Fall Harvests: 1999

Newsletter Archives > Viticulture

Harvest 2000 : Can you say "three-in-a-row"?
(For more details see the reports published during the harvest.)


	Pinot Noir Punchdown, Phillip at Work

We feel like the Chicago Bulls or New York Yankees or U.S. Women's Soccer Team (at least pre-Olympics). When back-to-back winning years is not enough, try three! The "Sleep is Overrated" vintage as our friend Lynn Penner-Ash of Rex Hill termed 2000. All crops ripened at the same time, requiring force feeding of lunches, dinners, gingersnaps, and great quantities of the caffeine food group.

During harvest period, which lasted from September 29 to October 26, only 1.09" of rain fell, with very good ripeness and moderate to good acids. Colors on the pinot noir cuvees are great, the extraction excellent, and three-quarters of the ferments so sound that we kept them native yeast ferments. The average tonnage for pinot noir, after significant crop-dropping at veraison, was 2.31 tons per acre. Pinot noir tonnage was 101 tons total, to yield 6300 cases. Quality from all three vineyards is excellent, without the variability we saw in 1999, when one was outstanding and the other two very good.


Perfect Pinot noir going to destemmer, sorted nonetheless

White wines in 2000 are very good, but without the crisp acidities of 1999. They are fleshy like 1998, with a little higher yield, despite dropping significant crop. Pinot gris tonnage is 49 tons, chardonnay 37 tons. Riesling is now harvested with good acidity and ripeness and significant botrytis. A total of 208 tons were harvested, our largest crush to date.

A great harvest crew this year, with Merie and Michelle from New Zealand's Dry River and Martinborough wineries, Phillip from his family's Zull winery in Austria, a number of occasional helpers, Michael, Cheryl and myself. We worked long hours to take in a relatively compact and, therefore, intense harvest. Three is a magical number.