The end of the 2008 harvest brought glorious, warm weather which made working outdoors a joy. Left, a half-ton bin of syrah is dumped into a fermentation tank. You can see the blue spa covers we had custom built for our tanks—they are great for punchdowns because they are sturdy enough to walk on, easy to fold back for access to the fruit must, and they provide a tight seal around the top of the tank.
Although it was a balmy autumn and the quality of fruit was exceptional, it was a grim vintage for growers. As we reported last spring, nearly all the California winegrowing communities were hit with killing frosts in April, late enough that most canes had pushed and were exposed to the burning cold. Many vineyards had to reprune to encourage new growth, or simply cut off the burned growth and wait for more buds to push out.
A few weeks later, Napa was hit with triple-digit hot, hot, hot temperatures. Early heat like this shocks the vines because the new growth is still tender and the canes are thin—the plants are growing quickly and somewhat leggy. While we were sympathizing with our friends in the north, those of us in the central coast were also, selfishly, hoping that this "freezer to fryer" weather pattern would not drift south. Alas, it did.
Between the late freezes, searing spring heat, and unforgiving Mojave heat in August, vineyards across much of California suffered crop losses of 30% to 50%, sometimes even more. According the wine press, what this means is the quality of the remaining crop was very high. But this is not entirely true.
There will be exceptional wines in the 2008 vintage, but much lower production and availability. There will also be wines from grapes that were picked too early, grapes that were compromised by the excessive August heat. These are wines that will have high alcohol, raisined flavor, and lack of structure.
Our syrah, which is still a young vineyard, was hit hard by the freeze, the heat, and late season pest pressure from hungry/thirsty birds and bees. However, our dryfarmed zinfandel and Benito Dusi's old vine vineyard both weathered the extremes well and produced a hefty, healthy crop. We may have gotten the best vintage yet of Bella Vineyard's Sauret-clone zinfandel. In most vineyards, Dan was very, very selective—in some, he directed the owners to either cut off fruit that was ripening early (or sell it to someone else), and in others, he chose to pick only certain rows.
The first fruit to ripen had been affected by the August heat. It had ripened too quickly, developing high sugars and pruney flavors, with still green, unseasoned pips. Because of the severe crop limitations, many wineries felt forced to take the fruit, or had to take it due to vineyard contracts. But one of the blessings of being a small, highly independent producer is that we have no contracts, and we can buy as much or as little as we want. Dan chose to skip the main harvest rush, so while others were picking we were waiting for second and even third crop berries.
Zinfandel produces more second/third clusters than most varieties, but depending on how a vineyard is pruned, there are usually some smaller clusters that develop later and ripen later than the largest beauties. These tiny clusters are sometimes as small as 15 berries, and there are fewer clusters per vine. This makes them time and labor-consuming to pick, and therefore more costly. Many wineries and growers will tell you that second crop is of lesser quality, but that's not true; what they're really saying is, it's not worth the bother.
When word got out that Dan was waiting for second crop fruit, we suddenly had offers coming from all directions. We got some amazing fruit from well-known vineyards. One vineyard even asked not to be named in any of our promotional materials or on our label (contract issues). So you'll just have to trust us when I say that thanks to Dan's unique blend of daring and patience, there are some fabulous zins in our 2008 barrels.
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