Grape Harvest Begins on the Central Coast

August 17, 2021 – According to viticulturist Prudy Foxx, veraison—the process of red wine grapes turning from green to their purplish hue—is happening really fast. It might be a bit delayed, but with recent heat, it’s starting to accelerate. Her first fruit in will be Pinot Noir from The Mountain Winery, probably before the end of August.  Next up will be Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for Lester’s sparkling wine program, at the beginning of September. 

Jeffrey Patterson of Mount Eden is picking Pinot Noir from his earliest ripening blocks Wednesday, August 18. He thinks the crop might be significantly down, but won’t know until he begins harvesting.

Among the first wineries in the region to bring in grapes for Harvest 2021 was Beauregard Vineyards for Ryan’s second label, The Lost Weekend. Beauregard trucked in gorgeous old vine Carignan and Mourvèdre from Sandy Lane vineyard in Contra Costa County on August 11, to make their Lost Weekend Rosé. It was a night pick and the photos were amazing. Tasting Room Manager, Michael Phillips, says, “We are also producing our Lost Weekend Red from that vineyard this year, which is an Old Vine Field Blend, based on Zinfandel and coming in as soon as this week.” He expects Beauregard Ranch Pinot Noir to be the first pick of the year for our Estate fruit. “That is traditionally the start of harvest for us, and it’s getting close! Beauregard Ranch is only a couple weeks away, while Bald Mountain has some time to go.”

Greg Freeman, our much lauded Carmel Beach bagpiper and winemaker at Chalone, says he expects to bring in Pinot Noir from a couple of older blocks of Dijon clones before the end of August (114, 667, 777). 

Testarossa in Los Gatos expects to bring in Chardonnay from the Brosseau Vineyard in Chalone on Wednesday, August 18. They normally commemorate the first harvest load with a Blessing of the Grapes, but a concern over the rapid spread of the Delta variant of Covid forced them to reconsider.

Cole Thomas of Madson Wines expects his first grapes will be Chardonnay from a vineyard in the Los Altos Hills, by the end of August. He’s also getting some Chenin Blanc from an own-rooted vineyard in the Cat Canyon area of Santa Barbara, planted in a sand dune in 1971. That’s some seriously old vine fruit. He expects to pick that in early September. “Toyon Vineyard Pinot and Chardonnay will also come in, probably early September. It’s been a cool growing season. I hope it stays cool.” Ascona Vineyard is looking great, and they might get their first Aligote off that vineyard this year. Chardonnay will come in by late September, along with Gamay,  and Pinot Noir. After that will be Ascona Syrah in late October.

In Pleasant Valley, Richard Alfaro says, “Pinot always starts first for us. We’ll get Pinot for rose in about 3 to 4 weeks, and then will bring in the rest of the Pinot over the next 4 to 6 weeks.”

At sparkling house, Caraccioli Cellars, GM Scott Caraccioli told us he was sampling right now and was about to review the results. He figured he’d begin picking for sparkling about August 24. “I’m about 10 days behind overall, but we will see. Cool spring and summer overall. I’m good with it just creeping along and getting awesome phenolic ripeness along the way.”

Mark Pisoni says his vineyards are running one to two weeks behind last year, with smaller clusters and yields below average. “Our summer has been cooler. We prefer it to be uneventful, with slow and steady ripening.” He was in the process of green drop and removing second crop, as well as putting up bird netting. They expect to start picking in mid-September, probably Pinot Noir from Garys’ Vineyard, although Soberanes can be early as well. 

Garrett Bowlus of Albatross Ridge shared, “We are still pretty green up here and haven’t started veraison really in most blocks with the exception of our 8a & 8b Pinot blocks which are 777 clone and we are expecting to harvest those for pet nat around September 10-15, maybe sooner. It just depends. We haven’t been that hot compared to what was forecasted over the last couple of weeks.” Asked if he was planning to expand his popular production of concrete “en beton” Chardonnay, he replied in the affirmative.  “We are actually doing a lot more concrete Chardonnay for 2021. We have invested in another concrete vessel which will be getting delivered in a couple weeks.”

At Morgan in the Santa Lucia Highlands, winemaker Sam Smith believes that the first fruit that will be coming in will be either Sauvignon Blanc from Arroyo Seco or Pinot Noir. Owner Dan Morgan Lee had this to say about the current year thus far. “The 2021 growing season has been a little cooler than the past couple of years, which means harvest at the Double L Vineyard will begin a few weeks later than usual—around the 3rd week of September. So far, we’re seeing a super clean crop, high acidity, and slightly smaller than average yields. This year’s growing season reminds me of the conditions seen in 2009—2011. Morgan fans will remember that our 2010 vintage of Pinot Noir was listed in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines, so suffice to say we’re looking forward to producing a stand-out vintage.”

Judy Schultze of Windy Oaks told us, “We will bring in first our estate Pinot Noir grapes for sparkling rosé and then Albariño for sparkling. We are running about 10 days to two weeks behind and expect to start harvest in our estate vineyards in Corralitos around the 2nd to 3rd week of October. Our harvest this year will most certainly extend into November! Hopefully not too far into November!”

We hope not, either, as we hope it’s darn well raining by then. 

Sante Arcangeli’s John Benedetti says he expects Pinot Noir from the DaLarDi Vineyard on Stetson Road (off San Jose/Soquel Highway), to be first into the crushpad this year. Or, it might be Hand in Hand vineyard from Pleasant Valley. He expects this to occur sometime in the second week of September, barring any sever weather spikes. “Split Rail just began veraison,” he told us. “We’ll get some of Split Rail probably mid- to late September, and the rest in late September and early October. Lester looks like mid-September through mid-October, depending on variety and clone. The Mt. Eden, 667 and 115 clones of Pinot Noir generally come in earliest. Usually Pommard is later, and 2A is last.” Benedetti says the chardonnay is the last to ripen at Split Rail and also at Lester, along with the Syrah. “It ripens with low sugar and nice acid.” That’s what makes our Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay so stalwart and long-lived. 

Not all good things enjoy such long life, though. We bid a sad and premature adieu to Frank Cates, who many of you know from Lester Vineyards. He helped run the tasting room and was responsible for their adventurous Safari program. Prior to that, he worked at Cinnabar in Saratoga, after many years in hospitality at high-end resorts in Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas. Sadly, he passed away last Saturday, on Elephant Hill, overlooking Pleasant Valley, while preparing for one of those amazing Safari experiences. He will forever be remembered for his gregarious nature, his excellent food and his love of the incomparable Lester property.