Pinot And Tannat In
It was a very long day Friday. Seems like everyone was picking to beat the rain, not just us. My crew of ten guys had already pulled in over 50 tons under lights before they got to our Estate at dawn. They were tired. And SLOW.And the picking was light – very light. A couple weeks ago, I estimated our Pinot at 2.25 tons/acre. When all was said and done Friday, it came in at less than 1.9 t/a. I was hoping for six tons total for Westwood and about 2.2 tons for a willing buyer. I ended up with just over five tons for us, and shorted my buyer down to under a ton. Ouch. The Tannat was even lighter, relatively speaking – we only brought in 0.88 tons when history and our estimate led us to expect well over two tons.
Yield complaints aside, the fruit quality is excellent. It took the better part of the regular day to get the fruit picked, trucked to the winery and weighed. I did not start processing until 6 pm and didn't leave until midnight. Long day.
The expected rain started a little after 8 pm Friday night – it was not as heavy as we had feared. We only accumulated about a tenth of an inch overnight; nothing to worry about after all. Saturday was cloudy and humid but breezy. It did not warm up Sunday as much as expected.
This morning I will be in the vineyard at sunup to sample Syrah, which I expect to start picking for buyers by Thursday or Friday this week, and maybe for Westwood over the weekend. I will be on the lookout for Botrytis after the rain, but really don't expect to find any.
The forecast is for dry, warmer and breezier – there is even a mention of fire weather concern – with cooler temperatures arriving with another dry frontal system by the end of the week. I'll take that forecast, happily.
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