Yesterday we picked the last of our red grapes. Vintage 2021 required extreme patience as we waited for a weather miracle to ripen our stubborn reds. The past ten days gave us that miracle with warm, sunny days, low humidity, and cool nights.
Read MorePerfect weather has given us the window to harvest all our red grapes. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot are streaming onto the crush pad at an unprecedented rate. Style decisions are made as we taste the grapes during picking and sorting.
Read MoreWe are given a gift of ideal weather conditions. This week will be the most intense week of Vintage 2021. Almost all of our red grapes need to be harvested this week as they are fragile and cannot take another rain event. We start with Merlot on Wednesday.
Read MoreAfter Wednesday’s deluge we have had perfect ripening weather. The big concern centered around grape integrity. With a large hit of water the grapes will swell. Even worse they can crack. If this happens they lose their protective coating and start to fall apart. They cannot recover, even under ideal weather conditions.
Read MoreYesterday was a bummer. There is no way to sugarcoat a big rain during harvest.
Read MoreWe start this week picking Hardscrabble Chardonnay. Two blocks are ripe and we need to get them in the barn (walk-in cooler) before Wednesday’s forecasted rain. Two additional blocks will remain as they need a bit more time before they come into balance.
Read MoreWe can rarely schedule Hardscrabble’s Riesling picking date. Once the grapes enter the window of ripeness they become highly susceptible to rot. Rot is triggered by rain. It rained yesterday. We pick today.
Read MoreThis past week’s weather has made for a remarkable turnaround in the flavors and concentration in the grapes. It’s the break we needed. The only small downside has been the recent hot afternoons. We have limited picking to the cooler morning hours. Coolness retains fresh aromatics and limits bitterness in the juice.
Read MoreThe waiting is over. The grapes took full advantage of a brilliant weekend. The soils are drying out. Leaves are soaking up the sun and photosynthesis is accelerating ripening. While we want the vines to take in the goodness of each sunny day, the picking line-up is growing and beginning to look intimidating. Time to start.
Read MoreToday is Linden’s first day of crush for vintage 2021. On the slate are Hardscrabble’s Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. The season has presented a circuitous, twisted path to get to this point. A mid-summer drought followed by late summer cycles of brilliant sun and downpours.
Read MoreLinden will start harvest later this week. Making this decision has been particularly difficult this year due to extreme fluctuations between drought and rain. The vines are confused. Lately the weather has settled down nicely. And we hope that continues.
Read MoreHarvest is still weeks away, but recent rains have given us a reality check. We were enjoying a much drier than normal summer, but there were worries that the vines were becoming too water stressed. Some rain was desirable. Be careful what you wish for.
Read MoreLast week we bottled. It was wonderfully boring. A boring day is as good as it gets. There are lots of moving parts on our bottling line, and if one of those parts does not move the way it is supposed to move, our boring day becomes a stressful day.
Read MoreThis wine is a confirmation of Linden’s path towards elegance, restraint, and harmony over power and obviousness. The Roulot is in a great drinking window with poise and seamlessness. Nothing stands out. It has textbook textural balance. Aromas and flavors are very Burgundian with a slight flint reduction on the nose and a zesty saline finish. It certainly does not taste like the New World definition of varietal “Chardonnay.“
Read MoreThis week we saw the first berries turn color. This signals the beginning of ripening.
Read MoreDidier Dageneau took Sauvignon Blanc to a level of greatness. The variety suffers from commonness and obviousness. Wines made from this grape are often too varietal and too assertive. At Linden we have been trying to tone down its aggressive, “wild” character and bring out more terroir expression. This has not been easy.
Read More