Yesterday, we harvested a bit shy of 6 tons of Pinot Noir from the La Cruz vineyard in the Sonoma Coast appellation. Last year was our first harvest from this beautiful site, and we were able to get about 4 tons of clone 115 Pinot Noir from two different blocks.
This year, we were able to secure not only the 115 which we like a lot, but also small volumes of 667 and 828. This is the first time we will be working with 828 and it came in beautifully at about 25 Brix. There's the fruit below at the Winery.
Our winemaker, Tom Stutz, and I went and visited La Cruz a few days before the harvest, and Petaluma, where the vineyard is located, was suffering similar heat as we were in Livermore. Early in the day it was not too hot and harvest was already underway for other wineries purchasing fruit from this site. Notice in the photo below the light brown dirt in the foreground. The soil in the upper block is thin, loamy-clay on top of volcanic rock. This block, called El Coro has much lighter soil than the block surrounding the Keller Estate winery located down the hill.
You can imagine that you'd see tractors and picking bins, and picking crews, and the like on a vineyard at this time of year. But you might not think that one of the most ubiquitous of tools, especially in vineyards where there are lots of birds is the crucial plastic spoon. Notice the pile at the foot of the row end post in the photo below. Netting is used to keep the birds from devouring fruit, and the nets are knitted together with plastic spoons.
As more fruit starts coming in, I will give you an update as to how quality is looking, and how the first blocks are tasting as they get through primary fermentation. This is one of the most exciting times of year, and if early indications are right, most of our fruit should be coming in a two to three week window this year. Busy! Busy! Busy!
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