As of today, our grapes are all in! Today's picking of Petit Verdot in Cadenza Vineyards in The Brogue marked the end of the growing season. All of the grapes from our Stewartstown vineyards were already in, three weeks ago. Since the grapes there are hybrid varieties such as Vidal and Chambourcin, they ripen more quickly and are harvested earlier than the European-style vinifera grapes, which sometimes hang on the vines until November. Since this was a rebuilding and retraining year for those vines, and because of a spring frost which singed some of the vines, our Stewartstown yields were down significantly from a typical year there. But, while the grape yields were down 30%-50%, their quality this year was solid. This has, on balance, been quite a short growing season. Due to a cold springtime, we had the latest budbreak ever this year, six days later than ever before. In our Cadenza Vineyards, we narrowly escaped the spring frost. The white grapes (Chardonnay, Albariño, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, and Semillon) from the 2020 harvest came in looking fine, though Carl hasn't yet noted a potential stand-out wine among them. By contrast, Carl is pretty excited by the Cadenza Vineyards red grapes from this harvest, especially the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and today's Petit Verdot. He deems himself "extremely satisfied" with their character and quality, and our yields from this vineyard were actually quite a bit higher than in the past.
Cheers and thanks to our vineyard crew for their good work this year: Nelson, Jason, Flo, Grace, Matt, and Ryan!
1 Comment
Paul
10/31/2020 02:16:18 am
Looking forward to what Carl creates!
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