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Goosecross: 2009 Vintage Recap
Have you heard that every year is the same here in Napa Valley? Don’t you believe it! After the drama of the 2008 vintage with its roller coaster of weather-related challenges, we enjoyed a remarkably mild, blissfully uneventful 2009 growing season. That is, until Mother Nature tossed us a curve ball on October 13th. We had the heaviest harvest rainfall since the early 80s! Perhaps this will be called the Bordeaux vintage…
Spring
The vines came out of their winter sleep just about on time, in the third week of March, and we were off to a 
beautiful start. The weather was gorgeous – late March and early April brought us daytime temperatures in the 70s with lows in the 40s at night. The word frost was barely part of our vocabulary last spring, which was a delightful contrast to the spring of 2008. These mild conditions seemed to set the tone for the whole season – it was very comfortable for both the vines and the people!
By April, Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, began the usual shoot thinning, essentially correcting the pruning work he did in the winter. The winter pruning is an attempt to determine the number of shoots and clusters that will appear in the spring but, as Geoff says, the vines don’t read the textbook and some thinning is inevitable to prevent crowding and over-cropping. See our video of springtime shoot thinning
That initial thinning was just the beginning. The vines seemed to thrive on the mild growing conditions and between the beautiful weather and a good soaking of rain in early May they grew like gangbusters. Geoff couldn’t remember a season when he’s done so much shoot thinning.
It’s important to keep the vines balanced – carrying the right number of shoots and potential crop for the site and spacing – and also to keep the ratio of leafy growth to clusters in line. Otherwise we risk vegetal characteristics in the wine. The thinning also increases ventilation which helps keep mildew in check.
The vines flowered around middle of May, right on time again, and the weather continued to cooperate nicely. Too much heat can burn the flowers and heavy rain may knock them off,
resulting in crop loss, or “shatter”. We lucked out and Geoff saw fairly uniform fruit set and nicely formed clusters.
When pollination is complete, it’s time to make cluster counts and this was the first indication that we’d have a nice, average-sized crop. Geoff did a little cluster thinning at that point to ensure good flavor intensity down the road – quantity and quality don’t necessarily go together in the world of wine.
Exceptionally mild weather continued through June and July, punctuated by a couple of heat waves. By the time the grapes here at the winery began to change color, the third week of July, many of the local growers reported being significantly behind schedule, most likely due to the cool conditions. An early or late harvest is neither good nor bad – it depends upon what happens between fruit set and harvest. The grapes need enough time to develop flavor maturity, which is why you hear talk of “hangtime” on the early years. On the late years we worry about running into rain.
Summer
The color change, when the grapes turn from green to yellow-green or purple, is such a significant event there’s a name for it: veraison (see video). It signals that the shoots have stopped growing and the vine’s energy has shifted into fruit ripening. At this point, Geoff did more shoot and leaf thinning. If there’s too much leafy growth, aside from encouraging vegetal character the grapes may get sweet faster than the flavors mature.
Veraison is also a good time to re-evaluate the crop load. Geoff walks the vineyard repeatedly to see if the clusters are coloring up nicely. Dropping unripe fruit on the ground isn’t something he likes to do, but if some of the clusters are lagging behind, they’ll add green, unripe flavor to the wine. So – off they come – it’s called a “green harvest” (see video). He also needs to make sure that the vines aren’t carrying more fruit than they can ripen with a high degree of flavor intensity – sometimes thinning is the answer.
Once the fruit is nicely colored up, it’s time to begin field sampling (see video), which is gathering grape samples for tasting and analysis (see video). Geoff knows the end point he wants to reach in terms of numbers and, more importantly, flavors for each variety and site. The sugar level or brix, is important because it determines the alcohol. The acidity gives the wine freshness and makes it food friendly. The pH is related to the health and stability of the wine. Flavor is the over-riding consideration, so he samples with increasing frequency until he finally decides it’s time to harvest!
When the numbers fall nicely into place at the same time the flavors are at peak it’s called a good year! Most winemakers will tell you that the most important decision they make on an annual basis is when to pick each section of grapes because that’s their best chance to make beautifully balanced wine that’s packed with flavor.
Harvest
The sparkling wine producers began bringing in their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay the third week of August. A few Sauvignon Blanc vineyards came in about that time, too.
