Harvest is a dynamic time of year. It is the time when decisions are made to pick the grapes at their optimal ripeness for the wine they are destined to become.

Rosés are picked with less sugar to capture the bright fruit and maintain a lower alcohol level. On the other end of the spectrum, Zinfandel (and other grapes for big red wines), is picked at a higher brix (sugar content) to show off the dark berry aromas and flavors. The riper fruit will have more body and tannin structure, making the wine match better with hearty entrees.

What is my focus currently? Having worked with our estate vineyards for many years, I have a good feel for the sequence they tend to ripen in. However, each year is different, so nothing is on autopilot. The weather during the growing season plays a big part in the grape quality for every vintage. This year we had a mild spring and one of the coolest summers in many, many years. The cooler temperatures typically cause the grapes to hang longer. It also tends to create wine with great color and round tannins. So far things are lining up to be an excellent vintage.

When walking in the vines and tasting the grapes, the flavors are bursting with fruit and a wonderfully balanced acidity. Every day sugar sample results are posted for us to see and determine where to concentrate our efforts. It usually entails a trip through the vines to assess the vine health, crop size, and true grape maturity. Numbers are a guide, but field visits are essential in the end. One concern is if the maturity takes too long is that we can be faced with potential rain and frost damage. This is a good year to hope for a second summer in late October! Even while we are picking, we are still preparing for the winter. We distribute straw on the roads in steep areas to mitigate erosion damage when it starts raining. The picked vines get a final deep irrigation as they prepare for winter dormancy.

Every year is different. One might think after 45 harvests there would two the same – NOPE! A cavalcade of external factors has turned this into an uncertain vintage for many regardless of the quality of the grapes. Our industry did not see the extent of the reduction of wine consumption coming. After many years of consistent growth and using that data to plan for the future with increased planting and processing capacity, we have created a huge over supply of bulk wine from previous vintages, and far too many acres of grapes have been planted. As someone said, “this could the best vintage no one wanted!”. It is quite surprising to see such a huge change. After Covid, people were so happy to get out and wine taste, dine out, and purchase wine for dinner at home, to the extent that we did not realize it was a temporary exuberance. But enough of that! We are going to make some of the best wine ever from this year’s grapes! At least that’s the plan.

I’m currently most excited for the following grapes, which show exceptional potential this vintage:

• Whale Rock Chardonnay reached a perfect sugar with the grapes arriving with a beautiful golden sheen
• Dos Viñas Sauvignon Blanc looks to continue its streak of 90+ points after tasting the fermentation
• Jack Knife’s hillside Cabernet Sauvignon canopy still looks great for optimal ripening,
• Blind Faith Petite Sirah looks to be delivering amazing color for use in many blends for rounding the depth of tannins and body in many wines.

It is always hard to pick out the potential shining stars of any vintage. Those were some for now, but there will no doubt be others that rise to the occasion. There are so many factors during this time that can affect the grapes’ final quality (some good, some worrisome) like late season warm temperatures, rain, rot, canopy collapse, etc. Farming is basically legalized gambling!

The latest exciting and new innovations in the vineyard are quite cool. We have invested in several electric tractors from Monarch. They can drive autonomously once OSHA lets us! Currently, they are doing lots of in-row cultivation, but our goal is for one person to be able operate multiple tractors in the field simultaneously. There is just an outdated law that prevents it from happening at the moment. We have done some driverless demonstrations, and it is quite a sight to see them driving by themselves in the vineyard. Another thing is the sound when one goes by. Diesel tractors are loud, and you just hear the engine running. When the Monarch is in the vineyard, you just hear the noise of the implement operating, something you would otherwise never experience.

We have been involved in a pilot program for a couple of years with a Norwegian company that has developed a new method of mildew control. They have robots made to straddle the vines and shine UV light into the canopy to kill mildew spores. Typically, we would spray with an organic fungicide to do this. We tested a small amount of acreage the first year but have ramped it up to several hundred acres. The robots operate autonomously with one operator handling four to five robots at a time. To be effective, the UV light only works in the absence of sunlight. The window to run the robots is one hour after sunset and two hours before sunrise. The future of agriculture will surely become very robotic and essential for the economics of farming.

I better get back at it! Who knows which grape will be ripe next, but I am determined to find it. Cheers to a fantastic vintage in 2025.