August 2024: Harvest Predictions and a Fall Allocation Primer

Harvest is imminent.

While I haven’t picked Torrey Hill yet, Sonoma County wineries have started picking fruit. Wine grapes for sparkling wine and wine grapes for rose are trundling down the 101 and careening around hairpin turns en route to the crushpad. It’s an exciting (and harrowing) time to visit wine country.

The Crushpad is Ready for Service!

The View from the Vines

Mother Nature blessed us with ideal, textbook weather during bloom and fruit set, so our 2024 wine crop looks robust. With an ample water table and ample sunshine, clusters are big, juicy, and postcard-perfect, framed by a still verdant canopy. I daresay, (indeed I “dare-whisper),” that perhaps my observations foreshadow a bumper-esque crop. At the very least, in most vineyards, fruit set magnificently. To ensure vine balance, crews are busy completing green drops and thinning passes to optimize ripening for every cluster deemed worthy to stay on the vine. Harvest dates and parameters are aligned with 5 year averages, but my hunch is that a large(ish) crop slowed ripening from “super-duper 2022 early” to “regular old generic early.”

Pinot Noir at Torrey Hill Vineyard, August 2024, Russian River Valley, Sonoma County

Putting on the Miles

I added the Nightwing Vineyard in 2022 and the Ferrington Vineyard in 2023. This means every week I’m traversing both a north loop (Anderson Valley/Rockpile) and a Petaluma Gap loop. Charlie’s ranch is too far west to play nicely with others, so that’s a separate chardonnay sampling run. And I’ll grab my Soberanes samples from the central Santa Rosa hub every few days. Winding through wine country, sampling grapes in the coolest hours of dog day summer is a joy.

Sonoma County is BIG before adding an Anderson Valley site, up north in Mendocino

Chewie loves joining me (until he poops out), so I assumed his young pal Leia would enjoy the tradition, too. She is high energy, an ideal companion for traipsing up and down vineyard rows. But alas, she gets car sick on windy roads and any drive exceeding 5 minutes, which is ALL of them. So as the kids flee for college, I’m sampling solo.

Chewie is pooped.

Magical Numbers

I wish I could write that I am starting my 17th harvest in the same year my 18 year-old twins begin college. 18 is such an auspicious number. Even without a lucky number, I can share with you how my approach to crafting zinfandel has evolved in these 17 years of wine growing and grape crushing.

Back when I started vinifying zinfandel, in the age of the small-armed dinosaurs, mentors taught us newbies to wait until every berry turned deeply purple before picking. This can take a while, since zin is a notoriously, unevenly ripening varietal.

Zin ripens unevenly.

You can imagine that if one waits for Every! Single! Berry! to look deeply ripe, you’ll have a higher percentage of raisins. And a higher percentage of raisins makes a sticky zinfandel fermentation even more challenging. No yeast in the world can convert sugar to alcohol faster than a raisin leaks sugar, so this finishing this wine is an uphill battle. These days, in contrast, I’m comfortable picking zin when clusters show 5% rose-hued berries, 94.5% light to dark purple berries, and 0.5% raisins. Indeed, I’ve come to believe that the beauty of zinfandel is this rich range of flavors from red fruits to blue fruits to dark fruit. Good zin ought to taste this way; it reflects an authentic pedigree. And hey, just because you can craft 17% ABV zinfandel, doesn’t mean you should.

So, when Wine Enthusiast reviewer Tom Capo noted that my 2022 Rockpile zinfandel “is Zin for people who love Pinot and yeah, that's fun,” I was tickled rose.

The Fall Allocation

The 2024 Fall Allocation opens on September 3rd and features a trio of new releases, each reflecting terroir, site, and offering something delicious. The 2022 Heintz Vineyard chardonnay is a New World chardonnay steeped in Old World tradition. Oh how to say this nicely… If you’re looking for a big, ole tropical buttery, oaky chardonnay, just keep on scrolling. There is nothing wrong with that style; it’s just a poor fit for Charlie’s late-ripening, high acid, cool AF ranch. The ’22 has a wonderful almond skin, pastry dough, grilled pineapple thing tied up in a mineral bow. That’s a gift!

The 2022 Torrey Hill is black cherry juice goodness. It’s darn good with pizza, and probably anything else you’re making for dinner. But not scallops. Or delicate cod. Or pasta primavera with creamy lemon sauce.  For each of the aforementioned menu options, revert to chardonnay. Anything else: uncork the Torrey Hill.

We’ve already uncorked the 2022 Rockpile zin, so to speak. The aromatic mirrors the lovely 2021 vintage, since the vineyard, yeast, and barrel program remain identical. If you loved my 2021 zin, or the 2019, 2018…or even that inaugural 2009, you’ll love the new release. As for that ’09, let’s just shake on it and say our palates have evolved together!

 

The Sweetest Finish

Speaking of blue fruit and dark fruit, should you find yourself with a late summer bumper crop of plums, bake yourself Marian Burros’ Original Plum Torte recipe from the New York Times. With 5 pantry staples, one bowl, and your neighbor’s plums (shhhhhh!), you’ll treat yourself to something that belies the recipe’s simplicity (& pairs swimmingly with the late harvest viognier).

As always, thank you for your support. Thank you for supporting small, family wineries and being a cheerleader for authentic wines crafted with care. Please keep sending me your bottle shots. I love being part of your date nights, celebrations, and weekday dinners. If you’re planning to visit Sonoma County, please consider adding Bruliam Wines to your itinerary. Reservations can be booked via the website (& Tock).

Finally, if you’ve read all the way through to the end I do have a small favor to ask. As a fan of Bruliam Wines, it would help me tremendously if you could post a Google review recounting your favorite Bruliam experience - be it at the winery, a restaurant, a tasting, or just opening a delicious bottle at home. Every 5-star review helps. Please click here to add your review!