The Chenin Blanc was the first to arrive on our crush pad, over Labor Day weekend, nearly two weeks later than the start date for 2008 (see video of crushing). Surprisingly, the Estate
Merlot was ready on the 7th. We think of Merlot as a mid-season variety. Perhaps it was because of the light crop in that part of the vineyard. The very sparse crop from Howell Mountain was next and we were off to the races!
September was the warmest month of the season, by far. If you check our harvest calendar, you’ll see that the fruit was coming in fast and furious at the end of September and the beginning of October. It meant very long hours for Geoff and his crew.
As local growers and winemakers began to talk about the vintage the most common themes were good flavor maturity at relatively low brix (sugar levels) – that’s no surprise given the cool weather – and very good news in terms of balance. Most winemakers seemed to agree that the reds had excellent color – a good indicator for flavor intensity. Opinions were all over the board regarding yields, so it appeared to be a question of location. The yields in our home vineyard, here in Yountville, were quite good while the crop up at Howell Mountain resembled that of 2008 – very sparse.
The upside of the rapid-fire pace is that Geoff and his fatigued crush crew could begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The advantage we didn’t anticipate was that almost all of our grapes were harvested in advance of a major, winter-style rainstorm on October 13th. We measured over three inches in 24 hours here in Yountville!
A little sprinkle doesn’t much matter but this kind of rain is a real worry – it brings down the sugar and can cause dilution and rot!
The good news for local growers was that Cabernet Sauvignon was the main grape still hanging. It’s fairly rot resistant, thanks to its thick skin and loose cluster formation. After rain we pray for wind to dry things out and with Cab, there’s a good chance it will all turn out fine. Many growers and winemakers thinned leaves to improve ventilation.
The only variety we had yet to harvest, at that point, was the Carneros Syrah – fortunately another tough-skinned grape. Geoff gave it a few days hoping things would dry out and, with some trepidation, went down to check things out. Much to his relief, it looked clean and the sugar was on a par with 2008. With more rain predicted in another few days he went ahead and brought it in the next day at 24% sugar – just about perfect – and the color was remarkably deep! It turned out to be a good call because we got another good soaking the next day. And, so ended the Goosecross harvest on October 18th.
For the Napa Valley as a whole, a number of growers had grapes out until the end of October but, with more rain predicted for the first week of November, there was a rush to finish harvesting by Halloween. There was some warm, windy weather along the way, which is ideal for drying things out and bringing up the sugar. But, the linchpin for any review of the 2009 harvest will center on what was harvest before, vs. after, the rainstorm.
Our first releases from the 2009 vintage will be the fruity whites: Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Chenin Blanc. They’re best when they’re young and we’ll bottle them in December, anticipating a springtime release.
After a beautiful growing season of mild, sunny days and cool, foggy nights, we were reminded not to count our chickens before they’re hatched! Geoff is grateful to have escaped the rain-related challenges, for the most part, and pleased with the flavor concentration and excellent balance of the 2009 vintage as he moves into getting the new wines barrelled up and blended. Now, on to 2010!
Harvest Update from Goosecross
Our Harvest Calendar tells the story. September brought us a few blasts of heat and the grapes came rolling in at a fairly rapid fire. The bad news: It’s exhausting to have so many burners going at once. The good news: A lot of the really hard work is behind us, now, so we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 
So, how’s it going? Of course, you expect me to say it’s going great, so I’ll be pleased to oblige! After the roller coaster that was 2008, this has been a beautiful growing season.
Number one, flavors are right where I want them. Beautiful balance, great flavor intensity.
Number two, yields are nice and normal. In some cases, like our Cabernet Franc, even generous! That’s a relief, although not surprising. When the vines pull back one year they often pour it on in the next.
As we reported, at the end of August, we started our harvest significantly later than we did in 2008. Aside from a few heat blasts along the way, this has been a decidedly cool growing season. Some wineries are still quite a bit behind schedule, but we’ve caught up nicely, thanks to that warm September. Early isn’t the best, in most cases, because it may mean inadequate “hang time” in terms of flavor maturity, unless the whole season was early. Late is a little scary because we can run into rain. A little rain doesn’t much matter, but heavy rainfall can cause rot, mildew, dilution… Some varieties are more susceptible than others.
