Harvest update: on the 2025 vintage

Feels like time for a belated conclusory paragraph about the 2025 vintage, which was marked by highs and lows, and could have used a couple more highs. Since I last wrote at the end of September, when we had just racked Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay to tanks and barrels, we have concluded harvest. Two days before the rain we harvested both blocks of Merlot, with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, beginning on October 9 at 3am, and concluding on the 10th around dawn. By that point, we had reached 2385 growing degree days in our corner of southern Napa Valley, far below the highs of 2024.

Despite it having been a cooler than average summer, I was very excited about the quality of the fruit. The Merlot was dimpled and soft, with Brix above 26 and glucose/fructose in the 240g range, meaning we would be harvesting very ripe but not very sweet fruit. Color extraction happened quickly as we held the fruit in cold tanks for a full seven days, and the tannins were soft and refined.

Cabernet Sauvignon followed on October 22, after the rain, at closer to 2340 GDD. Of course, we wouldn’t have minded and would have benefited from more heat this year, but the flavors of everything we sampled were full and ripe and the wines are harmoniously balanced, soft without being weighty.

This vintage reminds me a bit of 2012 — not as deeply troubled as 2011, despite the mild anxiety I felt waiting it out — with a classic structure, moderate tannin and concentration and stony acids and backbone, with fewer bright raspberry or cherry notes and lots more of the dark berries and mellow compote and black tapenade we have in the classic years.

Malolactic fermentation has run apace, nearing completion in tanks. We pressed all of our red estate lots this year at 31 days on the skins. We have since barreled everything down and we’re wrapping the winery up for a short break over Thanksgiving — Since the heat never found us this year in Napa Valley, we’re going to go find it!