Last Friday, just before we left work for the long Labor Day weekend, Nabor and I sat down to discuss where we are with the 2008 vintage. That conversation follows. The holiday weekend brought moderate temperatures, but this week is warming up again and the heat should peak on Thursday when we plan to start picking the Dijon 115 clone planted around my house.

NC:  I saw Anne’s last post about thinning an already light crop. I prefer to say that we are adjusting the crop, improving it. We are balancing each vine, one by one, according to the capacity of each shoot, whether it can accommodate one, two or zero clusters.

It’s important how you approach the vineyard. We have a commitment to quality. Adjusting is not a formula and not simple. You must adjust to the crop size and situation each year, and we have to maintain our focus – … More…

We just ran our first sugars (that is, sampled our grapes for sugar content) in all of our blocks. This is an exciting time, because all the fruit has completed veraison (berries have softened and changed color) and we have completed our post-veraison thinning of fruit. So now it’s downhill to harvest.

Right now our Pinot Noir is sitting between 18 and 19 degrees Brix (roughly, 18 to 19% sugar), while Chardonnay trails a little behind at about 16. We typically harvest at around 24 or slightly higher.

Part of our sustainable approach to grape growing is to involve our crew year-round. By collecting berry samples in the vineyard, they gain a more complete understanding of the effects of the pruning they did eight months ago.  There’s also problem solving involved. Why is this block ahead of that one? Answering such questions brings greater understanding.

Although we don’t really pick by sugar content … More…

AMR: We are excited about how we “build” tannins in our grapes and wines. Tannins contribute to the texture, flavors and structure of wine. A few days ago we looked at the numerical results of our tannin trials, and then we tasted our 2007 Pinot Noirs made from grapes in those trials.

KJ: In 2006, we started analyzing different grape and wine samples, sending them to the lab to run the values of different types of tannins, like catechins, found in seeds, and anthocyanins, or pigments.

First, we just wanted to establish baseline values – where we were. Our goal was to find out what our personal sweet spots are, in terms of what we consider to be great wine, and determine if there are corresponding tannin sweet spots. So … More…

Kenneth and I walked the vineyards yesterday and the sugars are slowly moving upward. There are no green tannins left and the berries seem poised to undergo a shift to full maturity. There’s a moment when the berries jump from being ever so slightly bland to just popping with flavors.

This morning we sampled what we’ve brought in to the winery so far. First we tasted the Dijon 115 Pinot Noir clone from Nugent Vineyard in the Russian River Valley, which we farm. This fruit was harvested last Thursday, September 13, and inoculated yesterday, so it’s like, as Kenneth said, “kid’s juice.” I noticed its nice weight and delicious fruit, and Kenneth thought it had purity and focus, great fruit with good length.

Then we sampled another lot picked the … More…

I’m long overdue for a blog posting. Normally we pick in a week to ten days and our harvest is over. This vintage will be drawn out for over a month, a long time for a small Pinot Noir specialist. The biggest topic has been botrytis, but there’s a lot of misinformation about it. The botrytis was already there – it was not caused by the rain in early October. It had been there and just grew more.

The rain actually refreshed the vines, and we didn’t see any big drops in sugars. Sugar levels have just risen by very small increments this year due to the long, cool season. We had a wet spring, but we didn’t see much early botrytis. The shoots were clean, growth was good, and bloom and set was wonderful. With ample water in the ground and a good set, we saw more and bigger … More…