Different Winter Work
It snowed in the area! We’re not used to seeing snow and enjoying the change of pace. Being careful and helping cut down fallen trees around the vineyards this week:
Beautiful Grapes
Note - this post was originally published 07.27.205
Grapes are looking great. Now we just have to keep them that way until harvest and keep the birds from harvesting before we do. Russian River Valley Fruit.
Harvest on the Horizon
Note - this post was originally published 07.06.2015
The grapes are turning color! Which means that harvest is in sight. And we're rounding the home stretch of another vintage. These are Pinot Noir grapes. Once the grapes have gone through veraison (changing color) they'll start to develop sugars. It's these sugars that will later be turned into alcohol/wine. Salut!
Grapes
Note - this post was originally published 05.28.2015
The grapes have set and in the warmer regions we farm are growing fast! All the grapes are green at this point. In another month or so they'll start to go through verasion - the process when the red grapes turn color and start developing their sugars. Looking good!
At Home in the Vineyard
Note - this post was originally published 05.26.2015
It seems every spring we come across a little nest of baby birds. We're always careful when we go through the vineyards, just in case, and then be sure to leave a buffer around these babes so they can grow and leave the nest on their own.
In the Vineyard
Note - this post was originally published 05.11.2015
Putting the brush between the wires and keeping the rows clean.
Tended Vineyards
Note - this post was originally published 04.16.2015
Vines that are cared for are happier and healthier. They respond by growing and showing their green leaves and grapes-to-be. It is a great feeling to see, in this case literally, the fruits of your labor. The 2015 vintage is looking good.
Suckering
Note - this post was originally published 03.31.2015
Spring is here and has brought with it summer weather. Now when we look out our windows, we are greeted by a sea of green! We've got good growth on the vines and this week we've started suckering in the vineyards. We sucker the vines to thin the growth and concentrate nutrients to achieve better quality fruit.
Beat the Weather
Note - this post was originally published 02.20.2015
Unlike the East Coast, here in Northern California Spring is coming early. We're finishing up pruning vineyards and tying them to their trellises before the vines start showing their new growth.
This picture is of Pinot Noir grapes in the Russian River Valley:
Out with the Old
Note - this post was originally published 02.15.2015
After finishing taping & tying the vines - time to remove the brush and leave everything nice and clean.
Taping & Tying
Note - this post was originally published 02.11.2015
After pruning the vines, when the weather starts to warm and the new growth is flexible, we tie the vines to the trellis system to train them and lend structural support. After the rains this past weekend, we're back in the vineyards taking care of the vines.
A Feeling of Expectation
Note - this post was originally published 02.07.2015
Hope: a feeling of expectation and a desire for a certain thing to happen. This week in the vineyard we spotted a leaf. In the middle of winter, a pop of color, a sign of life, and the first look at the 2015 vintage. Cheers!
Winter Yellows
Note - this post was originally published 02.01.2015
One of the seasonal wonders of Napa Valley that we look forward to each year is the yellow mustard. After the first serious rains of winter - usually in January - these bright yellow flowers, knee-high in height, bloom throughout the vineyards. Miles of yellow, a sea of flowers divided into waves among the rows of grape vines.
In the Vineyard - Pruning
This post was originally published 01.31.2015
Winter, when the plants are dormant, is the time to prune the vines and focus growth for the coming vintage. We generally prune vineyards in January and February. This week we're in the Russian River Valley working with Pinot Noir.
Picking Pinot Noir
Note - this post was first published 09.09.2014
It’s a great feeling when you get to see a project through. That’s how we felt last week when we had the opportunity to pick a Pinot Noir vineyard in the Russian River Valley that we had started working in January of this year.
When you work with grapes, the job is to nurture each vine individually and manage the vineyard as a whole. When to pick the finished product – ripe grapes – is actually up to the winemaker. Whoever is purchasing the grapes is using them as the raw materials for a beautiful wine. The growing season, elements, geographical features of the vineyard, and vineyard management techniques will all have effects on flavor. But the style of wine (bursting fruit flavors, bigger wines with higher alcohol contents vs. more traditional lighter alcohol wines with more restrained characteristics that might develop more over time, etc) starts with when to pick – at what levels the acidity and sugar exist in the grape.
Pinot Noir is a thinner skinned grape that ripens before thicker skinned grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah.
Here’s to the 2014 vintage, cheers!
Almost Harvest Time
Note - this post was originally published 8.14.2014
The grapes are ripening, trucks are moving bins and tanks up and down the Valley... harvest should start here soon - in the next week or two.
Some of the bounty to be picked, then crushed and fermented:
Nets
Note - this post was originally published 8.07.2014
The grapes have undergone veraison – the onset of ripening when the color of the berries (grapes) change color. Until now both the red and white varieties have been green. Literally.
In some of the vineyards we take care of, we’ve had to net the vines against local birds who have also noticed the ripening fruit.
Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
Note - this post was originally published 06.29.2014
Grapes! Our pruning efforts paid off. Here are some Russian River Pinot Noir grapes growing, growing, growing.
