Wines I'm Making: 2026 Harvest

Harvested our grapes on Sunday, September 20, a very early harvest for us. We normally harvest in the first week of October, but very early heat this year got vines all over the county off to an early start. We began picking at about 8:00AM and, with the help of a neighbor, we finished picking by about noon. This year, I completely rewired the electric fence around the grapes (raccoons) and the got the nets on early (raccoons), and, as a result, we had zero damage from critters – which is a first in the 22 years we've been making wine. Likewise, there was almost no loss from mold, and mold and raccoons are the two biggest threats every year.

We got 102lbs of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc and 49lbs of Sangiovese. After crush,  the Cabernet tested at just under 24 brix, the Sangiovese at about 23.5 brix. The Cabernet will sit for a couple of days before the yeast is introduced to start fermentation, which typically takes 10–14 days. I'll press the Sangiovese first thing tomorrow morning to make rosé, so the juice will have been on the skins about 19 hours, which will result in a nice medium-deep hue. This year I'm trying a new yeast (called "Elegance") for the rosé. In the past, I've always used one called "Epernay II". We'll see it it makes an appreciable difference, for better or worse.