So, we’ve got Petit Verdot – all three rows of it 
coming in Sunday and Syrah, probably, next week and we’re home free! Let’s hope Mother Nature continues to smile on us! Cheers!
Goosecross Winemaker on Pre-harvest Leaf Thinning
Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, will tell us about his strategy for thinning leaves as the grapes ripen. This was filmed at our estate vineyard in Yountville, Napa Valley. Enjoy!
Goosecross Vintage Update – One Week to Go!
The Cabernet, here at the winery, tastes about as sweet as table grapes right now (between 15 and 20% sugar) and we’re about a week out from harvesting our first grapes of the season next week. The Chenin Blanc will probably come in over Labor Day weekend. With the warm weather we’re having right now, it could turn out to be a very busy weekend. The Sauvignon Blanc is close, and so is the Cab up at Howell Mountain.
Last time we checked in veraison, the color change, was just getting underway. Since then, I’ve done quite a bit of leaf thinning, to improve light exposure to the clusters, and also some cluster thinning.
Dropping unripe clusters on the ground isn’t something I like to do, but it’s important that we have even ripening throughout the vineyard and, if some of the clusters are lagging behind, they’ll add green, unripe flavor to the wine. So – off they come – it’s called a “green harvest”. As I check each vine, it’s also an opportunity to assess the crop level, overall. I need to make sure that the vines aren’t carrying more fruit than they can ripen with a high degree of flavor intensity and sometimes thinning is the answer.
Valley wide, harvest began the third week of August with the sparkling wine grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier). Then, a few wineries reported receiving some Sauvignon Blanc the week of the 24th, so it looks like we’re about a week to 10 days behind last year. Yields look about normal (whatever that means) and much improved over last year.
The growing season, as a whole, has been very cool and mild, punctuated by a few heat blasts here and there – just what we need. The cool conditions keep the grapes from getting sweet too fast and give us a good shot at the extended “hangtime” we need for peak flavor development. The heat assures us that we’ll get enough sugar to actually harvest and make well-balanced wine. If things continue as they have, we’re looking at a potentially outstanding harvest. Keep your fingers crossed!
See Geoff doing some pre-harvest cluster thinning or discussing veraison.
Goosecross Winemaker, Geoff Gorsuch on Veraison
We talked a little bit about veraison in July. The Cab and Petit Verdot finished coming through veraison earlier this month and there’s no one better to tell you about it than our Owner/Winemaker, Geoff Gorsuch. Enjoy!
Fast and furious!
Talk about your jack-rabbit start! If you’ve checked out our Harvest Calendar, you don’t have to ask how the weather’s been. The writing’s on the crush-pad, so to speak. I’m sure there must have been years that have been equally frenetic, but I can’t think of one right now. Everybody’s scrambling to keep up with these impatient grapes!
I must say our Winemaker, Geoff Gorsuch, is in awfully good humor considering the work load. Maybe he’s got his eyes on the proverbial prize – quick harvest means quick finish! 
Could be he’s delerious from lack of rest – kinda like last spring. Could be he’s happy with quality. The berries are small, which is good for flavor intensity and, apart from a couple of recent, rather intense heat waves, you’d call it a cool season. And cool is cool as far as the grapes are concerned! Gives them time to actually mature, in terms of flavor development, rather than just getting sweet.
After getting those hot flashes out of her system, Mother Nature has been just as sweet as a little lamb – it’s so mild and comfortable! And, Geoff says the sugars have actually gone down a little. Yippee! Next week’s forecast is cooler yet.
But, in the last three weeks it’s been Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Howell Mountain Cab, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc – BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!!! And, today it’s Estate Cab; Monday it’s Estate Cab Franc. Chardonnay’s not far off. Whew! You ought to be here – truly! It smells soooo good!!
Hopefully a couple of weeks of mild weather will pause the harvest before the last push. I’d guess every winemaker in the valley could use a break right now. And, while they’re pleased with quality, if they’re like Geoff, the more reports you see, the more we know yields are down quite a bit – not such a happy thing. Our Howell Mountain Cab was down by over 50%! Fortunately, that’s the worst of it, but it hurts.
Anyway – come by for a delicious sniff before it’s all over!
