The Penultimate Party.

Actually, I have one and a bit more harvest parties to attend before the harvest season is over.  But the harvest festivity that I attended today is, perhaps, for me the ultimate harvest party.  I love the harvest party the vineyard workers throw for all of the staff at TWWIAGE.  Best Mexican food, EVER!

A couple of wines, other than TWWIAGE's, showed up with guests whom also have Oakville vineyards. My absolute favourite was the Gargiulo Vineyards, 2011 Money Road Ranch Merlot (Oakville AVA).  A beautiful wine that could almost make me forget about ever drinking any Cabernet Sauvignon ever again.  But then again, Gargiulo do a great job with all of their wines. Yummy.

Many thanks to the TWWIAGE vineyard boys.

All done for 2014.

So that's it, Vinoland's 2014 harvest is over!
Fruit looked great, not that much bird or bee damage and the odd rain event that we have had, over the past few weeks, didn't really cause any mould problems either.  Weather was fantastic for a harvest day (even a tad on the toasty side), workers were affable and the harvest after-party enchiladas were yummy.  Once again, good friends, good wine, good food.  And to quote TWWIAGE's very own Marketing Queen, "...harvest.  Always makes me remember why I love living here."  Couldn't have put it better myself.
Of course, I think the fruitless vines look a little forlorn now, but that's just anthropomorphic me.  Now I'm looking forward to the 2015 growing season.

The stripper.

The harvest season is quickly coming to a close, so there is very little unpicked fruit left to be seen hanging around the Napa Valley.  TWWIAGE picked and processed their last fruit of 2014 on Tuesday.  In Vinoland only the Cabernet sauvignon is still hanging, but that's about to change come this Saturday.
As of today, the numbers on the Cabernet sauvignon were °Brix 25.8, pH 3.52 and TA 8.0, but since the decision to pick has already been made the numbers are sort of irrelevant.  The weather has turned quite autumnal and the vines have noticeably started to shut down.  I spent most of today pulling leaves, stripping the shoots of all basal leaves to help facilitate a quick and clean harvest.  And that's what I will be doing tomorrow also.

OMG!

Orange muscat grapes, that is.
Vinomaker and I picked our Orange muscat (OM) today.  Well, what was left of it.  Looking almost like something that had escaped from my compost bin, Vinomaker had deliberately delayed harvesting the OM in the hopes of making a late harvest wine.  OM clusters are rather loose which generally reduces environmental favourablitly for Botrytis cinerea infection (unlike Pinot grigio clusters which are tight and thus susceptible to infection), so instead, dessication, as the result of an extended hang time, was the plan.  Coming in at 34.5 °Brix there is certainly plenty of sugar for Vinomaker to work with.
Although the fruit was quite unprepossessing, (OM never looks pretty as the grapes have a tendency to crack and amber as they ripen), the aromatics of orange skin and honeysuckle as we processed the fruit was absolutely delightful.  No wonder honey bees are attracted to this grape variety.

A tale of two Syrahs.

Vinoland's Syrah is harvested, whoo hoo!  Fruit looked lovely, acid and sugar a little low, but the colour coming out of the berries was already a deep, deep purple.  The day went very smoothly and the gathering of friends afterwards was a lot of fun.
To wash down the harvest chili I had prepared (with cornbread, two ways), there were a few interesting wines; a delightful Elyse, 2011 Nero Misto (California); a J Gregory, 2011 Celebration Cabernet Sauvignon (Coombsville AVA); and, lastly, a Lucas Vineyards, 2012 Syrah (Finger Lakes AVA).
The Elyse wine was lovely, very soft and round, made from "a unique selection of wonderful lesser known black grapes" (so says the back label).
The J Gregory was a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a relatively new producer, but the grapes were sourced from a very good friend's vineyard, here in Coombsville.  The wine was a little green, but it 's still very young and will perhaps age quite elegantly.
The Lucas Vineyards Syrah came with a former co-worker who had worked three harvests at this winery in Cayuga Lake, New York.  A fairly inoffensive wine, I was however struck with how little pigmentation there was in this wine compared to a Syrah grown in Napa.  This Syrah looked more like a Pinot noir.  The white pepper component in this wine did work well with the chili though. 
An interesting mix of wines.

Pinot grigio harvest 2014.

Vinoland's Pinot grigio was harvested today, whoo hoo!  The fruit looked beautiful.  I was fairly pleased with myself for farming such attractive berries.  Mama loves you little guys!
Finished processing fruit (and cleaning everything up), just in time to enjoy a fabulous harvest party at Black Cat Vineyards: just love Tracey Reichow's rosé of Cabernet franc.  Good friends and great wine.
Long day...

In the warm California sun.

Enough of my lollygagging with earthquakes, wine trains, AVA signs and that certain gargle of Grenaches.  Enough, I say! 
I spent an entire day spent in the vineyard today, pulling leaves in the Syrah and admiring the pretty sight that was these back-lit Pinot grigio grapes.  But wait a minute, what else is going on in the Pinot grigio block besides a impromptu photo opportunity?  Oh, not much, just 25.6 °B, a pH of 3.48 and a TA of 7.25.  Yikes, it's time!
Like clockwork, the mini heatwave that happens early, every September has done it's magic in bringing the fruit close to harvest perfection.  Of course, these numbers don't paint the whole picture: whilst the fruit tastes pretty darn good, the seeds have still not quite reached phenolic maturity.  So, tomorrow, the Pinot grigio vines will have the bejesus watered out of them to try to buy some further maturation time.  Slow down little grapies!

Meanwhile, whilst I was away...

...In the Cabernet sauvignon vines veraison is progressing.  I may have been absent from the vineyard for a while, but Mother Nature has been busy in my stead.  Veraison is always a little random in the Cabernet block and this year is no exception, the warmer and protected areas are a little more advanced than others, and I'd estimate that veraison is only about 20% complete.
Elsewhere in the valley harvest has already begun.  Mumm Napa brought in their first Pinot noir grapes on Wednesday 30th July - that's about a week earlier than last year apparently.  More bubbly, earlier...what's not to love about that?  Go little grapies!