Harvest 2008 - drawing to a close

The 2008 vintage has been really difficult for growers throughout the Paso Robles region. Frost early in the year, below average rainfalls for 2 years running, and difficult weather a flowering made for stunted and late shoot growth, poor fruit set, and really uneven crop ripeness. As we got into harvest, fruit flavor profiles and tannin development lagged way behind sugar levels, forcing us to leave fruit on the vine longer in hopes that tannin and flavor would catch up and reach equilibrium.

As we moved through the early stages of harvest, we found that we were harvesting at approximately 30% below our crop estimates – a dramatically short crop. We scrambled to source additional Chardonnay for some of our programs, and were able to secure some very nice looking fruit from Santa Barbara County, as well as the Arroyo Grande and Edna Valley AVA regions of southern San Luis Obispo County.

As reds started to come in, the silver lining to the 2008 vintage became apparent as the fruit crushed up into deeply colored fermentations – the loose clusters caused by extreme shatter early in the year left lots of sunlight and air exposure on the fruit, helping to build anthocyanin (color pigments) in the skins of the grapes, and reducing fungal disease pressure.

Just when we were becoming accustomed to a leisurely pace of ripening and steady flavor development, a series of extremely cold nights set in. We had more than a week of days with highs in the 70’s and 80’s, but overnight lows dropping slightly below freezing. Several areas measured 27 degrees, which is about lethal for a grape leaf. Many of our growers started running their overhead sprinklers during the nights, to buy a few degrees of protection from the frost – one of our growers had so much ice build up on his vines that the first three rows of trellis buckled and bent over under the weight!

Most affected were low-lying areas where the cold air could not drain away. In many of the vineyards, you will see a pattern of frost-killed leaves in the low lying areas, or anywhere that the topography causes the air to pool up and stagnate.

We were really lucky in a lot of cases. Even within vineyards that had widespread damage, we mostly had some affected vines around the edges. Vineyards that were hit hard are basically done for the season. The cold actually causes water within the leaf cells to freeze, bursting them; walking in the vines after a freeze, the air smells a lot like fresh-cut grass, that vegetal, wet leafy aroma. Whatever stage of flavor development the vines were at prior to the freeze is just where they will stay; further time on the vine is only serving to dehydrate the otherwise unripe fruit.

At this stage, we are basically prioritizing the order that we bring in the rest of our fruit. Everything is about as ripe as it is going to get, just time to bring it in and get it started on a path toward what it will ultimately become.

Overall, I think we managed quality well in this vintage. I figure that about 10-15% of our red wine lots are of top quality, and I am really pleased with most of the white wines. Speaking with other winemaker friends, it sounds like we did better than the average in one of the most challenging vintages in recent memory.

More photos at my flickr.com account:
http://flickr.com/photos/18097654@N05/sets/72157607089923402/

San Juan Vineyard

The San Juan Vineyard is located about 14 miles to the east from EOS estate, at about 1100 feet of elevation, and about 45 miles as the crow flies from the Pacific Ocean. It is farmed by the Filliponi family, whom are partners in the Santa Margarita Ranch, as well as the Ancient Peaks wine brand. They have been farming cattle and crops in the area for several generations. Doug Filliponi has built up a successful well-drilling company with a partner over the past decades – water is a prerequisite for any kind of agriculture in this part of California where it only rains 20” a year, concentrated entirely between November and April. His son, Jeff, is the vineyard manager (and quite a successful Team Roper in rodeo around the west as well.)

This vineyard is essentially laid out on the riverbench above the San Juan Creek, with a ford that cuts straight through the dry riverbed most of the year, unless it is raining. Deer and wild boar dig into the creekbed to find the mud and water that runs a foot or so beneath the surface – it is salty water that doesn’t support much in the way of vegetation in most places, but the animals make use of it in a pinch.

We are purchasing Muscat Blanc (Canelli) as well as Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel from the vines growing here. Some parts of the vineyard are 35 years old or older, with trunks that are thicker than my thighs! The vines look fairly good this year, though they suffered from some cold weather events earlier this springtime, and as a result there is a lot of unevenness in how the fruit is ripening – this is not as much of a challenge in the Muscat as it will be in the Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel. At the moment, the Sauvignon Blanc still needs a few weeks to move through the green tomatillo / bell pepper flavors and develop some ripe melon and floral tones that will be a solid base to build on. The Zin is still completing Veraison (the phase where the berries turn red and start to soften and ripen.) The Muscat is perhaps a week or two away as well.

Here is a link to more harvest photos - we will keep adding to it every week as we go.