Baconbrook's crop was about what we expected: we harvested 6.3 tons on Sept 25th. Brix was ideal at just over 25. It is currently fermenting like a champ.

Butterdragon kept getting put off. Suddenly, although the vineyard still looked strong, we started seeing quite a bit of dehydration. Panic mode (which seems to be the norm in farming at harvest time) set in. We harvested the 3 rows of Merlot on Sept 29. We brought in .82 tons of Merlot. Cary lowered the estimate of how much Cab we would be bringing in to Rombauer from 9 tons to 7. (Unlike in the past where we sold a set number of tons or half of our grapes to our grape buyer, this year the buyer had designated rows which meant anything not on those rows would go to us.) On October 1st, we trucked over 13.45 tons of Cab!! The crew at Rombauer certainly gave us a ribbing how our 7 tons became almost 14! Oh well. It remains to be seen if all that will make it into the final Butterdragon blend. I can say that although the brix was 27, the fruit tasted really great; particularly striking wa the taste of the skins. If we can avoid a stuck fermentation, it will probably be some monster juice.

Although we are located in the Spring Mountain District, the vineyard is not located up Spring Mountain Road. It is actually accessed by White Sulphur Springs Road and sits on a ridge looking out over the town of St. Helena from the west. Here are the coordinates according to Google Earth:
38°29'35.17"N
122°29'42.18"W

Sorry, the vineyard is not open to the public.

Here's the breakdown on what is there. Notice that the numbers add up to a lot less than 3 acres... actually just over 2.

By the way, this post also proves that I still know how to handcode tables in HTML. Amazing.

Baconbrook's first release is coming this Fall with 140 cases of our 2004 Match Vineyards Baconbrook Cabernet Sauvignon.

In earthquake country, the old brick foundation had to go. The whole house had to be supported while we dug out the unimproved basement. Ultimate plans for the basement included a downstairs rumpus room, utility room, guest room, wine cellar and tasting area, and storage.

Digging out that last corner for the wine cellar.

Framed out. The arch on the left will be a small closet. The arched doorway on the right will lead to the wine cellar.

375s and mags of the 2003 are just about gone but everything else is still in good supply.

If a past customer has misplaced their discounted order form (or ordered and wants more) they can use the form from our website and we'll apply their discount at "check out."

Spring 2007 Order Form

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.

122 cases (12 bottle) of 750's
16 cases (6 bottle) of mags
4 x 3L
1 x 6L

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I've just sent out an offer letter for mailing list members who have yet to try our wine. It includes a 9.2% discount on our 2002 and 2003 vintages. Should you wish to join our list and get this special price for a limited time, just download an order form and send it in. Offer will expire October 31, 2006.