Yesterday, at 7 AM about 40 guys from Barbour Vineyards began picking the 7 acres at Butterdragon. Temperatures were in the mid 40’s and by the time they were done at 11 AM, it was around 60 degrees. I LOVE it when the grapes come in cool.
The fruit looked and tasted great though there was evidence of a bit more dehydration than we saw at Baconbrook on Saturday. Tonnage reflected this as we kept a total of 9.3 tons of Cab and a little under 1 ton of Merlot. This will mean production of 2006 Butterdragon will probably fall around average (~600 cases) rather than like the big harvest of 2005. This is fine with me. Crush went off without a hitch. With the small amount of Merlot, we were able to do a bin fermentation rather than putting it in a tank with the Cab. I like doing it this way. Although we’ve always ultimately blended in Butterdragon’s Merlot, I like having separate lots as long as possible so we can track individual elements and make final blending decisions. You can’t take it out once it’s in. By 3 PM, we were ready to clean up and go home.
Always a relief to get another vintage into the barn.
PS. I’ll post some pictures from both harvests soon.

Yesterday morning at 7AM, Pina started harvesting Baconbrook. They were done before 10. Weights came in a bit light: we had almost 14 full half ton bins and the weight came out to 5.5 tons. Crushed around noon at Rombauer. With 5.5 tons, you can’t blink or you’ll miss it. We were done in probably half an hour.
The grapes looked fantastic. Little to no dessication, great flavors, brown seeds, softening skins. Tannins that had been described as hard a week or so ago were significantly softer. I think this last little heat umph of temps in the 80’s brought it around.
Butterdragon on Tuesday.

One of the weirdest things about becoming a farmer later in life is that you have to start considering the weather in things beyond the question of whether or not to carry an umbrella. When it’s this close to harvest, watching the weather and tasting the grapes is a daily thing. Decisions are made, harvest dates are set and reset. It’s all a gamble. Harvest now? Avoid the different risks of heat or rain. Wait? Perhaps get even more ripeness but heat will dehydrate the grapes and cause the sugars to shoot up beyond manageable levels. Rain could spoil everything. Eventually, if you do nothing, the vines will shut down and stop ripening the grapes anyway. Good thing I have some great partners who better understand these things. Cary Gott, Barbour Vineyards, and Pina Vineyard Management increase our odds come harvest time.
We always try at least “pencil in” harvest a couple of weeks out. This gives Barbour, Pina, and Rombauer (where we crush our grapes) a heads up in scheduling their workload. However, this year, like last year, has been very mild. With the exception of July’s heat, the season has been long and mild with no late season heat storms to dehydrate grapes and cause a rush to harvest. Basically we’ve just been waiting, keeping one eye on the weather to make sure there are no big swings in the forecast. Harvests have been predicted, set, and set back.
What will this mean? Of course, it’s too early to tell much about the wine we’ll make, but we’re encouraged that with long hang time, the grapes will be wonderful with as much ripeness as possible. Also, no excessive heat means we won’t end up with overripeness. The mild temps also mean that crops will be pretty big as we’ve lost little due to dehydration. In fact, Cary commented the other day that the clusters as Baconbrook look just perfect.
Harvest dates are set.
Baconbrook will be Saturday 10/21.
Butterdragon will be Tuesday 10/24.
‘Course, all that can change.

There are still a lot of grapes out there in Napa. Just a few scattered tons have been harvested and in fact, most of the chardonnay and other early ripening varietals are still out.
Tomorrow we’re expecting a significant amount of rain. What had been earlier predicted as a slight chance of a shower has now grown to “the first significant rain event” of the season. Santa Cruz mountains and down towards Monterey possibly as much as an inch. Napa Valley may get 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Nerves of steel needed in this business. Few have been ready to harvest and now there’s some risk. Everyone should be okay — especially thicker skinned varieties — but I’m sure we’ll all be holding our breath. Especially important is what happens AFTER the rain. We’ll need some sun and warmth to dry things out.
Are things going to be late? Baconbrook’s and Butterdragon’s harvest dates still haven’t even been penciled in. We usually try to do that 2 weeks out.