Harvest in Full Swing - Let the Good Times Roll

Today was the official start of harvest at Saintsbury! We brought in our first lot of Pinot noir from Beckstoffer Vineyards in Carneros which came in at a ‘whopping’ 2.36 tons per acre despite the tight spacing in the vineyard! Although the yield was light, we are very enthusiastic about the lot because the berries and clusters were tiny and the flavors were fantastic.

The grapes arrived at the winery around 10:30 this morning, and we had the entire crew, interns and all, rotate on the sorting table so everyone had a chance to contribute to the first Pinot noir of the season.

We will be harvesting more Pinot noir at the end of the week, from other vineyards that have a low yield. We are about ten days behind average for most of our blocks, although some of these lower yielding blocks have matured rapidly in last week’s heat. The cool weather in the forecast will allow harvest to take a nice mellow pace, at least for the short term. We anticipate the start of our Chardonnay harvest by the middle or the end of next week.

Each morning, winemakers Jerome Chery and Chris Kajani join me in walking blocks and tasting fruit. We are looking forward to starting our Brown Ranch harvest next week!

Cheers!