All Whites Are In, Reds Begin at Peju Province Winery

Yesterday, we processed the last of our Chardonnay. All of our white grapes, both Sauvignon Blanc and Chard., have now been plucked from their vines and have begun their journey to becoming delicious white wine.

The first bit of Sauvignon Blanc that we picked on September 6 and inoculated on September 9, allowing a few days for the lees to settle out, is dry! (‘Dry’ in winemaking means that all of the sugar in what was once juice has been converted to alcohol in what is now wine. In wines with what we call ‘residual sugar’, not all of the sugar was converted to alcohol, and the wine remains ‘off-dry’ or slightly sweet. There are a number of reasons that this will occur, some intentional, some not…) With much of our Sauv. Blanc dry, this means that technically, we have 2011 wine!

But it’s not quite finished wine. It’s baby wine. Born and alive, tangible and functional, but so fresh off the boat (out of the womb/off the vine and the lees) that it hasn’t really come into itself yet. Foregoing a discussion (monologue) on nature and nurture, suffice it to say that wine and humans make for amusingly comparable subjects for consideration. The point is that you take what ‘God/Nature/Insert-Name-Here gave you’ and then you take advantage of what Life throws your way. You try to cultivate your best self and you enjoy pondering how you got to be that way. Wine lacks the ability to introspect, of course, so we have to ponder its constitution for it.

Our 2011 Sauvignon Blanc has been born tasty, bright, and fresh. Soon a small percentage will hang out in neutral oak barrels for complexity, flavor, mouthfeel and structure. Then it will be time for Sara to work her magic, blending from the different tanks of S.B. separated by vineyard blocks and ripeness-levels-at-crush, to create what we are proud to call Peju Sauvignon Blanc. Forgive the shameless self-promotion, but it really is delicious!

The first Zin to come in (hill-side vineyard block - less water retention in the soil)

Oh, and also, we brought in our first red grapes on Friday, which was very exciting, as it has been a long time coming. The reds still aren’t quite there yet, however, in terms of ripeness. And the rain yesterday and today has everyone feeling a little nervous. As long as we get sun after the rain though, all should be well. Friday, we brought in the little bit of Malbec and Petit Verdot from our Rutherford property. Yesterday, it was Zinfandel grapes from the Persephone Vineyard. Friday, I’ll be working crush with the crew so stay tuned! Can’t wait!

- Britt Starr at Peju Province Winery

Click on me to read this blog in its context.

Pablo, Lony, Juanito & Frankie wave 'Hello!' from the sorting table

Round Pond Harvest Update 2.0

After patiently waiting nearly all of September, the commencement of harvest finally arrived on Wednesday of last week. Sauvignon Blanc picking and pressing is in full swing and I am thrilled to report that the quality looks very good this year. As most of you know, shatter was a big factor in the size of the crop this vintage and Sauvignon Blanc was particularly hard hit. Early estimates pegged the damage at fifty percent reduction, but after harvesting the first two blocks it looks like the crop load was affected to a slightly lesser degree.

One of the challenges that we have encountered this year has been to bring the canopy and crop load into balance. Sauvignon Blanc has a naturally vigorous vegetative growth habit and when combined with the deep heavy soils where the vines are planted, the crop size can be prolific. Because of the shatter the natural balance between leaf surface area and crop load was thrown askew. Too many leaves and not enough fruit causes sugars to accumulate quicker than flavors. To mitigate this we hedged the vines early and often to remove actively growing shoot tips and control the overall number of leaves.
The cool growing season delayed the commencement of harvest by twenty six days. However, this late season heat spell kicked the pace of ripening up a few notches and Sauvignon Blanc throughout the valley is being picked at a furious pace to keep sugars and flavors in an appropriate range. Round Pond’s trellis set-up has allowed us to weather this heat with minimal detrimental impact to the fruit. The fruiting zone is well protected by the canopy so that sunburn does not occur. The flavor intensity in the fruit is exceptional and the multiple picks should allow for a very expressive and complex wine. I am hoping to wrap things up early this week for the Estate Sauvignon Blanc; the Reserve fruit should come in shortly there after.

