Vincent, certainly meant no direct daggers at anyone, just an observation over the years. Sorry if I offended anyone
Our orientation went well today, feel we have a great team that is starting to feel the excitement
Will see our first samples this week to evaluate, but I’m pretty jazzed w the weather and the potential of the harvest. I’ll try to learn how to post pictures this week to share.
Our best to all
L
Interesting piece on seed tannins:
http://www.vintageexperiences.com/media/Supp-articles/Seed%20Tannins.pdf
No worries Linda, I could have used an emoticon myself. Nice to see low pHs in my sites in the Eola Hills. More moderate on Ribbon Ridge. The forecast couldn’t be better.
Doug Tunnell at Brick House reports he’s picking chardonnay tomorrow, pinot this weekend.
Did he call you on the Bat Phone or did you read his Facebook page?
He and I share a satellite mind-meld.
It’s on! I went out this morning to “help” with the pick at Armstrong and saw crews in several vineyards. The fruit looks and tastes fantastic, and I’ll post pics shortly.
115 for Vincent Wine Company about 7:30 AM
I thought perhaps you had Tunnell-Vision.
Adam Lee
Siduri Wines
I talked Doug a few hours ago (he was ordering his harvest beer) and he said that they just picked some new-vine Chardonnay today - less than half a ton. The real Chardonnay pick is tomorrow.
Good to see you out there yesterday Bob. Yes, that’s my 115 from Armstrong. Sorted out two rotten clusters, some leaves and a few seconds. Meaning, this was just about perfect fruit. A little high in brix at 24.5 (!) but 3.35 pH before soaking, lots of color coming out of the skins and dynamic flavors. Good wine flavors I mean, not jam. Exciting. The rest of my Armstrong will come in Saturday - keep going back and forth. My Eola Hills sites more likely next Tues/Wed at this point. Forecast is ridiculously nice, just a little warm in all honesty and a bit too windy. Lots of drying, when I’d prefer a bit more of a glide to the finish. I suppose I can deal with just about perfect conditions. The glass isn’t half full, it’s just about perfectly full.
Vincent
Get Doug to put a couple of tablespoons of water on each vine and you should be okay.
Could be the best October 7-day forecast ever:
And that is why I’m waiting!
Sheee-it. You’d wait if it were raining enough to float an ark. Waiting to pick longer than anyone else is what you do best - though you throw a damn good party. 
I was waiting for someone to say what Todd said. It just seems too hot to wait on some stuff. I think ripeness is there for many sites. The juice from Armstrong is full of color and flavor, too much I worry. 
I’m not picking too many places, many are shaded and east facing; and I know there will be oodles of whole cluster this year. You have to pick at the right time for your style and feel good about it. I know what I like and I know how to get it. Luckily the clients I make for wine dig what I do (two of them are near 750+’…) In my case I’m afforded to wait for the physiological state of ripeness I enjoy this year.
Marcus Goodfellow told me that he thought some people tended to wait a bit too long to pick in 2008 because the weather afforded really long hang times and ended up with pretty dense wine that may end up coming off as a little ripe in the long run. He can correct me if I misconstrued what he said. Seems like there is a tradeoff.
Ron, that may explain why they sold so well. I look at picking three ways: against disease, against weather, and on your own terms for flavor in a warm, dry fall.
I saw my first 2 samples today and the initial down and dirty told me this - if I picked on brix alone I’d call it tomorrow. However, the seeds are green, slimey ( technical term ) and just not ready. I can deal w the higher brix, but don’t want to work around green. We are firing up the spec tomorrow and will provide hard numbers. My feel so far us we have a wonderful chance to make awesome wine, mother nature seems to be cooperating so will wait until the flavors develop a bit more. Since we have to flip our fermentors at least twice, I know we will call something shortly, even if it’s just the whites to get them moving al