The 2009 growing season has been ideal for our vineyards. The weather has been moderate to cool for the large part, with average crop size. While the majority of our harvest is a few weeks away, it is time for cherry picking! Imagine yourself looking at a cherry tree, some of the cherries are nice red and ripe, while others still have an edge of green and need more time to ripen...so you pick the red juicy cherries and enjoy the bright flavors. With experience and patience, that is exactly what our job is in the vineyards today.
We are in the vineyards every morning looking for the ripe fruit, and of course, our experience tells us what vineyards and varieties ripen early. We started harvest modestly last Friday with 5 tons of Sauvignon blanc, an early variety, from the St. Helena district. With the heat of the last weekend, a couple more cherries turned red, ripe and juicy....Wednesday we picked 18 tons of Viognier from the Carpy-Conolly Ranch in Rutherford...and this morning saw 10 tons of Sauvignon blanc from Yountmill Vineyard in Yountville. All the fruit is looking great, clean with much promise for flavorful wines and great numbers to boot. With all of the ripe fruit picked for now, I think we have cleared the weekend....which makes for a lot of happy faces with the crew.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
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1 comment:
Great insight on the developing 2009 Harvest. It was also good to speak with you. May your harvest be plentiful!
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