A Time of Tests. A Time of Gifts.

July 28, Napa Carneros
My daughter Eszter and I walk multiple blocks on this Tuesday evening to get a feel for harvest timing and yields before the crew starts picking Chardonnay for Schramsberg Winery. Our earliest start ever after summer arrived in March
and the vines awoke early. A wet drawn-out spring made for a disturbed fruit set season so yields will be low. But summer has been mild and even and the fruit tastes great on the vine.

August 1, Hood River Oregon
Scrambling up Coyote Wall, a huge basalt buttress. Looking across the very blue Columbia River, emerald vineyards stand out in contrast among black volcanic rocks and the dried gold grass of eastern Oregon. We finish the day with
cold Riesling on a dry windy deck as the winemaker and friend Alexis traces last summer’s wildfire that rushed along the riverbank and smoked out another vintage.

August 4
Smartphones are now a key harvest tool. Fruit panel results with sugar and acid levels, detailed forecasts, temperature readouts from dozens of sensors at Poseidon and Obsidian vineyards. This morning the phone pings with WhatsApp
notes from abroad. A group chat among twenty-seven of our barrel colleagues who represent our Kádár barrels from Tokaj around the world. Mark from South Africa — driest winter in memory. Tony from New Zealand — warmest July
ever with no dormancy for the vines. András in Hungary — four desiccating heat waves to date in Europe. Pablo in Mendoza — El Niño driven snows have closed the pass to Chile for 21 days and 1,800 trucks await but reservoirs are
finally being filled. Bordeaux burns for weeks.

Tests.

July 28, Napa Carneros
Vineyard foreman Carlos leads the crew in light calisthenics to prepare for a night of picking. Each person will harvest up to a ton of fruit, wrapping up around 2 a.m. These are some of the roughly 100 people whose work comes together to
produce the bottles of wine we offer you this fall. They include foresters, millers, pruners, tractor drivers, cellar crew — people with skills developed over many years. Skills applied and adjusted each season to the consistencies and vagaries of each vintage.

The crew starts and we hear the good sound of clusters landing in the empty half ton picking bins. We head down to the oxbow of Carneros Creek along the east edge of the vineyard to check G block. A hand drawn survey map from 1844 clearly shows this oxbow on the edge of the Bay wetlands before the levee was built. An 1858 map also centers on the oxbow and shows it newly planted with fruit trees best we can tell.

As Eszter and I round the main bend, we come along the corner my father pestered us to replant because insects from the riparian zone used to knock out this section. In the orange dusk the vines look healthy with 4” trunks and a pretty good fruit set. The Pinot Noir looks full and clean. A familiar hope rises in my chest thinking of a good vintage.

A very full moon rises over the Vaca range.

Gifts.