Harvest started fast and furious for many in the county due to a late August heat spike that resulted in 100 degree plus days for a week. Heat of this intensity always raises a concern because it can result in two very specific issues. One, grape sugars can race to really high levels while the “taste” is not fully developed. Two, dehydration turns some of the grapes in the cluster to raisins giving the wine an over ripe flavor.
Certainly, this is a year to make sure you know your winery and your vineyards when it comes to quality. Many people harvested extremely over ripe and dehydrated fruit because of the heat. Economically it is difficult for many producers to focus on quality when the farming year is so difficult.
But the fact is, if you walked the vineyard every couple of days, managed your water properly, dropped a little more fruit, and arranged the fruit to reduce sun exposure you were rewarded with outstanding flavor in the grapes. (Yes, there are real advantages to making wine from grapes you farm instead of buying grapes someone else farms.)
Our Kemp Vineyard harvested September 16. We believe this vintage is really special. As it fermented, it smelled like blueberry pie, absolutely beautiful aromas. I will admit, we were not expecting this level of intensity and purity of fruit. But we got there by spending the extra money and time to insure quality fruit. We only harvested the shade side of the vines. The grapes hanging on the afternoon side were dehydrated and over ripe. Trust me, leaving fruit behind is a tough decision, but the wine makes it worthwhile.
We harvested our Kick Ranch Syrah over three days beginning September 28. All our fruit was picked at day break to assure it would arrive at the winery really cold. This year, we added the Hermitage Syrah clone to compliment our other two clones, 470 and 877. Each of these clones adds a layer of complexity and flavor. The 470 always produces pristine fresh fruit flavors, the 877 adds layers of spice and pepper, and the Hermitage adds a dark fruit element, but what I like best is the smokiness and bacon fat! And just so you understand the process, we hand sorted clusters in the winery to remove any over ripe clusters, then hand sorted individual berries to insure no raisined grapes slipped through. Again, spending the extra time and effort, as well as money, pays off in the wine; intense, pure fruit aromas and amazing color.
On October 2nd, we harvested Syrah from Archer Family Vineyards. Yes, we farm this property and Syrah from this Russian River Valley Appellation vineyard goes to the likes of Loxton and Lynmar, two of my favorite wineries. We just crushed the grapes so nothing to report on our initial thoughts, but the fruit tasted delicious in the vineyard and we believe this cooler site will make exceptional wines.
Finally I want to let you know, we are producing a limited quantity of pinot noir in 2008. This fruit also comes from Archer Family Vineyards. There are some great wineries making pinot from Archer. (Patz & Hall, Whetstone, Ancien, and Lynmar). We picked a ton of clones 828 and 667. In the tank, this wine is lush and beautiful. We will keep you posted on how it progresses.
Glenn Alexander
Vigneron
Tags: harvest, Vineyard
