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 Timing could not be better.
With
some rainfall coming this weekend and with us bringing in
our last non-late harvest grapes today, all fruit is in with
only 0.36 inches of rain in their last 2-3 months of maturity.
There has been minor dessication (raisining of grapes due
to water loss, either out to the environment or back to the
plant to maintain functions) in some pinot gris, but none
to speak of in anything else. Also,
less than traditional bird damage.
Norm
Chapman, our long-term neighbor at Ridgecrest is ready to
choke me because of bird cannon noise at sunrise and sunset,
but only the gamay noir saw any damage, nestled in the woods
on the Ridgecrest perimeter.
Some of the 1999 Pinot noir yields have been calculated and
show improvements over 1998. While maintaining great quality,
yields are still small in most instances. Average tons per
acre (numbers not final here):
--Ridgecrest
1.40
--Corral Creek 1.61
--Stoller 2.5-3.0 (Stoller numbers not final)
Intensity
in fermentor is amazing. Ferments are largely clean smelling,
and all later ferments are proceeding well with indigenous
yeast fermentation. All
current fermentors should be emptied by November 1.
We look
for approximately 4500 cases of 1999 pinot noir--still not
back to 1997 levels, and 1000 cases short of where we wanted
to be, but definitely worth the trade for extraordinary quality.
Harry
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