Harvest marks the end of another season but the beginning of great new wine. This time of year is the most dirty, sweaty, hard working time of the year for a handful of people in Paso Robles, and all over California for that matter.
The little bit of rain did not detriment Paso Robles fruit at all. Contrary to what many people think, our soil doesn’t stay saturated…especially when we get such little rain and still have warm days. It was all dried up before noon.
We have harvested our Roussanne, Viognier and Pinot Noir. Our small lot of Pinot Noir was picked on September 4 and has just now finished fermenting. It cold soaked for four days then fermentation started. Paul added whole cluster to the bottom of the fermenting bin and crushed whole berries on top of it. This is some pretty intense stuff. It is a very small lot and will definitely be allocated. We are very excited. It will now be pressed and put into new and year old French oak barrels for aging.
After throwing the idea around a bit we decided to make our award-winning Pearl again. We lost quite a bit of our crop from the frost we had in April. The fruit that survived came off the vine at 23.5 and 25.0 brix. It was then immediately pressed into neutral white barrels for fermentation. It has finished and has sweet aromas of ripe apricot and pear with a hint of honeysuckle. We are very excited. Paul may end up putting the Roussanne into new French barrels when the time comes to add a bit more mouth-feel.
The rest of the fruit is ripening slowly as usual. We expect a pile up of harvest in two to three weeks. Our Mourvedre and Cabernet Franc is normally the last to ripen and we expect to pull it in November. Hoy likes the quality all around and is seeing nice, lower yields this season.
Other than this bit of action Paul is trying to take it easy before harvest really gets going in October. Same for Hoy. As for me…I help out with morale support and assist when I’m needed for punch downs. I hold down the fort you know?!
