I was up in Cherry Grove Vineyard last night, and the progress there has been phenomenal. Third catch wires are all up, and the vineyard is ready for the first hedging pass. More importantly, bloom happened very quickly - Bob Van Steenberg told me that Cherry Grove went from 5% to full bloom within just a couple of days last week. This is great news, as it means we've made up another few days of the schedule.
Even if we have the rather luke-warm summer a la 2010, we still will start harvesting Pinot Noir by Oct 20th or so. If we get the even warmer weather that's currently in the medium-range forecast, we'll be back to a mid-Oct start.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm happy for the cool growing season and late fall. Athena and I have been tasting through our 2010 wines in barrel ahead of summer racking. We're finding a wonderful range of ripe flavors on a light frame with brightness and length. These wines are the poster children for cool climate Pinot Noir - It's why we're here! My heart, however, loves the bit more certainty that we won't start picking in November this year.
