Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: 2017 harvest, 2017 vintage, anderson valley pinot noir, Harvest, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Winemaking
What a strange year. The first Waits-Mast Family Cellars harvest for the 2017 vintage was on September 15 and then we ended up with an 11 day break, while waiting for fruit to develop further. On September 26, we brought in Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc from Mariah Vineyard in Mendocino Ridge. Two days later, we were done; with Pinot Noir picks from Oppenlander Vineyard and Nash Mill Vineyard arriving in the winery on September 28.
Waits-Mast winemaker Shalini Sekhar loads empty bins onto Mariah Vineyards’ owner Dan Dooling’s truck. Photo: J. Waits/Waits-Mast Family Cellars
Filed under: Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: 2017 harvest, 2017 vintage, Anderson Valley, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Wentzel Vineyard, Winemaking
At last, 2017 harvest is underway for Waits-Mast Family Cellars, as our first pick of the season took place at Wentzel Vineyard on Friday, September 15. It’s been a weird few weeks of weather and due to high temperatures, many of our winery friends are much further along with their harvests; some have picked fruit from all of their vineyards already.
Pinot Noir clusters from Wentzel Vineyard from September 15, 2017 pick. Photo: J. Waits/Waits-Mast Family Cellars
Filed under: Vineyards | Tags: 2017 harvest, 2017 vintage, Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, Mendocino Ridge, vineyard visits, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir
Over the past few days, a major heatwave brought 100+ degree temperatures all over the San Francisco Bay Area and up north into Mendocino County. San Francisco reached a record high of 106 degrees and friends in Anderson Valley reported that the mercury topped out at more than 110 degrees. During our visits to all four of our Waits-Mast Family Cellars vineyard sources in Mendocino County a week ago, the weather was already hot, even at our traditionally cooler sites.
Anderson Valley on August 25, 2017. Photo: J. Waits/Waits-Mast
Filed under: Vineyards | Tags: 2017 vintage, Anderson Valley, Nash Mill Vineyard, news, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir
Before bringing some updates from our vineyard visits from last weekend (spoiler alert: things are heating up, with harvest drawing near), we wanted to flash back to our final late July vineyard tour. During a quick visit to Nash Mill Vineyard on Saturday, July 22, we continued with our series of check-ins at sites from which Waits-Mast sources pinot noir grapes. As we saw at Wentzel Vineyard earlier in the day, the fruit at Nash Mill has developed considerably since our trip to Anderson Valley in May.
Nash Mill Vineyard on July 22, 2017. Photo: J. Waits
Filed under: Vineyards | Tags: 2017 vintage, Mariah Vineyards, Mendocino Ridge, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir
On Sunday, July 23, we trekked up to Mendocino Ridge to take a look at the progress of the fruit at Mariah Vineyards, another vineyard that we source from for Waits-Mast Family Cellars. It was a rough, nearly hour-long journey there from Anderson Valley, as the mountain road was full of cracks and pot holes. One stretch narrowed to one lane, as a portion of the road had been washed out during the rainy year. While a harrowing ride for us city-dwellers, the beautiful and delicious grapes at Mariah’s 2400 foot elevation vineyard are well worth the trip.
Mariah Vineyards on July 23, 2017. Photo: J. Waits
Filed under: Vineyards | Tags: 2017 vintage, Anderson Valley, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Wentzel Vineyard
Seasonal changes are in full effect in Mendocino County as we hit the peak of summer. Temperatures are rising, the hills have gone from green to amber, and grapes are maturing on the vines. Looking ahead to harvest, this weekend was an excellent time to check in on a few of the vineyards that Waits-Mast sources fruit from.
Pinot Noir grapes at Wentzel Vineyard on July 22, 2017. Photo: J. Waits
Filed under: New releases, Vineyards | Tags: 2014 harvest, 2014 Pinot Noir, 2016 harvest, Mariah Vineyards, Mendocino Ridge, Pinot Noir, Rose, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir
In honor of our Waits-Mast Family Cellars late spring release (the 2016 Waits-Mast Rosé of Pinot Noir and the 2014 Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Mariah Vineyard), it’s a good time to reflect back on the early days of these wines.
The rosé is a mere babe, crafted from a blend of luscious pinot noir juices harvested last August and September from some of our favorite Mendocino County vineyards. Nash Mill Vineyard, Mariah Vineyard and Oppenlander Vineyard make up the blend, which is being released just in time for this week’s heat spell. We only made 20 cases of this wine, so enjoy it while you can.
2016 Waits-Mast Rose of Pinot Noir just off the bottling line, February, 2017. Photo: J. Waits
Filed under: Uncategorized, Winemaking | Tags: 2016 harvest, Mariah Vineyards, Mendocino Ridge, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir
On Thursday we had another Waits-Mast fruit pick, this time some Pinot Noir grapes from Mariah Vineyard in Mendocino Ridge. It was a jam-packed day at the winery (we make our wine at Roar Wines in San Francisco) and a particularly hectic day for our winemaker. She awoke in the wee hours for a grape pick for another winery (complicated by a tree falling in the vineyard too!) and spent the day sorting that fruit and doing other harvest work. She wrapped up in time to brave rush hour traffic, meeting us at our San Francisco facility by about 6pm.
Mariah grapes hanging out in the cold room before sorting on Sept. 15, 2016. Photo: J. Waits
Filed under: Events, Vineyards, Winemaking | Tags: 2016 harvest, Anderson Valley, Nash Mill Vineyard, Oppenlander Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, WineSong
We are just back from a long weekend in Mendocino/Anderson Valley for several Winesong-related tasting events. It’s also the thick of harvest, which necessitated a few vineyard visits as well as picks at another two. Meanwhile, Brian celebrated a milestone birthday, so we tried to squeeze in some cake amid all of the wine work.
Birthday sign for Brian at the Andiron Inn. Photo: J. Waits
Filed under: Vineyards | Tags: 2016 harvest, Anderson Valley, Pinot Noir, Waits-Mast Pinot Noir, Wentzel Vineyard
And we’re off…On Labor Day, the 2016 harvest began for Waits-Mast Family Cellars. We brought in our first pinot noir pick from our little section (the Clos) in Wentzel Vineyard in Anderson Valley yesterday. As predicted, we were exactly one week later than our first pick (also from that vineyard) in 2015.
Wentzel Vineyard pinot noir grapes. September, 2016. Photo: J. Waits
ValleyFogBlog 