After a lot of waiting, the grapes of the Santa Cruz Mountains are reaching varietal ripeness. Our first harvest was one of our suppliers; Thurston Vineyard. This is a supplier we tried out last year with a small batch. Their Pinot Noir vineyard is so well tended that I liked them the first day I met them. The wine we made from their grapes was refreshingly different from our estate Pinot and every bit as good, with light fruitiness, bright acid and a very old-world varie

The grapes are now fully mature and we're getting close to harvest. The cooler weather this fall has caused a delay in reaching full varietal ripeness for the harvest to take place of about 3-4 weeks. This is actually great news. The extra hang time is helping ensure more flavor and this is going to be a great vintage.