Harvest 2012 Update

I write this awaiting arrival of 5 tons of Pinot Noir from Beresini Vineyard in Carneros.  Uzi woke at 3:50 this morning to oversee the pick while I slept to a more normal hour and drove to meet him and the fruit at the winery.  I beat them both here so am taking advantage of the moment to write this in our traveling office/dining room/sometimes bedroom (aka my car.)

The reason he and the fruit are a bit late, and why growers and winemakers across Sonoma and Napa are celebrating, is that the perfect fruit set we had this spring and a steady stream of pleasant weather has led to an incredibly bountiful harvest.  The vineyard produced more fruit than it has in years and they needed more time and more bins to pick it.  The yield (tons/acre) is still low compared to most vinearyds, but for Beresini Vineyard this year is a jack pot!  I think we’ll finally get as much as we asked for.  And best of all, this year’s decisions on when to pick are being decided on ripeness not impending rain storms or heat spikes that played a role in the last 2 vintages.

We are so happy to bring in Pinot Noir from Beresini and Lauterbach Vineyards for the 4th year in a row and Chardonnay from Hyde Vineyard for the 2nd.   We just bottled our 2011s from each of these 3 vineyards and consider ourselves very lucky to have ongoing relationships with these dedicated growers.

And now it’s time for us to roll up our sleeves, get sticky and dirty, keep our traveling office stocked and go make some wine.  Hope your fall is just as happy and exciting!

 

Oh yeah, Hyde Chardonnay

A picture is worth a thousand words…so I’ll just say a few:

Our 2011 Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay was just bottled and it is just amaaazing, can’t wait to release it!

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Spring in the vineyard

Shoot reaching out to the sun

I always say that spring is the second best time of the year (the first is harvest in the fall.)

Watching the new shoots reach for the sun, performing their annual miracle painting the vineyard green, sprouting from the brown, dead looking trunks, never ceases to amaze me.

Tiny baby clusters appear and the leaves open up, spread and gorge on the sun.

This is also the time of the year when planting replacement vines happen.  Some of the old vines are too tired and can barley produce a cluster or two each year. We plant new, young vines in the field, right next to the old ones.  It will be three years before the new vines will produce any meaningful fruit, under the watchful eyes of their elders.

New vines receive protection from frost and bunnies with an old milk carton and sawdust.

 

Harvest 2011

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Harvest came late and fast this year.  Late ripening fruit and forecasted rains early this week led to a mad race to harvest the thinner-skinned varietals (such as Pinot and Chard) early Monday October 3rd before rain could cause any damage.

 

Pre Harvest Sampling in Carneros

It’s been a long, cool growing season and harvest is still maybe 2 weeks 1 week ?? away.  Yields look small but with the long hang time, complex flavors are developing in there.  And it’s always a pleasure to walk Steve’s vineyard with him.

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2009 Release

Announcing our New Release now available on our website:

2009 Stomping Girl Pinot Noir, Beresini Vineyard, Carneros

2009 Stomping Girl Pinot Noir, Lauterbach Hill, Russian River Valley

2009 Stomping Girl Pinot Noir, Corona Creek, Sonoma Coast

Thankfully, it is ready just in time for Turkey Day because what goes better with that bird than Pinot Noir?  And we’re not just saying that because we make Pinot–it’s a tried and true, classic combination.  Good old American Pinot with a good old American bird.  So why not give Stomping Girl a try with your turkey this year?

Because we want to offer first dibs to our mailing customers, this wine is not yet available in restaurants or retail stores.  It is only available on our website–which is newly designed, by the way, check it out.

If you want to ensure your wine arrives in time for Thanksgiving, be sure to place your order by November 17.

If you’re local, or will be in town visiting, then order on the website and choose to pick it up at the winery–no shipping charges!

Order a case of one wine or make it fun and mix and match 12 bottles–either way you automatically get 10% off.  No coupon required.

 

2010 Harvest and Crush

 

Night Harvesting our 2010 Beresini Pinot Noir

After much anticipation, we had our first harvest on 9/30. We picked 1.25 tons of Beresini Pinot Noir and proceeded to our first crush. That is the lowest yield we’ve ever got from this one acre.

 

Brix Levels Getting Up There

Beresini Pinot Aug 28

As harvest approaches, we are taking twice weekly Brix measurements of Bersini vineyard in Carneros–typically, our first vineyard picked.  On August 28, it was at 20.2 Brix.  On September 5, 21.4.  We picked on September 14 last year but due to the general coolness of this summer, the vineyard is about 1 degree and 1 week behind where it was last year at this time.   While the warm weather we’ve had these last two weeks might speed things up a bit, it is still hard to tell.

Last year, Beresini had a smaller than expected yield from our rows and it looks like we may find ourselves in the same situation again this year.  Smaller yields typically mean better, more intensely flavored wines…but it also means less of it.

 

Vineyards in Late June

We popped in on Beresini Vineyard and Corona Creek Vineyard in late June to check on the fruit.  Here they are:

Beresini vineyard (first photo) is in Carneros.  The berries are a little farther developed than those in Corona Creek (2nd photo) located in Sonoma Coast.  In 2009, we harvested Beresini over 2 weeks before Corona Creek.

We also stopped at the Fremont Diner in Carneros, just down the road from Beresini, for some down home cooking.  The big yellow square in the photo is butter, right behind it is a pig’s leg. Definitely not the place to go if you’re on a diet.