A fast and furious start – that
was the beginning to the 2007 Harvest season. As
winemaker
Bill
Knuttel put it, "by the time Labor Day weekend
had ended, our entire crop of
Chenin Blanc
along with 2/3 of our
Sauvignon
Blanc was already in the barn!"
Harvest time in wine
country is an exciting time for everyone in
the wine industry. The future prospects of a
great vintage keep people buzzing and add
extra energy to the Dry Creek Valley. Grape
trucks, harvest equipment, and round the
clock activity add to the organized chaos.
This season, the fast start to harvest was not
necessarily a bad thing. For our Chenin Blanc and
Sauvignon Blanc, the fruit was excellent with superb
flavors and ample sugar levels. Each of these
varietals should be terrific this year with
tremendous acidity and balance. During this warm
period, we also had some bits and pieces of
Chardonnay,
Zinfandel
and
Merlot arrive at the winery, which was slightly
early. However, as more temperate weather arrived
many varieties slowed their ripening pace and came
back to a more normal schedule.
As we dug deeper into harvest, the weather continued
to cooperate and even out with many varieties on
schedule. This certainly helped to calm many
growers’ frayed nerves! More Zin arrived at the
winery and looked delicious. "Great color and flavor
and as clean as a whistle," according to Bill.
Chardonnay also arrived and looked great. For the
most part, crop size was about average and depending
on the vineyard, was larger or smaller but not too
much in either direction.
Finally, we’ve arrived at the
middle of October and things are looking great.
Cabernet has started to come in, which typically is
the last variety to do so. "Overall, this looks like
it’s going to be as good a harvest as 2006, if not
better," says Bill. "We won’t have the same yields
as we did in 2005 but that’s okay by me – I’d much
prefer to get average sized yields with excellent
quality."
Harvest 2007 is almost complete. And when it’s over,
you’ll find most winemakers in the Dry Creek Valley
toasting to another harvest – with a cold beer.
Thanks to our 2007 Interns!
For
more than 30 years, we have welcomed interns from
around the world to assist us with harvest.
These hard working and
eager students, fill a much needed role
during the busy harvest season - crushing
grapes, pressing grapes and red pomace, pumpovers, rackings, filling and topping
barrels, as well as vineyard sampling - they
are truly a valuable asset!
This year, we welcomed three interns from
three very different regions across the
globe:
Sebastian, Francois, and Tom
Sebastian Franco-Siri, Uruguay
Francois
Bezuidenhout, South Africa
Tom Lightfoot, Australia
From the entire family at Dry Creek
Vineyard, we'd like to thank you for your
hard work and dedication. With your help, we
will be able to produce another terrific
vintage of Dry Creek Vineyard wines!
