Ahh, bud break.
It has happened at both vineyards though Butterdragon, as usual, is a tad bit further along. The shoots there are about 3/4 to 1 inch long. Just right to provide a tasty snack for deer who like the sweet, tender young shoots. Let’s hope everyone remembers to close the gates.
Northern California is behind in rainfall though I don’t think we’re so short as it will cause problems later on. At least not for us and our wells. We’ll see though.
After seeming like Spring had sprung, the temps have fallen again with unstable weather. Today has been like a regular “Winnie the Pooh blustery day.” “They” say that snow levels are going down to 2000 feet. Won’t affect us at our vineyards, but the temps in the Valley could dip down low enough to make some folks nervous, particularly since bud break has happened for most ranches. Generally, we don’t have a lot of frost worries as the hillsides where our vineyards are located tend to stay above freezing. We keep our fingers crossed because, unlike Valley floor vineyards, we have no frost protection.

Yesterday, at 7 AM about 40 guys from Barbour Vineyards began picking the 7 acres at Butterdragon. Temperatures were in the mid 40’s and by the time they were done at 11 AM, it was around 60 degrees. I LOVE it when the grapes come in cool.
The fruit looked and tasted great though there was evidence of a bit more dehydration than we saw at Baconbrook on Saturday. Tonnage reflected this as we kept a total of 9.3 tons of Cab and a little under 1 ton of Merlot. This will mean production of 2006 Butterdragon will probably fall around average (~600 cases) rather than like the big harvest of 2005. This is fine with me. Crush went off without a hitch. With the small amount of Merlot, we were able to do a bin fermentation rather than putting it in a tank with the Cab. I like doing it this way. Although we’ve always ultimately blended in Butterdragon’s Merlot, I like having separate lots as long as possible so we can track individual elements and make final blending decisions. You can’t take it out once it’s in. By 3 PM, we were ready to clean up and go home.
Always a relief to get another vintage into the barn.
PS. I’ll post some pictures from both harvests soon.

Yesterday morning at 7AM, Pina started harvesting Baconbrook. They were done before 10. Weights came in a bit light: we had almost 14 full half ton bins and the weight came out to 5.5 tons. Crushed around noon at Rombauer. With 5.5 tons, you can’t blink or you’ll miss it. We were done in probably half an hour.
The grapes looked fantastic. Little to no dessication, great flavors, brown seeds, softening skins. Tannins that had been described as hard a week or so ago were significantly softer. I think this last little heat umph of temps in the 80’s brought it around.
Butterdragon on Tuesday.

One of the weirdest things about becoming a farmer later in life is that you have to start considering the weather in things beyond the question of whether or not to carry an umbrella. When it’s this close to harvest, watching the weather and tasting the grapes is a daily thing. Decisions are made, harvest dates are set and reset. It’s all a gamble. Harvest now? Avoid the different risks of heat or rain. Wait? Perhaps get even more ripeness but heat will dehydrate the grapes and cause the sugars to shoot up beyond manageable levels. Rain could spoil everything. Eventually, if you do nothing, the vines will shut down and stop ripening the grapes anyway. Good thing I have some great partners who better understand these things. Cary Gott, Barbour Vineyards, and Pina Vineyard Management increase our odds come harvest time.
We always try at least “pencil in” harvest a couple of weeks out. This gives Barbour, Pina, and Rombauer (where we crush our grapes) a heads up in scheduling their workload. However, this year, like last year, has been very mild. With the exception of July’s heat, the season has been long and mild with no late season heat storms to dehydrate grapes and cause a rush to harvest. Basically we’ve just been waiting, keeping one eye on the weather to make sure there are no big swings in the forecast. Harvests have been predicted, set, and set back.
What will this mean? Of course, it’s too early to tell much about the wine we’ll make, but we’re encouraged that with long hang time, the grapes will be wonderful with as much ripeness as possible. Also, no excessive heat means we won’t end up with overripeness. The mild temps also mean that crops will be pretty big as we’ve lost little due to dehydration. In fact, Cary commented the other day that the clusters as Baconbrook look just perfect.
Harvest dates are set.
Baconbrook will be Saturday 10/21.
Butterdragon will be Tuesday 10/24.
‘Course, all that can change.

