Pinot Noir ready
Harvest is always a wonderfully crazy time. There are so many variables to line up in hopes of catch the grapes at their best. Here are some photos from a Pinot Noir pick this harvest.
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.
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!
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.
A Little Green
Note - this post was originally published 3/21/2014.
This week it was a pleasure to drive around the Russian River and Napa Valleys. The first signs of green. Only a little rain this year and yet we still get to enjoy greenery. Spring is here:
