This year we have 2 lucky winners in our Turtle Vines contest for the harvest date and amount picked.
Our main harvest finished on 9/9 and that was the exact guess for Melanie Bishop!
Our total Pinot Noir harvested was 9,844 lbs and Lynne Smith wins with a guess of 10,025 lbs.!
Congrats to both of our winners who will receive our 2014 Pinot Noir!!!
Saw this wonderful article on how to tell it is harvest time in Wine Country by Peg Melnik…if you have never experienced a wine grape harvest, you are missing out on the excitement. Here at Turtle Vines we expect harvest to the around September 20th, give or take…will see how the next months weather cooperates!
The famous writer obviously forgot one important caveat: except during harvest.
As the decidedly uncivilized harvest season unfolds in Sonoma and Napa counties over the next few weeks we’ll see the signs –– the media circus, the gawkers and the tourists –– all craving a glimpse of how wine is birthed.
Their photos, of course, won’t capture the spectacle — the joy in the midst of the contractions. And it’s a messy, long labor, not unlike that of comedian Rita Rudner who complained “life is tough enough without having someone kick you from the inside.”
Sleep deprivation, of course, isn’t the half of it. These harvest pickers often risk their lives, and most certainly their sanity, for the optimal pick.
Case in point. For more than two decades 78-year-old Lee Martinelli has teetered on his tractor, defying gravity on Jackass Hill that, with a 60 percent slope, is the steepest vineyard in Sonoma County. Keep in mind this steep slope isn’t even legal in Sonoma County anymore, but the hill at Martinelli’s winery in Windsor was grandfathered in. The vintner keeps his boots loose when he harvests his prized zinfandel in case he needs to jump ship should the tractor take a spill.
Like the hijinks of Jackass Hill, there’s a hilarity to harvest, whether you love it or you hate it, whether you want to curse the diva or celebrate her. Clearly harvest time makes strange bedfellows. It’s that odd mix of strange and wonderful. Just when winemakers think its intensity will send them over the edge, they’re spared by exuberance.
1. Stocking Up — You’ll notice some Type-A winemakers making a Costco run to buy ungodly amounts of frozen dinners. The jury is out on which brand is more popular — Amy’s, which is vegan-friendly, or Stouffer’s, which offers full-on, soothing comfort food. Whatever the case, these winemakers have it all dialed in. They refuse to cook during harvest — they thaw.
5. Starfleet Academy — When you hear five languages across seven barstools in Healdsburg, that’s when you know they’ve arrived — this year’s international class of harvest interns. While their motto isn’t “Ex astris, scientia” — “From the stars, knowledge,” the sentiment is the same. They aim to drink in knowledge by day, and drink in everything else by night.
6. The Ripening — It’s not a horror film — yet –– but The Ripening movie could be filled with the same supernatural intrigue. Winemakers see ripening as magic and they use it as a clock to tell time. They know they’re getting close to harvest when grapes in the vineyard go through the process the French call veraison (verr-ray-zohn). In this mysterious transformation, green grapes turn red, while white grapes become translucent. Other telltale signs from the cosmos include ripe blackberries and tomatoes on the vine, and that sexy flower, Naked Ladies, popping up all over the place.
8. The Walking Dead— You’ll see people who are dazed and confused, the delirious who can no longer separate their days from their nights. Sadly, it has just occurred to them that there’s no clocking out in harvest. Keep in mind that sleep-deprivation is a form of torture. Winemaker Nico Cueva of Sonoma County’s Kosta Browne acknowledged some people can’t take the toll of harvest. He said “every year we have at least one intern who can’t take the pace and has to leave.”
10. Euphoria — During the fits of frustration, the convulsions of harvest, there is the inevitable joy. Winemakers who have been hibernating in their cellars most of the year, get to commune with nature. Goldschmidt said he loves harvest because “I get to experiment and create and that’s really what we do best.” Mick Schroeter, who makes wine for Sonoma County’s Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards, said the coolest part of harvest is the excitement. “The pace of harvest builds and all hell breaks loose. Everybody is working full-tilt, crazy hours, weekends and you think ‘when is this craziness going to end?’ But getting out into the vineyards, watching the final stages of ripening and making those first picking decisions, it’s exhilarating! Is it worth the fuss? Absolutely.”
For those unfamiliar with the vineyard season…most of the daily work is performed from early March to the end of June. So what is left for me to do?
