Hardscrabble Journal

Pause

Today is a rare day off from picking or crushing. The weather this coming week looks good. A few extra days of sun would benefit the grapes. Hardscrabble’s older Chardonnay vines will get a last kiss of a sunny, dry week before becoming wine. This could be a game changer for an otherwise only tepidly good harvest.

Over the last few days we have been picking and crushing young vine Chardonnay grapes from Hardscrabble. These should make very pretty wines, but probably lack the concentration for a Hardscrabble designation.

I’ve not experienced such cold nights during the ripening stage. We probably won’t see much physiological ripening (sugar accumulation or acid reduction), but I anticipate some good flavor and aroma development.

We are getting very excited about Riesling. It is holding up beautifully and loves to ripen under cool conditions. The vines are 24 years old and the crop is small, so there should be good concentration and perhaps high-quality acidity which normally is hard to come by in our warmer climate.

Tomorrow we return to the vines. Today I walk the vineyard, taste and collect samples. Shari will do lab analysis. Then we decide where exactly we will start picking.

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: September 20, 2020