Hardscrabble Journal

Taking Full Advantage of the Weather

Weather gambles. How long does one hold off on picking before trouble brews? Hardscrabble’s old vine Chardonnay and Riesling are in the window of ripeness, but each sunny day will give more concentration and complexity to the resulting wines. But they are also fragile, meaning they could rot very easily with an extended rain event.

While I don’t put a lot of faith into any weather forecast more than three days out, I have to work off of something. At this time, Sunday could bring the first chance of rain. We can’t physically pick all the Chardonnay and Riesling in one day. So Friday looks like the best day to start.

Yesterday we brought in some wonderful Chardonnay grapes from what is becoming Hardscrabble’s star block. The loose Wente clone clusters held up well through the rains of August. A week of sun gave us back some of the concentration lacking in earlier picks. Finally a bit of optimism.

Reds are now entering into the discussion. This week we will take the first berry samples of Merlot for analysis. Informal tasting of the grapes tells us that we are still a few weeks out, but now we need more concrete information.

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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: September 22, 2020