Until the next installment...


Brian Brown
Winemaker
Round Pond Estate

3...2...1...

The launch codes have been given and the pad prepared, we are T-minus 21 hours to the start of our 40th crush! The new cellar is finished, the headlamps are cleaned and checked, the crews are rested and ready for tomorrow (early) morning when we will begin Harvest 2011. The first fruit across the scale this year will be about 10 tons of night harvested Sauvignon Blanc from our Takahashi Ranch in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Vallley.

A long standing tradition on the first day of harvest here at Montelena is the Blessing of the Grapes. Tomorrow mid-day before we begin pressing the Sauvignon Blanc, we will invite our friends and neighbors to join all of Team Montelena for an invocation and blessing of this year's crop, the new cellar, and all of us working with them. Two priests will be on hand to help us out, followed by a few toasts, and lunch by Jade Lake. A fine way to start what is bound to be an interesting and intense Harvest 2011.

Cameron Parry
Winemaker

(Meet Cameron in our latest Harvest 2011 Video!)

Slowly but Surely, the Round Pond Harvest Commences!

The thing so many people forget about the wine industry is that it is an agricultural industry. This means that first and foremost, it is a farming based business. So by nature of the business, this means we live and die by what the year's harvest brings us. This year has been a particularly challenging growing season. We had a cooler than average summer which makes it very difficult for the grapes to fully ripen on the vine. Throughout the growing season, the viticulture team went through the vineyards to perform "leaf pulling". This means they pulled leaves off the vines to make sure the fruit was as exposed to the sun as possible to achieve ripeness. Then in the late summer, we experienced a freak heat wave that was so hot, it burned a lot of the exposed fruit. Normally that fruit would be shaded and protected from the sun's harsh rays, but not this year. The heat spike only lasted 2 days, but the result was sunburned fruit.
This is not the end of hope however, it just means a lot more work for vineyard crew. When it came time to pick Sauvignon Blanc a couple weeks ago (21 days later than past years) the crew had to first make a pass through the vineyard and remove all the sunburned/shriveled grapes. They then went back through to pick the rest of the clusters that were ripe, and if there were a few sunburned grapes left on the cluster, the picking crews removed those grapes carefully before throwing them in the picking bins.
This is a textbook case of what we call "precision farming"; it can be very time consuming and expensive, but the results are worth all of the extra effort.
So as of now, we have harvested most of our Sauvignon Blanc, and a little Petit Verdot. We are still waiting on our Cabernet Sauvignon to get fully ripened, and these warm Indian Summer days are definitely helping things along. Stay tuned for more harvest updates and see more pictures on our facebook page!

The 'Official' Raymond Taste Testers

At Raymond Vineyards, we have been harvesting Sauvignon Blanc for just over a week. Today, we visited a vineyard on the east side of the Napa Valley, and the decision was made to pick the block early tomorrow morning. This decision was made by both our winemaker, Stephanie Putnam, and our 'official' taste tester, Winston. Click on the video to watch our taste testers in action!

With this harvest, Raymond has transitioned to predominately harvesting at night, as the cooler temperatures help the fruit retain its natural flavors and acidity, a characteristic particularly important with Sauvignon Blanc. The fruit from this vineyard will be blended into our Reserve Selection Sauvignon Blanc, a wine that sources from both cooler and warmer regions in Napa and is 100% stainless steel fermented, resulting in a refreshing wine with layers of crisp citrus and lush tropical fruit flavors.

Cabernet Harvest at Quintessa 10-14 days Behind Normal

It's the first week in October and we have finally picked our early Cabernets - mostly from the estate's south and southwest facing hillsides - Dragon's Terrace, Riviera Sur, and South Terrace blocks. We started last week with the vineyard edges and have continued to pull in more this week. It's a bit of a late season, with Cabernet Sauvignon pick dates averaging a week or more later than last year and the gap between Merlot, which is always the first pick off of the property, and Cabernet 10-14 days later than normal. Merlot has been closer to two weeks later than last year, mainly the result of delayed budbreak this spring. Why the delayed budbreak on Merlot? Another one of nature's mysteries.

