Winemaking is a test of endurance.
The sweat drips from our brows…
Calluses form on our once soft hands…
A new found energy flows through our adrenaline drenched veins…
…and the Cab is rolling in hot and heavy…

It has been a long and patient growing season and from what we have seen and tasted so far, this is going to be an outstanding vintage. Why is this year so special you ask? Why is Cabernet Sauvignon the King of Grapes in Napa Valley? Many factors contribute to Napa Valley being a world renowned, premier area for growing some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in the world, but the short answer as to why is simply weather.

The weather in Napa Valley is very consistent from year to year. During the growing season (April to October), the days are warm and the nights are cool. This is a simplistic look at the complex issue of weather, but in a nutshell, this is why in Napa, Cab is King. The warm days ensure that the grapes will ripen to their full potential, and cool nights not only preserve color and acid, but they help to make the growing season long, allowing for all the complex chemical reactions to take place in the berries which in turn adds to the complexity and diversity of the wine that is made from them.

The 2009 vintage has been the epitome of this grape growing paradigm. Warm, but not too hot, summer days allowed for perfect ripening. Cool nights, leading to foggy mornings consistently throughout the spring, summer and early fall, were, even for Napa, almost too perfect. Even if we were growing cabernet grapes in a temperature and weather controlled dome, we couldn’t have improved on what mother nature provided for us this year…..in other words, the weather has been perfect, leading to perfect grapes, and hopefully leading to perfect wine.

Now that the grapes are coming into the winery, it is our job to make sure that we optimize their potential for becoming phenomenal wine. Pick dates, cluster sorting, fermentation kinetics, yeast and nutrient choices, premium French Oak barrels, all contribute to this maximizing of potential. A lot of key decisions are made by Tom and myself within the next couple of months that will ultimately affect the outcome of these wines. This is what makes harvest so exciting and slightly nerve racking.

Walking down the street, it is easy to spot fellow winemakers this time of year. All you have to do is look into their eyes and spot the frayed, stressed, primal, weary and undoubtedly exhilarated appearance of their bared souls…..a little dramatic you might say? Working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, there is nothing in your life but winemaking and sleeping, winemaking and sleeping, rinse repeat. You know you are in the heart of harvest when your dreams revolve around grape bins, pumpovers and tank management…. sounds pretty square for an REM sequence eh? I guess what I am getting at is this is when the true passion for winemaking comes out, when every fiber of your being is dedicated to one thing for 2 months straight and you start making wine before you even get out of bed…..it’s pretty awesome, but by the end all you want to do is sleep for a month….(and get back to your normal, hopefully more exciting dreams). That said, now back to work! Jason