first tanks of Merlot and Cabernet. This is fortunate, because we are really going to need the fermenting space if all the rest of the fruit gets ripe at once, which it appears to be in the process of doing.