The quality of both the Merlot and Cabernet is excellent so far with small berries, even ripeness and minimal berry shrivel from the hot spells in September.

The moderate weather this week is a relief from the seesaw hot-cool-hot-cool weather we had a few weeks ago. Temperatures through the end of this week and weekend look mild and skies are clear.

Meanwhile, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon fementations for our Illumination Sauvignon Blanc are finishing as projected, with bright tropical and herb aromas coming out from behind the yeasty fermentation smells. We are beginning our second round of battonage on the early lots this week.

Come visit to see harvest in full swing, it's a sight to behold. If you can't make it to Quintessa, visit us on the web and check out our harvest video at http://www.quintessa.com/.

Cheers-

Charles Thomas, Quintessa

Finally, we’re off and rolling!

We started with Sauv. Blanc 18 days later than last year which is about where we think we are for the whole harvest, though this heat we’re living through is trying to force our hand. The photo is a shot of Leigh Meyering, our Associate winemaker, Ron Rosenbrand our vineyard manager, and me yukking it up because we have something to ferment.

The grapes looked great and since the 18th we’ve brought in some more Sauv. Blanc and a bit of Chardonnay, and everything is looking and tasting great. Reds are now our next target with Pinot Noir leading the way; yes I said Pinot Noir, it’s a small project we do from grapes we grow at about 1600 feet elevation that surprisingly produce some lovely Burgundian like Pinot. We’re also looking at some Merlots that are on the edge of being ready.

The winery is getting that wonderful CO2 fermentation aroma which means harvest is really under way so stay tuned as the fun has just begun!

Jac Cole
Spring Mountain Vineyard

Everybody is out there waiting for harvest!

One never knows, here at Chateau Boswell, who is going to get first pick but usually it is the wild turkey. Wild turkeys are the great bane of the growers in the Napa Valley, but I am also blessed with resident Pileated woodpeckers, kit foxes, and deer and I would not have it any other way.

As I spend each dusk and dawn patrolling our estate vineyard I am on the search for all of these wonderful creatures enjoying the fruits of our labor. As my husband says who could blame them!? Organically grown grapes from an owner who is willing to share to keep nature’s balance by employing only distress bird noises, irri tape, fencing and radios to deter these stealth creatures from taking more than their share!

Seriously though...this is going to be one of the Napa Valley’s finest vintages; a long growing season with phenological ripeness and for many varietals ripeness without high sugar indexes.

However...as always this is another vintage where quality wines will be made in the vineyard first followed by precision and lack of further compromise in the winery. This was a year of paying close attention to powdery mildew issues, in fact one of the most challenging years for growers...proper timing and a reduction in unnecessary spraying was of the essence. Suckering and leaf thinning were primary and if close attention was paid to just the right balance between canopy management and irrigation conservation the rewards will be significant this year.

What is happening in our facility thus far? A small amount of Chateau Boswell Chardonnay, some Arietta Sauvignon Blanc and Morlet Family Vineyards Pinot Noir and Realm's Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier.

Did anyone notice that we did not have the annual blast of high heat on Labor Day weekend?...and how crazy is it that we had rain last week and incredible high heat today. Maybe the sun will get to my hillside fruit before my dear resident poachers?

Happy Harvesting to all and to all a good wine!

Susan Boswell, Owner
Chateau Boswell Winery

The Grapes Are Good

At Cakebread Cellars, we began our 2009 cabernet sauvignon harvest this morning with a load of night picked fruit from our Maple Lane Vineyards.

So far we are very happy with the condition of the fruit that has come in, especially with our whites (sauvignon blanc and chardonnay). The cool season has left the vines in prime condition and the fruit is in remarkable shape with very little disease pressure or sunburn. Overall, we are seeing good flavors at very desireable chemistry as we have been able to reach a high level at maturity at very modest brix levels.

Looking forward, we expect this trend to continue as the phenolic levels in the red grapes look very good as does the weather outlook. We have spent the last few days assessing our vineyards with regards to their ability to weather the upcoming heat and we are confident that we are well prepared and any impacts will be minor.

