Journal | August 31, 2024
Harvest Update
Harvest this past week was very active. Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon are now starting fermentations. Chardonnay is underway and will be the main focus this coming week.
Frankly, picking was grueling because of the heat. We often started before sunrise taking advantage of the brief refreshing morning hours, but by 10:00 the sun was bearing down. Our work centered around getting the grapes into Linden’s walk-in cooler as fast as possible. The rhythm of the day was to pick four rows and then quickly load the full boxes (unromantically called “lugs”) into the pick-up trailer and race to the cooler. Then repeat. By early afternoon we stopped. Too hot for the grapes and too hot for the humans.
The quality and the eventual wine style of vintage 2024 remains a puzzle. The clusters are healthy, the sugars and acids are balanced, but the verve and textural crunch of a cooler vintage seems to be lacking. There are significant variations between variety, soils, and blocks. Lots are being kept separate for fermentation and eventual aging.
Taking a brief break and looking forward to this Monday as cool, dry air will filter down from the north. Finally it will be September. Harvesting in August has been unsettling.
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