A funny thing (to me at least) about the idea of sharing at this moment a harvest report of the ‘wrap-up’ variety is that rather than it providing a concrete assessment of the success (or failure) of the growing season, it comes really so much more at the beginning of the really important stuff (rather than at any kind of definitive end). In years past, when I was active as a retailer and/or restaurateur, I can remember being quite eager to gather various assessments of the harvests in vineyards around the world. Reports from growers, importers, and critics that were hot off the (grape) press felt indispensable in my effort to understand what and where my focus should be. These early accounts forcefully impacted the strategic choices I needed to consider making about acquiring, merchandising, cellaring, or avoiding wine from any, or all, of the world’s key regions.
Not surprisingly, in the experience that I’ve had as a winegrower these last twenty-one harvests (and somewhat surprisingly echoed by my own wine cellar buying choices), my priorities have noticeably shifted. For one thing, I’ve come to believe that no assessment of a region (or even a single producer’s wine within it) will ever ring truer to me than one I form myself. Rooted even more empirically, though, in my view of how successful a growing season went is to be able to understand the essential character of the actual wine(s) that came from it (not just learning about weather patterns, yields, timing, etc.), and to directly assess how they are poised to evolve in the bottle.
This perspective has repeatedly been buttressed by surprises, both of the happy and less encouraging sort. Sometimes that lean, nearly skeletal wine that seemed destined to never be much more than ‘interesting’ (rather than delicious), over time dropped its tannic, astringent shroud and blossomed into something with length, depth, and even a hint of voluptuousness. On other occasions, wines that seemed to have ‘everything’ from the moment that they stopped fermenting would run into a brick wall, prematurely flattening out, and losing their form and dynamic appeal.
So, inasmuch as our wines haven’t even finished fermenting and are only just about to be barreled down to finish malo and cruise into the winter, any precise assessment of their character ain’t worth much at this point. All of that said, I will nevertheless admit that I’m very excited to explore them and to chart their course. After last year’s decidedly cool weather (which forced us to drop 30-40% of our crop!), this growing campaign was as close to ideal as any we’ve experienced. No late rains to interfere with flowering ⎯ although plenty of winter moisture overall had the vines in great hydrological status. Generally, a very even balance pertained between sunny days, cool evenings, periods of fog, and periodic heat events which altogether made for a comparatively easy farming year. The late-season torrid heat spell even caught us in a good spot, as it pushed the grapes into full maturity in a manageable fashion (not to mention that having a Syrah vineyard in a ‘cool’ zone provides a measure of insurance for fierce weather of that sort). The only disappointment to share is that we again yielded considerably less fruit than our ten-year average, landing 20+% below that figure. We’re hopeful, though, that this might lead to even greater flavor detail and depth in the wines, a reasonable expectation if past experience is any guide.
In other words, it was a fantastic summer for viticulture (plus olives and just about every other fruit and vegetable in this area). Fingers crossed, the wines that emerged from it will tell/confirm that story in their own way too.
