And one reason why vineyard owners want picks in early has nothing to do with they think the grapes show better earlier in the pick, it has everything to do with the fact that the earlier their grapes get picked, the earlier their vacation starts.
No, not until Christmas. But if you read the interview with him he picked very ripe fruit, without multiple passes thru the vineyard, all reds pressed (no free run juice), 100ppm sulfur at the crusher, always added yeast, frequent (Joe’s word) acid additions, fining on all the wines, and filtration on them as well, aging in American white oak uprights, and then Limousin barrels.
So there are many, many differences in today’s wines from yesterdays, not just harvest brix.
Adam Lee
Siduri Wines
As it was explained to me by a recognized expert in viniculture a primary difference is mean vine age.
Well it kind of does. Especially when someone is not an “important” customer, the pick day can be somewhat of a negotiation and extrapolation due to logistics and labor availability. Plus when you are paying by weight there seems to always be the potential of tension when you are sorting at the macro bin as pickers are dumping in clusters. That seems to be more of a dynamic with smaller growers though.
Well, maybe winemakers should consider using more of Heitz’s approach 
I’m not a zealot on any of those practices, I just know that I’ve had some spectacularly good Heitz wines from the 70s, and I don’t much enjoy drinking most Napa Cabernet wines made more recently.
Next week looks to drop to the low 80s. Slight chance of rain, which I don’t really want if the heat spike has made the berries terribly fragile. Would love to see it drop to 80-84 for 5-6 days after the spike and just let things slowly moderate.
Paul
That has not been my experience when buying fruit (from vineyards with many buyers). I have always been able to call the pick date. Quality growers are very accommodating and keen to produce as high a quality wine as possible.
For instance I picked some Cerise Pinot yesterday (at 22.9b). The pick was for me alone.
Hi Paul- thank you for the feedback. I didn’t say you couldn’t call a pick date- I simply was saying those pick dates are called in advance, and winemakers have to make their pick decisions around other factors than just when they think the fruit is ready. Cheers.
I am not short on opinion nor experience on this last discussion - big surprise!
There are many variations on the theme, here. A larger winery may have their own staff who work the vineyards. If the winery uses all its fruit for their own wines, it is a no-brainer. Or a grower may sell to 10, 20, 50 wineries who need to be harvested. If that vineyard has its own crew, the wineries need to negotiate with the vineyard owner for a date to pick.
Then there are vineyard management companies who work the vineyards for the vineyard owners. They can also be the preferred crew, which I assume is negotiated, for a prominent winemaker/producer.
Since I am probably the smallest single-label producing Cabernet vineyard in Napa Valley, I need to hire in a harvest crew. I need to jockey for position with other vineyards and wineries - including TRB. So I might not always get the exact day I want, but usually I do. At least close.
FIFY!
Having pick crews available depends on who you are buying fruit from and/or who s managing the vineyards. I hear Beckstoffer is great for that but you obviously pay a premium. Also Atlas has a good track record.
You coming up to work this harvest?
yep, i will be there on monday morning. looking forward to seeing you.
Hopefully many wineries learned from 2010. That was a very bipolar year, people seemed to either make the best wine they ever made or put out mediocre wine that had distinct pruney characteristics.