2008 Vintage Update, Part 2
As we said in July – it’s been interesting, so far, and continues to be. In our last update, we reported virtually no damage from the various challenges that have come our way: frost, heat, wind, rain, smoke. But, once the clusters were more developed, Geoff Gorsuch, our Winemaker, noticed a higher incidence of “shatter”1 than he had anticipated earlier. He says that it occurred, most likely, due to either the heat, wind or rain during flowering in May. When these things happen while the vines are in flower, pollination may be impaired and by now we can easily see the places where grapes are missing from the clusters. Fortunately frost damage and shatter won’t affect quality, but they certainly have an impact on quantity, and various levels of loss have been reported throughout Napa Valley.
Regarding the smoke, some local growers are hypothesizing that the smoky haze that hung around at the end of June and early July might have actually provided some protection, when we had a few days of extreme heat, by keeping the temperature down. In some regions, such as Mendocino, there were concerns that the heavy smoke they experienced would slow down photosynthesis and possibly even cause smoke taint. We were very fortunate that our haze was relatively light and we don’t necessarily view delayed ripening as a negative, unless it’s taken to the extreme.
Veraison, the time when the grapes begin to change color, began right on time, around the middle of July. Veraison is the vine’s way of telling the grower that its energy has shifted from shoot development into fruit ripening. Shortly after veraison is complete, it’s time to being gathering grape samples to monitor fruit maturity. Geoff walks the vine rows, collecting grapes from each section of our vineyard, then measures the average sugar, acid and pH. Once the section has reached an average of 20% sugar, he’ll begin tasting, which is the over-riding consideration in deciding when to harvest.
We were surprised when many local growers began harvesting their Sauvignon Blanc the second week of August and in tandem with the sparkling wine growers. In a year of many quirks, this is just another odd twist. Normally the grapes for sparkling wine come in earlier than table-wine grapes because they need to be picked at lower sugars (usually around 18-20% for sparkling wine and about 21% and up for table wine). But, the first reported harvest, here in the valley, began with Sauvignon Blanc on August 7 – about three weeks ahead of normal according to that grower. Following that announcement, quite a few other Sauvignon Blanc producers jumped into the pool. Geoff predicted that our Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc wouldn’t be ready until pretty close to Labor Day, but he took the precaution of getting the cellar all shipshape and sanitized by middle of August, just in case. As of this moment, he plans to bring in the Chenin Blanc on August 27, just very slightly early.
We expect to see the Sauvignon Blanc very soon after we crush the Chenin Blanc and then it will be non-stop until, most likely, mid October. It all depends on the weather!
Be sure to check our Harvest Calendar, frequently, to experience “crush” along with us! For the July 1 update, click here.
1. Shatter: This term is used to describe crop loss due to impaired pollination. Normally this will mean missing grapes from within the cluster rather than the loss of the whole cluster. The most common cause of shatter is heavy rain, hail, strong wind or extreme heat.
And they’re off…
Let the harvest begin! In what’s been a rather eventful year, so far, we pile on the oddity that, here in Napa Valley, the local harvest began with Sauvignon Blanc rather than sparkling wine! Moooost unusual!!
Mitch Cosentino (Cosentino is a neighbor of ours here in the Yountville District) was quoted as saying bringing in grapes on August 7 makes a record early harvest for them – at least three weeks early. And then Mumm Napa Valley announced they’ll pick their first grapes tomorrow. The 12th of August isn’t all that early for sparkling wine, so go figure (grapes for sparkling wine are harvested at lower sugars than those for table wine).
Let me recap our quirky season thus far:
- Frostiest spring in decades with substantial crop loss in some parts of northern California – fortunately, our vineyards were, for the most part, spared.
- Blistering heat and wind followed by rain during bloom – there’s definitely noticeable “shatter”throughout our vineyard here at the winery, but it could be a lot worse. It won’t affect quality, but it brings quantity down. Hmmmm… small crops tend to ripen quickly.
- Wildfires in June and July leading to questions about “smoke taint”!? We don’t anticipate any difficulties in that department, but growers in parts of Sonoma and Mendocino lived with heavy smoke, ash and soot for several weeks.
And now, we’re off to the races starting with Sauvignon Blanc! We’re now entering the twighlight zone…
Our winemaker, Geoff Gorsuch, anticipates receiving our first grapes around Labor Day – Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc are neck and neck in the race to be first – possibly a little earlier, which is pretty much normal – whatever that is…
I gotta say that, while all this is interesting and makes for lots to talk about in the wine blogosphere, we agricultural types usually prefer the boring years – you sleep a whole lot better.