Toby Halkovich, Viticulturist
Cakebread Cellars

Oh the Glory of It All!

St. Supery's cellar is in full swing as we are bringing in the last trucks of our white grapes: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon and Muscat Canelli.

Our grapes started coming in the beginning of August and the scent of fermenting juice permeates the cellar (and the office, too!). We all know what happens to the juice but what about all the other stuff? Stems, seeds, pulp, skins and goo (collectively known as pomace) that is collected in the large dump bins situated outside the winery?

On a busy day in the vineyard, our crew can pick enough grapes to fill four bins with pomace. Each black "bin" contains about 40 tons of pomace.

What do we do with it? Because St. Supery practices sustainable farming, we try to reduce and reuse everything we take out of the vineyard. These black boxes are trucked back to our family-owned estate vineyard and its contents emptied into our compost 'mini-mountain'. On an average year's harvest, we can turn almost 800 tons of pomace into compost. It takes about 10 months to fully decompose the waste into nutrient-rich compost that is tilled back into the vineyard.

This past year, our vineyard manager, Josh Anstey, brought 2 bins to our adopted school, Valley Oak, to replenish their learning garden. Valley Oak, a continuing education high school is part of the NVV sponsored 'Adopt-a-School' program.

Onward and upward! Looks like some of our Dollarhide Cabernet Sauvignon is coming in early tomorrow morning. More pomace!

Tina Cao, PR/Marketing Manager
St. Supery Vineyards & Winery

So here I am wandering in the vineyard still looking for something to pick. It’s not much of a harvest Blog unless I can fine some grapes ready to come in. But never fear, we went out tasting again Monday morning and I think we have a winner; some juicy looking Sauv. Blanc grapes that will be ripe and ready come in Thursday morning. My next Blog should have a photo of us actually working, what a relief that will be!

Thanks for hanging in there (is this what they mean by “hang time”?)

Jac Cole
Spring Mountain Vineyard

Broman Cellars - barely beginning!

Driving up the valley this morning I deeply inhaled the wonderful fragrance of harvest in the Napa Valley. What an amazing time of year! The vines are heavy with fruit and anticipation is in the air for what is expected to be a fantastic harvest, both in quality and quantity.

Here at Broman Cellars we plan to produce two varietals for this vintage – Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. We just harvested some really beautiful Sauvignon Blanc last week from the Beckstoffer Melrose Vineyard in Rutherford – a whopping 6.1 tons! This is a nice amount of excellent fruit, which will translate to an increase in case production over our 2008 SB. Yippee!

The two vineyards with which we contract, Beckstoffer’s Dr. Crane Vineyard and their Georges III vineyard have some time to go. Our own vineyard on our property is looking to be several weeks away from harvest.

So now we play the waiting game and hope that the weather and Mother Nature cooperate! The rains of these past couple of days were enough to knock the dust down, but not much more.

Lisa Broman Augustine
Director of Sales & Marketing (and everything else!)
Broman Cellars

Illuminating the 2009 Harvest

Harvest at the Quintessa estate officially started last Friday when we picked our Illumination Bench block of Sauvignon Blanc from the Quintessa property.

This small Sauvignon Blanc vineyard sits right on the famous Rutherford Bench, in a cool spot next to the Napa River. The fruit came in beautifully, with a small crop and really good intensity. After we pressed the grapes, it went into two of our concrete egg fermenters and a few neutral oak barrels for fermentation with aromatic yeasts. Right now it is humming along nicely.

We will see more Sauvignon Blanc tomorrow from a vineyard in South Napa, Semillon from Calistoga in a week or so and some from our own Faust Vineyard the week after next. I plan to use a combination of stainless steel, concrete and barrel fermentations and both native and more aromatic yeasts.

Next week, possibly as early as Tuesday depending on how the next two days of warm weather push flavors along, we expect to see the first Merlot from Quintessa's Silverdale South block. Merlot yields would be a bit below average but it's a bit early to tell with Cabernet. More updates to follow!

Cheers - Charles Thomas, Winemaker