Harvest starts with Fairview Pinot from Santa Lucia

Photo Courtesy of Nathan Arnold view more photos

Our first grapes of the 2005 Harvest came in: Fairview Road Ranch Pinot Noir. We got 3.5 tons total- 4 bins of clone 667 and 3 bins of clone Pommard 4.

After sampling the vineyard last Monday and checking the week's weather forecast, I decided to push the pick date out one more week. The extra week of very cool weather (barely pushed above 70) provided much need/more flavors. A good analogy for this is making marinara. The Italians swear that any good tomato sauce has to simmer over night so the flavors gradually evolve and integrate. A microwave could heat up the sauce in 1-2 mins but the flavor just won't be there. Over the past week, the Brix(sugar level) inched up between .5-1 Brix.

First, the crew picked 10 rows of 667 up from the north west side (photo). The grape clusters had extraordinarily small berries (better concentration due to a higher fruit/skin ratio). The flavor was amazing. A vast majority of the stems were lignified- which shows that the vines were starting to shut down. Most of the seeds were brown to walnut color.

Around 8:30, the crew moved to the Pommard 4 clone block. Pom4 berry size is much larger, looks like blueberries compared to the 667's bb-gun bullet size (photo). Flavor is amazing. Stems are lignified (see below for definition); browning seeds. Pom4 shutting down possibly due to carrying a bigger crop and thus stressing the vines more. It shows lignification from stem to first set of stem branches. Though the Pom4 has almost double the fruit the sugars and more importantly the flavors are there-- surprising that the numbers are so similar for almost double the crop.

Once the Pommard was picked, we loaded up the truck and drove back to Berkeley. The crush was well underway by around 4:00 that afternoon, and finished up around sunset.

Since the ambient temperature of the 667 was so low when picked, the must (crushed grapes) from this wine was much cooler (55-58 degrees). By contrast, the Pommard was picked a few hours later, and the must from this block was 60-64 degrees.

We don't have refrigeration at the winery, so instead we bought 100 lbs. of dry ice to bring down the temperature of the must for cold-soak. About 40 lbs. was added to each Pom4 bin to bring down to from 60-64 to 55-58 degrees. Adding dry ice makes it look like bitches brew or something for Halloween (photo).

I was pleasantly surprised that people universally liked the flavors of the Pom4. The 667 has caught up since I first sampled it a week back, but the Pom4 was still slightly better.

I remember fondly the first Fairview harvest in 2003. Nestled in between Garys' Vineyard and Rosella's, this vineyard has amazing potential. The first year showcased this and I appropriately called it, Eno 2003 Pinot Noir "The Great Promise". The 2004 is even better; barrels samples have been very well recieved.

I always get an adrenaline rush from the first fruit of the year, especially when it looks and tastes so good...