Harvest, Weeks of September 26th and October 3rd: Things Ramp Up and then Pause for Rain

After a slow start to harvest, the accumulation of warm days produced a rush at the end of September.  Between September 26th and October 4th, we harvested 112 tons of fruit, including most of what will go into our Patelin Blanc (mostly Viognier and Grenache Blanc) and perhaps half of what will go into our Patelin (mostly Syrah).  We also brought in 28 tons of estate fruit, principally Vermentino, Roussanne and Chardonnay, though also a little Syrah, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc and even Grenache Noir.  Two photos from that period will give a sense of what we were working on.  First, a photo of bins of Grenache Blanc lined up outside the winery, waiting to be pressed:

And then a photo of our destemmer, working on Syrah.  Our newest piece of equipment for this year's harvest is a vibrating conveyor to even out the flow of clusters to the destemmer.  Rather than a traditional conveyor belt, with moving parts and hinges that are almost impossible to keep clean, this is a slightly inclined stainless steel channel that vibrates, moving the clusters downhill toward the destemmer in an even flow.  It's been a remarkable success, reducing the number of clusters that have made it through the destemmer undestemmed and producing nicer-looking berries with less stem particles:

Just as it looked like all of the 2011 harvest was going to come tumbling in in a rush, the weather changed.  A storm front on Monday, October 3rd dropped a negligible amount of rain (0.08 inches) but paved the way for a larger storm on Wednesday, October 5th.  This second storm dropped 1.6 inches of rain on the vineyard, not insignificant for early October, and we haven't harvested anything significant since. 

With mid-harvest rainfall, you worry not so much about what happens with the rain as you do about what happens after.  If it stays wet and cloudy, you can have outbreaks of rot spread quickly through the vineyard.  Happily, the storm blew through quickly and by that afternoon the sun was out and the wind was blowing.  I took the below video, in which you can hear the wind whipping the vine leaves, less than 12 hours after the rain stopped:

A little rain during harvest can actually be a good thing in these conditions, as the water invigorates the vines and actually increases their ability to ripen the grapes that they hold.  But it typically puts at least a brief stop to the harvest as the grapes swell with the new water and then need at least a few days to reconcentrate.

Since the rain came a week ago, the weather has been mostly clear and dry, but not that warm, with daily highs generally in the 70's.  We've resumed testing around our own vineyard and with the vineyards with whom we're working on Patelin, and it looks like we'll resume harvesting on Thursday.  It is forecast to warm up the rest of this week, which should accelerate the process.  Meanwhile, we've been pressing off some of last week's harvest, which looks and smells great.  The photo below is Syrah in the press, wonderfully inky and minerally in the cellar:

So far, we've harvested just under 50 tons of estate fruit (about 15% of the 350 we're expecting off Tablas Creek Vineyard) and about 110 tons of purchased fruit (about 70% of the 160 tons we're expecting to contract for in total).  So our focus over the next few weeks will turn to our own vineyard.  Look for lots more Syrah, Grenache, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne over the next 10 days, any hopefully the first Mourvedre.

Harvest, Weeks of September 12th and 19th: A Quiet Beginning

As is typically the case, the 2011 harvest began quietly, with a few grapes trickling in over the first week or so before picking up steam.  The first grapes of the season arrived on Thursday, September 15th: about three tons of mostly Viognier (there was a little Roussanne mixed in) from two small vineyards in the El Pomar section of Templeton.  These will go into the 2011 Patelin de Tablas Blanc.  A photo of the first bin to reach the winery is below.  The hand belongs to Assistant Winemaker Chelsea Magnusson:

The next day saw us bring in our first red, Syrah, for the Patelin red.  This is fermenting in open-top stainless steel fermenters and in our wooden upright tanks.  A cool photo from last week through the opened top of the upright shows the Syrah bubbling away like a witch's brew.  As typically happens for us, the native yeast fermentations started right up, no problem.

The week of the 19th saw the first fruit from Tablas Creek Vineyard: about six tons of Vermentino off a beautiful parcel planted in 2007 at the western edge of the property.  Most encouraging about this picking is that we had estimated that there were about 9 bins in that section but found that there were really 12.  This and other similar results bode well for yields throughout the vineyard, which I had been worried would be at 2009 levels: below 2 tons per acre.  I'm no longer so worried about that.  The photo below shows the Vermentino, bins in the cellar in front and a press full of Vermentino behind:

The next day saw our first estate Roussanne, which looked great and allayed another fear we'd had, that with the cold spring and the late start to harvest we might be looking at an end of harvest in mid-November like last year.  But it appears that while the varieties that had sprouted before April's frosts are delayed, those that were still dormant are more or less on schedule.  That will mean that while we'll have a crazy October we're not likely to have as much fruit hanging in November as we did last year.

