2009 Harvest

The Latest Harvest Reports

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Follow Atlas Peak winemaker Darren Procsal and the Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain as its sorted, de-stemmed, and eventually dumped into the tank where it will be fermented from juice to wine.

Solomon Hills Vineyards in the Santa Maria Valley

2009 harvest at Solomon Hills has been nothing short of interesting.  The season started in late August with extremely high temperatures, which was very reminiscent of the September weather in 2004.  Luckily this came earlier than it did in 2004, and we escaped with only some slight sunburn.  We were blessed for most of September and October, with a moderate climate minus the unusual amount of rainfall.  The 2009 harvest started for us on 8-31-09 with chardonnay for a sparkling program and ended 10-22-09 with a small amount of syrah.  The syrah was the only grape variety to weather the rain and did very well, all things considered.  Over all the 2009 vintage should be an excellent quality year, with small yields in the chardonnay and small/normal (2-3.5 tons/acre) yields in the pinot noir.  The fruit was harvested extremely clean and had a long hang time, thanks to the moderate temperatures of September and October.  I would expect to see great things emerge from the 2009 vintage over the next several years.

Jim Stollberg from Riverbench Vineyard and Winery, Santa Maria Valley

The 2009 harvest season has been full of interesting weather changes.  September began with record breaking heat and for many growers got harvest off to a feverish start.

Here at Riverbench our mature vineyard withstood the heat nicely and allowed for extended hang time.  Winemaker discussions I have had can be summarized with mixed results.  Overall, the Pinot Noir quality looks to be good and depending on vineyard, there is potential for some outstanding wine lots now in barrel.  Our Pinot Noir reflects this also with very nice color development and great early vintage balance.  Chardonnay in the Santa Maria Valley coped with the heat better in most accounts than did the Pinot Noir.  I have only heard exciting reports about Chardonnay wine quality and this is no surprise seeing and tasting the fruit as it left the vineyard.  The Chardonnay vines were in a better condition during and following the heat, allowing growers to hang the fruit for an extended period.  The increased hang time brought the fruit back into phenologic balance, and subsequently the wines are showing great character.

The recent October rains were much more of an overall benefit than detriment to us growers because of the recent drought years and in my opinion marked the virtual end to harvest.  There are a few late whites and reds still in the field, but most are coming off this week or are on the schedule for the first week of November.

Pietra Santa Winery, Cienega Valley (Harvest Wrap-up)

Today is a beautiful Indian summer day with temperatures expected to reach 75 – good thing because we are still harvesting!!!  We finished picking cabernet sauvignon yesterday and are working on the last block of merlot before moving on to a small block of 100 year old Zinfandel.  If all goes according to plan (which definitely has not been happening this year) we should be finished by Thursday.

Needless to say it has been interesting this year with unseasonal rain in mid-October but of late, the wine gods have been smiling and have given our grapes some extra time on the vines!!  This should make for well balanced wines with great complexity.  Alessio is especially excited about Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir – our first harvest of fruit grown on our estate, and the Pinot Grigio.  

Pedroncelli Winery, Sonoma County

The End…..Well, the end of Harvest 2009 at least!  We were right on target with our predictions and the last of the grapes were crushed on October 9.   The time frame was typical of harvest and lasted just over seven weeks all told.  The whole crew was tired but very happy with the resulting quality of the fruit.  They all agreed as one that 2009 will be a year to be remembered with its cool growing season and “hang time” at the end giving the grapes just enough maturation to lend perfect ripeness and acidity to the mix.  We had a bumper crop of Zinfandel (no problem there—more Mother Clone for all of us) and overall are seeing about 20% more than the 2008 harvest.  The best part of this year’s crop?  The slower ripening pattern really developed color and, with that, better flavors.  The cooler temperatures during harvest helped to slow down fermentation for some great contact time in the tank—the aromas and flavors really developed well. The prediction is that the wines will be softer with less tannins and with a freshness that hasn’t been seen in a few vintages.Below are some very cool harvest photos taken at Pedroncelli Winery by Ed St. John.

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