As you can see the vines are in great shape this year. We had record breaking rainfall this winter so the vines still have not been irrigated, and I’m hoping that continues for a few more weeks. When I do need water, I have to “stress” the grapes with only 75% of their water needs to produce flavorful grapes. Next…I have 2 or 3 more sprays with oil to prevent mildew and botrytis. Then…we finish tucking the vines in the wires and hedge the top a second time. Additionally…the nets go up the end of the month to prevent birds from eating our crop. Only then do I switch hats from vineyard manager to winemaker on a full time basis to monitor the crop and decide when to harvest!!!
From the picture below you can see the bunches are about ready to close and then veraison will occur when they go from green to red. Approximately 60 days later we will harvest…and 2017 looks to be a pretty good year based on what I see so far.
I’m guessing we will be harvesting around September 16th…so if you are in the area contact me and be prepared to work!
It is time for our second annual harvest date and amount prediction. We winner of each category will receive a bottle of their choice from our current Pinot Noir releases at the time the contest closes.
A few hints…we have 3100 vines which produced between 2.1 and 3.8 tons the last 3 years. Harvest has occured between August 23 and September 13 for those vintages. BTW, bud break was 4 days later this year than last 2016.
Please email dww@sonic.net to enter!
The last two winters we have had a Red Tail Hawk come visit Turtle Vines. It sits on our vine row endpoints, jumps to the ground and hunts gophers and observes me from the trees weeding and pruning! Unfortunately the last two years I have only seen one…no mate.
This year, I saw my Hawk again in the vineyard about a week ago…again alone. But not for long…if you can see from the picture above we now have two Hawks!!! I’m hoping they are mating and we will have little ones flying around in the spring. Stay tuned for more Red Tail love stories!!!
After returning from Minneapolis for Christmas 2 weeks ago, I was going to get some work done around the vineyard between rain storms. However, my 2000 F250 decided it wanted a little pampering and maintenance. After several ideas on what was wrong on my part, I had AAA tow it to a local service center. Ends up the fuel pump failed. I have read that they should last at least 10 years or 100,000 miles. Since Big Red is 16 years old but only has a little over 80K miles, seems about right. Just the $750 bill was not the way I wanted to start out the new year.
Now…you have to ask, when is it time for a replacement truck. Given the truck is for the vineyard/winery only, has 4WD, running boards, a $3K lift gate on the back, tows 5 tons and is only driven 2,000 miles/yr…and a new one just like it is $36K without the lift…we should have it a long time (at least we hope)!
We have veraison!!! (grapes turn from green to red)
What does that mean:
– I have to finish any final preparations to the vineyard before the nets go up in 3 weeks…drop week canes, final sprays, leafing, etc.
– With the light crop I have this year, looks like harvest will be the end of Aug.
– I need to bottle my 2014 Pinot Noir to free up space for the 2015!!!
BTW, my new harvest estimate is:
– 3 tons Pinot Noir
– 250 lbs Merlot
– 180 lbs Sauvignon Blanc
Where did the year go? I know I’m getting older but it seems like I just finished making wine from 2014.
Some people can tell it is summer by which flowers bloom, or how much daylight we get…but we can always tell it is summer the first time we open a bottle of the previous years Sauvignon Blanc. This year was no exception…yesterday we opened our 2014 Turtle Vines Sauvignon Blanc ! We think it is our best vintage yet.
As everyone knows farmers worry a lot about the weather…so here goes mine. California is in its 4th year of drought. Last year we finished with a little over half the normal rainfall and this rainy season is almost over and we are in the same shape as last year…unless we get a lot of rain in March and April.
What does that mean for us here in Russian River Valley? Well, last year bud break was March 11th with an early harvest of September 2nd. We had bud break February 25th this year, 2 weeks ahead of last year!
Why this is bad:
– The sooner bud break, the more chance of a heavy frost damages the shoots and ruins the crop. Normally we worry until 4/15.
– If all the other milestones are early, we will harvest mid-August. With an early harvest the grapes will not mature correctly leading to poorer phenolics.
– The chance of rain ruining fruit set is greater.
But what can you do but enjoy the nice weather and hope for a cool summer.
What a year 2014 was for grapes.
– We picked 1.2 tons (75 cases worth) of Pinot Noir for our Turtle Vines label. We are keeping the Pommard and 667 Clones seperate until bottling. We may end of with 3 different kinds depending on how they age…one of each and then a blend. We will know more in July when we taste/blend and bottle.
– We sold almost 2.6 tons of Pinot Noir to Horse and Plow Winery.
– We received a case of 2013 Pinot Noir from Horse and Plow from Turtle Vines Grapes.
– We picked 9 cases worth of Sauvignon Blanc and will bottle in April.
– We picked 4 cases worth of Merlot and will bottle in July.
Lastly, I took a 6 week winemaking class from Vinquiry which will help with my winemaking in 2015.