Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: 2015 harvest, Mariah Vineyards, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir
Within 10 days of the start of the Waits-Mast 2015 harvest, we are now 3/5th of the way through our picks. Mariah Vineyards in Mendocino Ridge was harvested on Sunday night and vineyard owner Dan Dooling hand-delivered the beautiful fruit to us in San Francisco yesterday morning before things really heated up in the city.
Pinot Noir grapes from Mariah Vineyards arrives on Sept. 7. Photo: J. Waits
Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: 2015 harvest, Anderson Valley, Deer Meadows Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Wentzel Vineyard
Rain on a wire at Wentzel Vineyard. Photo: J. Waits
On Saturday, August 29 we got up bright and early and headed over to the Wentzel Vineyard in Anderson Valley for the first Waits-Mast Family Cellars pick of the year. A small amount of rain fell as dawn approached and the sky was still shrouded in fog. The vines glistened with tiny rain drops and just after sunrise, workers were in the fields harvesting grapes.
Just-picked pinot noir grapes at Wentzel Vineyard during 2015 harvest. Photo: J. Waits
We’ve never picked that early from that vineyard and it’s the first time that Waits-Mast has ever harvested in August. Every year our picks seem to be getting earlier and earlier and many of our growers and winemaking friends in California are reporting that the 2015 harvest seems to be about a week earlier than last year.
Wentzel Vineyard on day of harvest 2015. Photo: J. Waits
So far that is ringing true for us, with our Wentzel Vineyard pick this year occurring 5 days earlier than in 2014. For comparison, we picked Wentzel fruit on September 24 in 2012 and on September 8 in 2013.
On Wednesday, our fruit was harvested at Deer Meadows Vineyard (also in Anderson Valley), exactly a week earlier than in 2014. Looking through our records, it’s a bit of a shock to see that back in 2012, we picked Deer Meadows on September 24 and in 2013 we picked on October 10th.
View from Deer Meadows Vineyard less than a week before harvest 2015. Photo: J. Waits
Sometimes vineyards in nearby locations seem to track with each other as far as ripening and pick dates, but, as we saw in 2013, there are oddball years where our expectations about the order that our vineyards will be picked are completely blown by what we actually see and taste on the vines.
At this point in the season, we are in regular contact with our three remaining growers about where things stand with harvest. It’s likely that we will have at least one more harvest this week and will probably be done completely within the next few weeks, perhaps before we would have even started our first pick back in 2012. It’s hard to believe…
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