September 14
The marine layer established itself over both Napa and Sonoma County this week. Wednesday was the coolest day of harvest with high’s temperatures only reaching the mid-70’s. Maturity rates leveled off as the thirsty vines rehydrated after a few weeks of heat. Harvest activities slowed down at both wineries.
In the Pinot Noir program, we pressed 6 tanks. The wines are beautiful and show the typicity of each site and clone.
In our Merlot program, we picked three more blocks from our Soda Canyon Ranch vineyard this week. The remaining blocks are just on the cusp of being ready to pick, then the cool weather and fog came in. We hope to resume harvest on Monday and pick straight through the week. We will sample and taste on Sunday to verify that we can continue. The wines are showing extremely well with deep, dark colors and rich flavors.
~Daniel Baron