What’s next Hopefully something “normal.” Stay tuned…
Blushing Beauties
Those little green peas I told you about are beginning to blush and they’re a sight to be seen – such pretty little things… These little “peas” are actually Cabernet Sauvignon which is putting out signals that it’s thinking about coming home – not real soon – but maybe in about eight weeks, give or take, depending on the weather (other varieties ripen earlier).
As if I needed reminding, this is kind of like a wake-up call to get ready for crush. To make sure I’ve ordered all the supplies I need, get the cellar ship shape and sanitized, take look at last year’s notes and get my game plan together for this year (it reinforces my illusion that I have control)
Besides acting as an early-warning system for crush, the color change (veraison) signals that the vine’s energy has shifted from shoot development into grape ripening. So – that means we’ll be gathering samples before long. You get a bunch of zip-lock bags and pick a representative sample from each section (we’ve got 11 sections on our ten-acre site). Initially we’re after the average sugar, acid and pH. Once they average about 20% sugar it’s time to start tasting. Flavor is, by far, the most important consideration in a harvest decision, but you’ve got to keep running the numbers, too.
I expect the next post will be from the harvest trenches. So far, we’ve come through frost, heat and smoke without much to complain about except a little inconvenience. But, I doubt 2008 will be known for its volume. Let’s see what Mother Nature has in store for us next and hope our luck continues!
2008 Vintage Update, Part 1
It’s been interesting, so far. We saw the first signs of new growth right on time, middle of March, accompanied by night after night of frost. 2008 has been called the worst year for frost in about 30 years and millions of dollars in loss was reported throughout the north coast.
So, what do we do about it? As they say, 80% of success is just showing up and Geoff, our winemaker/vineyard manager, soon lost track of how many nights he showed up, driving around the vineyard checking temperatures. Damage starts when the temperature drops below 32F. and, if it’s getting close, he turns on the wind machine, which looks like a giant fan. It simply moves the air so the coldest won’t settle down on the vineyard. Some growers use smudge pots, which burn oil or diesel, to warm the vines, and others use overhead sprinklers to keep the new growth insulated right at 32. There are growers who take a calculated risk and don’t have any frost protection and many of those growers paid the price this year. And, some vineyard managers reported crop loss in spite of showing up and doing the work. We count ourselves very lucky to have come through such a challenging situation unscathed.
Daytime temperatures were fine and the new shoots grew like crazy, as they always do, in the early spring. We spend time in April and May refining the work we did at pruning time. It’s very common to see more shoots than we anticipated and suckers that don’t belong, so we thin them out and also tuck the remaining ones up into the trellis wires as they lengthen.
May was cooler than normal, for the most part, until it suddenly heated up just as the vines began to flower, mid month. We had temperatures around 100F. for about four days, which can burn the flowers and cause crop loss. About a week later we saw significant rainfall, which is another way to impair pollination.
A blessed oddity of the grape flower is that it’s self pollinating. This means we don’t have to concern ourselves about bees or wind – just the weather.
After making his cluster counts, Geoff, again, counted his blessings because while he saw some loss in the Cabernet Franc it wasn’t severe and the clusters generally appear to be well formed. In fact, there was cluster thinning to do in almost all sections of the vineyard, especially the irrepressible Petit Verdot. The winter pruning is the greatest tool we have to determine crop size but, ultimately the vine calls the shots. Of course, when the counts show a deficit, there’s nothing to be done. More often, in our very favorable climate, we see more than we anticipated and thinning is essential to promote flavor intensity later on. He will continue to evaluate the crop level as the season progresses.
Shoot development looks good and Geoff has continued removing shoots and leaves, strategically, to improve light exposure, which heightens fruitiness. The thinning also improves air flow, and helps keep the risk of mold or mildew to the minimum. As soon as the shoot growth tapers off he’ll hedge the tips. Hedging the shoots keeps the leaf canopy in balance with the crop which prevents excess shading and plays down potential green character.
The grapes look like small peas, right now, and aren’t recommended for tasting! They’ll continue to plump to the size of small blueberries and should start turning color later this month. We’ll be back a little later with another update. Keep your fingers crossed for a mild summer!
