Harvest Update:

Today’s chemistry readings help validate those from 4 days ago, and present a picture of rapidly ripening fruit.  We have just endured the third intense heatwave of the growing season, and have been dealt a wonderful card of a coming string of days in the mid- to upper 80’s and even a little “humidity”…40%+!  Our plants have never looked so good at this point in the season, so we are optimistic that we can use this respite from hot, dry weather to try to get ahead of the curve on watering and achieve ripe fruit with minimal dehydration.  We plan to continue watering the vineyard (in blocks by necessity) around the clock until at least the primitivo is in, and likely beyond.

In terms of harvest predictions, we are feeling very confident in recommending that our primitivo clients consider taking their fruit in the next 2 weeks, depending on the level of ripeness that they are looking for.  We see the optimal window for a dry wine likely to end by Labor Day.  The acids are a little high right now, but they have already begun their typical precipitous fall.  The juice in our chemistry samples is significantly red-tinted, also suggesting that we are close.   We expect to sample again for chemistry on the 22nd or 23rd, and harvest for some by next weekend would not be out of the question.

There is clearly more time for the barbera, as usual, and early- to mid-September continues to look highly probable.  We will continue to water these vines as aggressively as possible to try to win the annual battle against dehydration.  

We are nearly on cruise-control heading into harvest season.  A long string of classic warm days/cool nights is finally giving way to a stretch of more intense heat, which is expected for a few more days and which we are combatting with watering.  Seconds were dropped from our clone 02 barbera plants, which were particularly loaded with them this year, and some limited first crop fruit has followed on a plant-by-plant basis…perhaps 10% overall.  The primitivo formed relatively few seconds, and those have been dropped, along with a limited amount of main crop fruit (based on balance within a given plant), from Block 6 and part of Block 7.   This operation will be completed in the primitivo this coming weekend, with the main goal less to thin the crop, which is already on the light side, as to better synchronize the ripening of what’s there.  Our philosophy is that any bunches showing green at this point “ain’t gonna make it” for the commercial harvest, as the vast majority of the primitivo crop is a solid blue/purple in color. 

We have netted an unprecedented fraction of our main vineyard–about 20%, focusing on areas immediately adjacent to trees that traditionally get ravaged.  While there has been some bird damage in the primitivo, so far we appear to be holding our own against the birds, with the help of the nets and bird distress call boxes.

The first chemistry readings of the season were just posted.  We are a little rusty on our sampling routine after not doing this for 11 months, but the readings seem plausible based on taste, appearance, and our historical data.  While the sugars are not off the charts yet, they are getting up there relative to the acid, and we repeat our prediction that this will NOT be a late season.  In fact, based on the data, we are moving up our estimates of harvest slightly to late August-early September for primitivo, and to early September-mid-September for barbera.  This will all become clear exactly when it always becomes clear…when it’s nearly on top of us!

Normal mid-summer temperatures, with abundant sunshine unfiltered by wildfire smoke, have returned to our area.  As expected, verasion is well underway throughout the vineyard, with almost all first crop bunches of barbera showing at least some ripening, and most main primitivo clusters showing the uneven ripening typical of the primitivo/zinfandel family.  Our experimental crop of tempranillo, by contrast, shows almost uniformly purple bunches already, though it remains a few weeks from full ripeness.

As we enter the home stretch for this growing season, our main challenges will be keeping the grapes hydrated and out of the mouths of marauding birds.  We have already begun deploying bird netting on strategic parts of the vineyard adjacent to trees, and the familiar sounds of our mechanical “bird boxes” can be heard echoing across the vineyard from dawn until dusk.  As the birds (uncharacteristically) didn’t even wait till ripeness to attack the tempranillo, we expect the birds to be a real challenge this year.

The primitivo crop is light enough that we think we will be harvesting 2 tons or less per acre without any fruit dropping this year.  We suspect that this is payback for a relatively heavy fruit set last year.  On the barbera side, there seems to be more “second” fruit even than normal for barbera, and we are going to have the seconds dropped this week to allow the vines to focus their energy on ripening our main crop, which otherwise appears to be moderate in size.  The health and appearance of the vines for this point in the season remains excellent on both the barbera and primitivo sides of our vineyard.  If we can avoid high heat between now and harvest, it should be a very good year.

We are pleased to announce that the first commercial dry red wine made from our grapes was just released this weekend as a vineyard-designated wine at Obscurity Cellars in Fair Play, CA.  The 2006 Primitivo from Obscurity Cellars recently won a silver medal at the 2008 El Dorado County Fair and a bronze medal at the 2008 Amador County Fair.

Pleasant summer weather has given way to intense but seasonable summer heat.   This past week, we experienced a series of 105 F+ days, which have been book-ended by a series of 90 F+ days.  Coupled with smoke and haze from wildfires, it has been little short of an oven in the Foothills of late. 

The grapevines continue to look very good to date.  Mildew prevention has been complete, with most risk behind us now.  Weed and bug pressure has been minimal due to a combination of agricultural practices and, we suspect, the dry spring.  We have been watering the barbera relatively aggressively as compared to past years, and the primitivo less than in past years, as this seems to better match the vines’ requirements.  The vines look very healthy.  Both the barbera and primitivo grapes emerged very well from the recent scorching days, with very little evidence of sunburn.

The crop load on the barbera looks moderate, although there seem to be more “seconds” than usual, perhaps related to the April frost.  We will have a better sense of crop load, and the need to drop fruit or not, in 1-2 weeks as verasion kicks in. 

The primitivo is carrying a relatively light load, in part due to a fair number of “shot” berries evident after flowering, and also smaller clusters in general.  We have no complaints, as the fruit load looks to have naturally fallen within our 2 tons/acre target, which may obviate the need for any fruit dropping this year.    Some yellow leaves have begun to appear predominantly on our far hilltop which has a better-draining soil than the rest of the vineyard and may be showing a little water stress after the recent heat wave.  Since these were also the earliest emerging vines this spring, this may also be the start of the natural senescence/ripening process.

Our experimental plot of tempranillo grapes, always the earliest to ripen among our reds, have just begun verasion this weekend, and we suspect that we will see widespread evidence of verasion in both the barbera and the primitivo within 1-2 weeks.  This should not be a late harvest.