At the end of last week we got in our first Grenache, from La Vista Vineyard just down the street from us on Adelaida Road.  This was a very strong component of last year's Patelin, and this year's Grenache looked great:

The last two weeks have been warm, with most days topping out in the low- to mid-90s, and nights that dropped down only to the mid-50s.  This is perfect ripening weather, and it was clear at the end of last week that this week harvest was going to hit us full force.  We put in our first Saturday of the season (La Vista Syrah) and for this week we're looking at Syrah from several blocks, Pinot Noir from my dad's vineyard in Templeton, more Viognier, Vermentino and Roussanne for sure and perhaps Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc and Marsanne.  Happily, things cooled off on Sunday and Monday (highs in the 70s) so we could assess.  But with a warm day today and more warmth forecast for the rest of the week, we might see nearly 100 tons before the end of September.

We're buckled up and ready to roll.

Photos of each Rhone grape variety as harvest nears

Harvest is beginning to feel imminent.  We haven't brought in any fruit yet, but we've prepared our log books, washed out all our tanks and equipment, put our harvest cellar team together and we're ready.  We're expecting our first fruit from a couple of the vineyards we use for Patelin later this week.

We don't expect anything off our own property for another week or two, but with the beautiful warm weather we've been having for the last three weeks we've made a lot of progress.  Syrah and Mourvedre are through veraison, Grenache is nearly done, and even Counoise is making good progress.  The whites are also coming along nicely.

I spent an hour prowling the vineyard this morning to get shots of what each grape looks like now.  I'll take them in the order in which we expect them to come into the cellar.  First, Viognier, which was most affected by the April frosts and which is scarcest in the vineyard.  We're hoping for five tons off the roughly five acres we have planted:

Next, Syrah, which looks great.  Already showing its classic blue-black color, with thick skins and lots of flavor:

Next will likely be Marsanne, which I'm feeling more positive about after today's explorations.  Yields will be lower than normal, but not as drastically as in the Viognier.  And the vines and clusters look terrific:

Grenache Blanc will likely come in next.  It was reduced by the frost, but Grenache (both red and white) is sufficiently vigorous that it still set a decent crop.  I may be being optimistic about its timing; it will likely be a later Grenache harvest than we've ever seen before:

Grenache Noir is typically harvested soon after Grenache Blanc, though this year I'm sure that some Grenache lots won't come in before November.  Different vineyard blocks are at widely different stages, with some looking nearly full red and others still mostly green.  Some Grenache blocks have very little crop, and others look fine.  Our normal practice of harvesting Grenache selectively and carefully will be particularly critical this year.  The cluster below is probably about average for the vineyard, mostly through veraison but still fairly light in color and with some greenish berries mixed in:

Roussanne, which would normally be very late, seems comparatively more advanced this year.  It came through the frosts just fine and looks to be in exceptional condition; for whatever reason, the typical late-season Roussanne malaise that we're used to seeing hasn't materialized this year.  In fact, I may have misplaced it, as I'm almost certain we'll see our first Roussanne lots before our first Grenache lots.  Below, you can see Roussanne starting to get its typically russet color:

Right around when Roussanne is harvested, we typically bring in Picpoul.  I'd think that Picpoul, which is planted in our coldest pocket, will likely be a little later this year.  Still bright green, it seems a while off yet:

Normally, Mourvedre would be last.  But like Roussanne it was largely unscathed by the frosts, and actually started veraison first of the reds.  It does take a long time between veraison and ripeness, but I still will go out on a limb and say we'll bring some in before we do Counoise, which is still partly green even in the ripest areas.  The Mourvedre looks really strong this year:

Last is Counoise, which was just starting to sprout at the time of the frosts.  That's not as bad for productivity as if a vine is more advanced (as were, say, Viognier and Grenache) but it does tend to delay ripening significantly.  And Counoise is already late.  I'm hoping we bring it in in October this year, but wouldn't be surprised if it's November.  The cluster below is a little more advanced than what's average in the vineyard, but still shows some green berries mixed among the pink and red:

Overall, I'm feeling a little more positive about yields than I was after my last extended trek around the vineyard three weeks ago.  Our two most important varieties (Roussanne and Mourvedre) look good, and most blocks of Syrah look fine.  Grenache and Grenache Blanc will be reduced, probably by half compared to last year, and Marsanne and Counoise are probably similar.  Viognier will have a quarter of last year's crop, if that.  While that all may sound bleak, that's not too bad given that Mourvedre and Roussanne account for nearly half our total planted acreage.  We'll see, soon enough, if I'm right.