Harvest

Remember, remember, the grapes of November.

Hey wine fans! Happy Fall, and happy end of Harvest! A longer than expected harvest period this year made for evenly ripe, full, flavorful grapes on the vine which will contribute to some spectacular 2014 wines.

Harvest Notes

During harvest I went to speak with our winemaker about how 2014 was shaping up:

“A year of unpredictable weather,” our winemaker, Tom Montgomery says as I ask him how harvest is going. The weather outside is warm, hot even, especially for October and the wine lab shows signs of being in the thick of harvest. Test bottles out, carefully labeled cups for monitoring taste, and the exhausted yet exhilarated voices of the team.

“Unpredictable” doesn’t necessarily mean bad however, he went on to explain. Due to the uncertain weather patterns throughout the year, at the time when he would have expected to be deep in the midst of picking, many of the grapes still showed high sugar and low ph levels; indicating that they were not properly ripe yet. Exercising the patience that only comes with many years of experience, Montgomery elected to leave most of these bunches on the vine longer, resulting in beautifully consistent well rounded ripeness which should mean some rich, well-balanced wines.

The drought did not affect us here in wine country too badly. Grapes don’t need a lot of water to begin with, so we got lucky there. While we did have to watch a couple vineyards quite closely, the drought was not a major factor in harvest this year.

Our Favorite Thanksgiving Picks

Pairing wine with your Thanksgiving meal is always a challenge. All the wonderful flavors that make up the meal can tend to clash with a lot of wines. The key is to keep it simple and let the food enhance the wine, rather than the other way around.

If you want to start with a white, try a nice smooth Chardonnay. The heavier tones of Chardonnay will be perfect with turkey and all those wonderful Thanksgiving sides! You could go the complete other way as well though. Our Riesling has a slightly sweet taste and a lot of nice light fruit, but still plenty of acidic bite to stand up to Thanksgiving flavors.

Moving on to red, Pinot Noir is always a wonderful choice. It’s tones of spice coupled with nice round fruit qualities are a perfect complement for Thanksgiving fare.

Now the most important part of Thanksgiving: pumpkin pie. This lovely dessert will pair perfectly with our Cabernet Port!
What wine do you like to pair with Thanksgiving food? Share with us on Facebook and Twitter!

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