The 2014 harvest will be remembered as one of our all-time best vintages, if our early assessments are to be believed. We’re all feeling confident that we brought in some of the best quality fruit we’ve seen in our 10 year history – a comment we don’t make lightly.
The vintage began very early, with an unseasonably warm stint in April, nearly hitting 30C. May and June weren’t about what weather we did get, but what we didn’t, and that was rainfall – we had an exceptionally dry Spring season without the expected spring rains, allowing for complete irrigation control in the vineyard. July was slightly above average temperature, while August was closer to our expected average. The temperatures dropped just a bit at the end of August and beginning of September, which meant the grapes could slow their ripening and build flavours. Towards the end of the month and throughout October we saw beautiful sunny skies, warm days around 20C and very light rainfall.
Picking began with small lots of the early ripening whites in mid-September, and continued steadily throughout October. The last two days saw a small block of Cabernet Franc and the last of the Marsanne and Roussanne roll over the sorting table, now all safely in tank or barrel. So next week, the crush pad and equipment will get a deep clean and put away until next fall, and we’ll be retreating into the cellar to continue pressing off reds and getting everything settled in barrel, before turning our attention to the spring release whites.