The vineyard is now past full veraison, and varieties such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot are near harvest. I have a few picks scheduled for the end of this coming week. So, it seems we have a slightly early/average harvest for 2023.
July was very warm, and the first two weeks of August were the same. Then, in mid-August, temperatures climbed, and we experienced several extremely hot, dry days. The result was some fruit shrivel, though not much. We anticipated a potential problem from the heat due to freeze damage to the vascular system during December and proactively applied water to the plants every day of the heat spell. I believe the extra water helped us avoid high levels of heat damage and protect both yields and fruit quality.
We have the crew removing clusters now. We have completed all the Merlot blocks, and most of the Chardonnay and fruit quality looks excellent.