The welcome relief of rain last November brought an end to a very dry 2007 growing season. Unfortunately for us the rain did not extend much into the New Year and we experienced below-average rainfall season. This low rainfall combined with severe frost, the worst in 30 years, took its toll in the vineyard resulting in extremely low yields both in the vineyard and at the press.

This particularly dry, cold winter promoted early bud break, 2 to 3 weeks earlier than usual, which pushed the harvest forward by two weeks on average with the growing season mirroring this earlier than usual schedule. Just before veraison we experienced an intense heat wave of 100 plus degree temperatures, peaking at 114 degrees in some places, over a two-week period that retarded early berry development.

The early trend persisted and we harvested our first Pinot grapes on August 27th and Chardonnay on August 28th. We have never harvested Chardonnay in August before and the remaining harvest was fast and furious. We waited out a heat spike from August 30th to September 2nd then resumed picking until we finished on September 6th. The combination of a dry cold winter and the heat in June caused incredibly small berries and clusters that had very thick skins with very little juice and a high pulp content. This did not leave us with much to work with. Fruit yields were 50% down in the pinot and 40% in the chardonnay. Juice yields at the press were off 30%! What this leaves is a winery full of empty barrels, but the barrels with wine in them….wow!!

The flip side to all of this wacky weather (when has weather ever been normal?!) is Chardonnay that reached full maturity with exceptionally healthy acid levels which provide a wonderful counterpoint to the intense tropical fruit and citrus flavors. Phenolic ripeness in the chardonnay skins was excellent providing excellent structure and cut. The minuscule Pinot harvest has done what these tiny harvests do, that is to produce wine that is intense, powerful and concentrated with round tannins that are big but ripe at the same time.

Time will tell how these wines will evolve. Having never experienced this precocious of a harvest before we will have to wait and see. Once the wines have slumbered through winter and woken in the spring we will reevaluate them and let you know how they are coming along.