Vineyard {511} 2017 Harvest

When asked what the most memorable day of the year is, most people will say Christmas or New Year's or Thanksgiving. However, for folks in wine-growing regions of the world, harvest is right up there, if not the most memorable. It's the time when nature and wine-making skills--yield and quality--converge to honor what growers have been working towards all year long--bringing the fruit to the crushpad.

With temperatures soaring over 100 degrees for weeks in August and September, we harvested our Cabernet Sauvignon on Diamond Mountain earlier in the season than expected--on September 28. Under night lights, our vineyards were aflurry with activity from 4am to 10 am. (The prime time to begin harvest is 4 am, when berry temperature has cooled down to around 65 degrees.)

We were a little disappointed that our yield was smaller than it was in 2016 because of the heat spikes during the summer; nevertheless, the quality of the fruit was great--as usual.