Vintage 2014

In 2014, for the first time in many years, I enjoyed the fall weather. Fall is actually my favorite time of year, but I am usually too busy to enjoy it! It was great to drive around the north coast, enjoying the turning of the leaves without having to worry about sampling vineyards or whether the next rainfall (which was pretty scarce all through 2014) is going to mess up my plans. 

The 2014 vintage was the earliest since 1997, starting--and finishing--two to three weeks earlier than normal. In 1997, I brought in the first grapes on August 14; this year, it was August 22. Once it started, it didn't stop--ten days in, I had harvested 70% of the fruit for the year. It was pretty intense.

Grapevines have a fairly regular calendar, and a lot of what determines the season actually happens before the vines start to grow. The temperature of the soil in the spring is what dictates when the vines start growing--this is a function both of the daytime temperature but also of how much moisture is in the soil. Dry soil warms up faster than wet soil. The spring of 2014 was both warm and dry, so we got a very early start. And once the season was well under way, the weather got very warm. And the vines grew like gangbusters, despite the drought. A late rainstorm helped give the vines a little extra water as well.

About mid-summer, things began to ease off a bit. The weather cooled a little and, as the soil dried out, the vines started slowing down. Harvest no longer seemed like it was going to come a month early. Two or three weeks, maybe. The crop, which also seemed like it was going to be pretty big, also began to look less dauntingly large. Berries that had been growing rapidly slowed down and the clusters didn't fill in as rapidly. In short, things were looking really good. 

Now that the wines are finished, and in many cases, already in bottle, I am especially pleased with the 2014 wines. They combine concentration and freshness in ways that I have longed for and actively pursued for several years. I have some concrete tanks that I am using alongside oak barrels for aging my wines; these seem to help keep the wine fresh and energetic by allowing the wine to "breathe" to a limited extent during aging without adding any wood flavors. Time will tell of course, but all indications are good so far. 

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