Safe to Call the Vintage!

Ominous skies above Ridgecrest Vineyards prior to picking Gamay noir October 8th

The rains did come this week, with just short of 1/2" of rain coming on cue late Monday afternoon. Our assault on Ridgecrest was successful, bringing in all fruit dry except a single Pinot noir block and the Gamay noir (a total of 14 tons), which were picked the next day with a few clinging raindrops, but without uptake through the plant.

Picking Gamay noir in early morning darkness to beat the rains

We have a couple Corral Creek Pinot noir remnants yet to be picked, totaling approximately 7 tons, plus 5 tons of Riesling, which normally hangs as long as possible to gain flavor and increase the incidence of botrytis. That's it. Then all the final work is in the winery, fine-tuning ferments from long cold soaks to kicking off fermentation to ramping temperatures in a certain, but gradual profile that extracts appropriately for the year, including a couple days post-maceration if required for fullness. This year, with all the sugar and resultant alcohol, hardness and tannin extraction is a concern, so we are managing sooner-rather-than-later pressings, minimizing enzyme use during cold soak and keeping maximum temperatures down somewhat.

Malcolm pumping over a pinot noir fermentor to mix and aerate must

All this requires a dedicated crew that knows individual tasks well, but can recognize team needs and jump to help, in almost an anticipatory way. After finishing full days at 8PM, with a third of the crew to come back at midnight to punch down a few critical tanks, takes commitment, energy and probably a realization that this has to end--you know, the light at the end of the tunnel concept. We will see it soon, too.

Elizabeth and Marieta sorting Pinot noir from Ridgecrest, delivered by Steve

As Holly Kinne at The French Bear said this morning as we all had breakfast together, "sleep is for after harvest." After the Gamay noir (in cold storage awaiting the next open tank) and soon-to-be-picked Corral Creek remnants go to fermentor, each tank we dump to press reduces our work. And soon, exponentially, we go from overwhelmed to asking if we haven't missed something.

So far we are pleased with fruit ripeness and health, plus all technical aspects of the process such as fermentation temperature control and yeast health (if unhealthy, maladies such as reduction can occur). Analytically, the year is best characterized as 1-2 brix higher sugar content, one gram per liter less acid and very little malic acid content than normal. Wines seem deeply colored this year and our attempts to balance alcohol and tannin seem successful.

It should be safe to call this a 6th very good vintage in a row.

Regards,

Harry