Harvest 2009

New You Tube Video

Harvest 2009 has been a whirlwind!  Following a long and moderate growing season, this year's harvest was anything but predictable.  In mid-September we experienced an unusually cool weekend of chilly wet weather that had several growers scampering to shield their grapes from the rain.  Thankfully for us, most of the rain served to give our vineyards a much needed drink of water.  The following two weeks were extremely busy with all of our white grapes harvested in a very compressed timeframe.  After that came Zinfandel and several of our Bordeaux varieties, such as Cabernet, Merlot, and Malbec.   For the most part, Mother Nature cooperated – that is until Tuesday, October 13.

Some folks called it a gully washer.  Others said it was like a monsoon out of no where – almost subtropical, Hawaii-like.  Well, whatever it was, it was CRAZY!  In a 12 hour period at the winery, we received a whopping 4.1 inches of rain.  Consider that we haven’t experienced a deluge like that in the month of October in more than 30 years and well, it was anything but expected.  The following days were warm and humid creating the perfect conditions for grape rot.  We have to say how fortunate we were that almost all of our grapes were in the barn.  And how sorry we felt for those who had not yet picked their fruit.  What a mess! 

In terms of quality, our grapes looked really good across the board.  Sauvignon Blanc yields were slightly up, Cabernet Sauvignon was slightly down.  Overall, the harvest tonnage was about average.  We’re excited to see what this vintage brings.  Stay tuned as we report back from another frenzied and chaotic harvest season.      View the video