Today we pressed-off our last large Pinot noir tank, leaving only one Pinot noir fermentor and two small Gamay noir ferments to drop in the next couple days. Wynne, Katie, Greg and the harvest crew are smiling, not just because of the lovely weather and gorgeous sunsets staged for a beer break, but because the wines in tank and now largely in barrel are exceptional, especially considering a year where 5 inches of rain fell in a concentrated period of time.

The best from 2013 will be equal to our best from our superior years. We will have a little less volume in some varieties caught by the rain and mercilessly sorted out of the harvest, but what is in the cellar is very good to excellent. We concluded with 80% of what we anticipated. Key blocks were on the mark, especially those harvested later because they were nowhere near ripeness at the rain event. With longer hangtime and beautiful protection from botrytis, they held until perfect to pick.

The harvest crew is now getting two consecutive days off, the first doubles since early September. By next Monday everything will be buttoned up and only monitoring and tweaking going on. So, then the crew takes off for a short retreat to the Oregon coast, to eat, sleep, taste flights of wines, and basically do no work.

Thanks for an excellent year, despite some adverse conditions. Great viticulture to prepare the vines and great winemaking decisions will pay-off this year. Thanks.

We’ll let you know how these wines develop and bottle the first ones in April. Salud.

Regards,
Harry

Weather and Its Implications

We’ve continued gorgeous dry, sunny weather over the last few weeks, with only 0.7 inches of rain the entire month of October (through Oct 28th). For most people AND us, it has been great working weather, but it has had little impact on fruit, since our last picking day was October 14th. Lovely.

Harvest-to-Date thru Oct 29th

Total:
303 tons
(80% of forecast)

Pinot Noir:
161 tons
(96% of forecast)

Pinot Gris:
31 tons
(65% of forecast)

Chardonnay:
79 tons
(66% of forecast)

Pinot Blanc:
0 tons
(0% of forecast)

Gamay Noir:
4 tons
(112% of forecast)

Gruner Veltliner:
5 tons
(88% of forecast)

Riesling:
23 tons
(74% of forecast)