September 28
The weather warmed up Monday and Tuesday and peaked on Wednesday with temperatures in the high 80’s and low 90’s. Oakville was the hotspot with a high of 93 degrees. Thursday remained sunny and warm and then it cooled significantly on Friday. Despite Barry Bond’s last home game as a Giant (or maybe because of it), the grapes ripened significantly, especially in Napa County where most vineyards had been stalled for weeks.
In the Pinot Noir program, we barreled down the pressed wines and they will undergo their malolactic fermentations in barrel.
In our Merlot program, we picked our last block of Merlot from our Soda Canyon Ranch. This is very exciting, because it is the first full scale fermentation of a rare clone from France that was highly recommended by my friends in Pomerol. We also brought in a small block of Cabernet Franc that also originated in the same region and is known for its concentration and splendid fruit expression. We continued to press tanks and the wines are lovely. Next week we should pick the final blocks of Cabernet Franc to complete harvest.
~Daniel Baron