Harvest 2022

Nobody knows exactly when harvest will start until you get a look at the fruit during veraison. When the grape cluster's change color from green to golden yellow, purple or pale pinky red depending on the varietal. A weekly at first then daily assessment decides the picking day. Once you get a good idea of tonage and an idea of how quickly ripening will happen. This is just the start of understanding grape harvest start date.

   Here July 27th, we take a walk through the Bohemian Vineyard in Freestone. Almost zero veraison.

Gewurtz from Olivet road which we were very looking forward to getting, we've made sporadically since 2014. Unfortunately on pick day, the vineyard owner decided to keep all of the small crop.

Viognier mid August looking great.

Bottling in August is daunting when harvest is early, like 2022. We bottled all the red wines August 16th at the same time some wineries were already bringing fruit in.

Exciting but sad to say such small yields from 2021 that the wines will be in high demand and sell out quickly. Especially our 1st Dolcetto, only 75 cases.

Now the harvest is on.....

Earliest pick date for us, TnT Pinot Noir was picked Friday August 26th, usually picks mid September. Everyone was happy to have this beautiful fruit arrive at the winery! With the last few years fear of fires, we always feel a huge sigh of relieve to get the fruit picked. 

Viognier picked early Thursday September first looking quite Fab-u-lous!

Viognier being barreled down September 2nd into neutral oak, we're very happy to have 10 barrels = 200 cases. This wine bottles in early 2023.

Next up is focus on Pinot punch downs and the arrival of new french barrels from France.

Mat goes into the winery twice a day everyday to do punch downs, which keep the skins, stems, seeds in constant contact with the juice. Fermentation creates amazing smells of bubbling berries. It's a very exciting time of year to see the grapes fermenting for our future vintage.

Evening punch down.....

It truly is a wonderful feeling watching a winemakers love of the art of winemaking. Mother nature sets the stage for how our vintage rolls out and we roll with her punches. Labor Day Monday temps rise to 106`.

4 Pinot bins fermenting and Bohemian vineyard left to pick. All is well for PMV this harvest.

We were scheduled to pick Bohemian vineyard Monday September 19th but due to rain on the 18th we postponed. We received almost 3 inches. Leaving the fruit on the vines for a few sunny days will hopefully dry the grapes and we will schedule the pick within the coming week.

Toast with us at the Tasting Room Thursday thru Sunday.