The fruit is all in and the fermentation has begun. Pinot Noir has nearly finished fermentation and will be pressed this weekend. Great color extraction and a good clean fermentation. Cabernet and Chardonnay are crushed and starting their metamorphasis now.
We must say the weather has been a little odd this year. We picked our Dry Creek Valley Cabernet before our Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay. It's almost unheard of. Only by a day but the Cabernet was ready nearly two weeks early and the sugars hit 25 brix weeks ago. Through some careful vineyard management Puma Springs was able to hold back the sugars to allow the fruit some extra hang time and for the acids to come into better balance. They also dropped some fruit that was beginning to show signs of stress from the warms days. http://www.pumasprings.com/ .
I drove up to the vineyard Sunday night and stayed at the guest house there so I could be up bright and early Monday morning for harvest. Gary met up with me in the morning. I must have been excited about the harvest because I woke up at 4AM thinking I heard a tractor out in the vineyard...winemaking paranoia. After I poked my head outside and realized that there was no tractor outside and harvest was still a few hours off I went back to sleep for a little while. So I got up at 6 and made some weak coffee (gotta talk to the grower about stocking some decent coffee in the guest house http://www.flyinggoatcoffee.com/).
The picking crew was running a little behind so we started on our own, picking a few buckets of Petit Verdot to throw in as a field blend. Sugar readings on the Cabernet were all above 25 which meant even after dropping some of the really ripe stuff, this fruit was ready to go. The crew arrived a little before 9am and we got going picking the top half of the south facing rows first. Then we moved our truck down to the bottom of the hill and picked the bottom half. By about 11 we finished up, strapped down the grapes and headed south for the winery. We had to make a quick pit stop in Napa though to pick up our new barrels for this year. We bought several new barrels including 3 for the Cabernet to throw into this years mix. They are an american coopered barrel that is made from imported french oak. We've already got a few of them in our barrel program but they were neutral barrels we bought from another winey. These are new and Six Strings will be the first wine that touches them.
Before I wrap up on this years Cabernet harvest I must wax a little about the drive between Dry Creek/Alexander Valleys to Calistoga through Knights Valley/Hwy 128. This was the shortcut from the vineyard to picking up our barrels in Napa. This has got to be one of the most scenic drives in California. Red Mountain juts up on your left and is sparsely wooded but has magnificent red rocks that protrude out everywhere. On the valley floor vineyards are all around broken up by old farm buildings and the winding road. To the south are the Bald Hills which are not bald on the side you see fromthis highway. They are covered in redwoods up high and golden grass between the vineyards. It's a great drive, even in a bumpy flatbed diesel with 2 tons of grapes strapped to the back.
We'll post some more technical updates on how this years wines are doing once they are all in barrel. Which should be within a week. We're relieved to have another harvest season done and the 2008 wines off to a great start. The rain started this week and the weather is starting to get cold which means the vines will soon shut down for the winter. And in case you missed it the 06 SLH Pinot Noir is officially released and the first Six Strings Cab will be released in less than two months! We opened some last week and it still needs a little time in the bottle but is getting very close and promises to be a great Cab.
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