Where Are We?
2019 harvest is well under way and we couldn’t be more thrilled. The fruit that has already come in has been absolutely fantastic and the fruit still hanging is well on its way to be the same.
Thanks to the grace of Mother Nature we’ve had a nice and steady growing season with, for the most part, moderate temperatures and dry conditions. A little rain shower in the Northern Counties this morning, but just enough to wash off dust. Yes, as typical for us here in Sonoma & Anderson Valley, we have also had a couple of 95 to 100 degree heat runs but thankfully they were timely and fairly short lived without causing much stress - oh we’re always stressed out this time of year. True Story.
It seems as though we will be basically having a bookend harvest. Within ten days we have picked the three components of our Sauvignon Blanc and our Helluva Pinot Noir (our largest to date). Our Sémillon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc(s) still need time to develop some more sugar and flavor complexity.
As I write this we have our Knights Valley SB in tank half way through fermentation, the Sonoma Mountain parcels in tank settling and waiting to be racked and for fermentation to start and Helluva Pinot Noir in three seperate tanks (aids in a better, cleaner fermentation along with easier more gentle punchdowns) macerating and waiting for fermentation to kick as well.
During this time we will be checking on the kids in the cellars one to two times a day in order to ensure nice, steady and pretty fermentation periods - this is an extremely important stage in our style of winemaking. More to come as we move from vine to bottle...we're posting daily Harvest 2019 happenings on our IG @smithstorywines, please follow along.
- Eric "I love tacos" Story