2005 Harvest

It’s been an easy harvest, with fruit coming in at a predictable pace. The weather has been consistently warm and pleasant, although the temperatures have started dropping dramatically after dark, which means that Dan’s early morning and late evening punchdowns are a little frosty.

A full harvest report and photos of our vintage action from early spring through harvest can be found at the friendly culinary site eGullet.

We turned away several vineyards this year because the pH values were too low. Some growers were unable to sell their fruit. There is hype all over the print and online media about a high quality vintage, and certainly the fruit that we selected this year is excellent—huge aromas, heavy pigments, and perfect alcohol and pH levels.

However, my heart goes out to the growers who simply weren’t able to make it happen this year. With late, heavy spring rains and rampant but weaker green growth in the vineyard, those vineyards that were not proactively dropping fruit and shoot thinning early in the season were unable to properly ripen their fruit. I wonder if the press is taking into account those growers who gambled and lost this year. I guess it would be a little difficult to get those interviews, though, eh? What would you say? “Excuse me, sir, but I understand that your fruit was hopelessly imbalanced this year, and that all the wineries you contacted rejected you. May I ask how you feel about that?”

According to industry sources, this is the second largest harvest of winegrapes in California, which means that vintners on the spot market were able to select only the best fruit. Bulk wine brokers (firms that buy unused fruit or fermented wine for sale later) are also reporting a very high quality vintage. But consider that demand is not very flexible—it is determined by the number of tanks, barrels, and fermenting bins at each winery or wine processing facility. The wine industry can only expand so much during harvest, just as loosening your belt only works so long during Thanksgiving dinner.

So when it comes to evaluating the 2005 vintage, one can approach it from the wine production angle—there is certainly a lot of great fruit available this year. Or one can consider the true character of the vintage, in which case we should remember that the excellent 2005 vintage was a struggle for many viticulturists, and a struggle that some lost.