There are still a lot of grapes out there in Napa. Just a few scattered tons have been harvested and in fact, most of the chardonnay and other early ripening varietals are still out.
Tomorrow we’re expecting a significant amount of rain. What had been earlier predicted as a slight chance of a shower has now grown to “the first significant rain event” of the season. Santa Cruz mountains and down towards Monterey possibly as much as an inch. Napa Valley may get 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Nerves of steel needed in this business. Few have been ready to harvest and now there’s some risk. Everyone should be okay — especially thicker skinned varieties — but I’m sure we’ll all be holding our breath. Especially important is what happens AFTER the rain. We’ll need some sun and warmth to dry things out.
Are things going to be late? Baconbrook’s and Butterdragon’s harvest dates still haven’t even been penciled in. We usually try to do that 2 weeks out.

As of this morning…
Baconbrook
Block 1 – 24.3
Block 2 – 23.5
Butterdragon
Cab Sauv Clone 15 – 25.4
Clone 7 – 24.6
Clone 337 – 26.0
Merlot – 25.0
Although we’re starting to get into “harvest” numbers, the flavors aren’t there yet. So we wait.

Hot dry winds in the Napa Valley today. Not a good thing, but the forecast is for a return to mild weather. If that is true, we’re still probably close to two weeks from harvest.
Brix readings
Baconbrook (9/21/06 AM)
Block 1 – 23
Block 2 – 22.4
Butterdragon (9/20/06 AM)
Cab clone 337 – 24
clone 7 – 23
clone 15 – 23.6
Merlot – 23.8

Cary and I walked the vineyards today. It appears that the vineyards weathered the July heat wave really well.
Butterdragon Hill is a 7 acre vineyard that sits on a hillside above Highway 29. It is located between St. Helena and Calistoga near the Old Bale Mill. If you’re familiar with the Valley, imagine the position and orientation of St. Clement, Grace, and Vineyard 29. Tha’s what Butterdragon Hill is like.
The crop looks lighter than last year (a really big year). Bunches are well formed but berries are more widely spaced and smaller. This is usually a good sign for flavors.
Cab clone 337 – Veraison complete
Cab clone 7 – Veraison almost complete
Cab clone 15 – Veraison complete
Merlot – Veraison complete. Looks in good shape which is good news especially considering some vineyards have had trouble with their Merlot this year.
Bacobrook is less than 3 acres and sits in a saddle of a ridge on the west side of the Napa Valley. Part of the vineyard overlooks the town of St. Helena, part overlooks the small valley through which White Sulphur creek runs.
Napa Valley side block – Veraison complete. Looks absolutely awesome.
White Sulphur Springs side block – Veraison complete. Lighter crop, a bit more uneven.

We’ve decided to change the trellis system at Baconbrook. Right now we have a simple vertical trellis but will be installing a “Y” trellis to provide better canopy management and protect the fruit from sunburn during September heat waves. And that’s how you spend $5000 on what seems like scrap metal.

Another growing season draws to a close. We harvested Butterdragon Hill today. Baconbrook was harvested on Monday.

It’s amazing how much energy and worry can go in to having grapes on the vine. Until 2000 when we planted a vineyard, I never worried about the weather beyond wondering whether I should carry an umbrella or not. But what a season! Five years, and I’m still waiting for a “normal” growing season. If you follow these sorts of things, you may remember that the weather in Northern California during the Spring and Summer of 2005 was anything but normal. Typically, our rainy season lasts from sometime in November to March or so. Not the case this year. We got a significant amount of rain in to June!

So how did it all go?

The extra rain thru an extended rainy season meant high farming costs. We had to deal with extreme vine growth and vigor. Vineyard management was a challenge as we tried to take advantage of the natural moisture in the soil (more desirable than irrigation) while avoiding growing simple, fat, watery berries or just a jungle of leaves. It seems we were successful. Although the crops were quite large, complex flavors developed slowly over the long, mild growing season. We’re quite excited about our 2005 vintage.
I’ll post final numbers on this harvest as soon as possible.

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3060 White Sulphur Springs Rd
St Helena, CA 94574
t: (707) 200-3510
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