Timing In The Alexander Valley

Good winemaking is about good timing and great winemaking is about (yes, you guessed it) great timing. There is perhaps no better, or crucial, example of this than the decision of when to harvest. It is at this point that the grower’s job has come to an end and the winemaker’s is beginning. And timing is everything. Just how does one determine when the “right” time to pick is? It’s a good question and one I’ve often been asked. Of course there are measurable aspects that influence the decision of when to pick, such as sugar, pH and acidity. There is also the influence of the weather (no winemaker or grower I know likes to pick in the rain) which is both unpredictable and totally out of one’s control. Then there is something else that is a harder to describe, something that is difficult to quantify. It is almost a certain…shall we say, sense that the fruit is at its peak and more importantly that the vine, tired and worn from a season of giving, is ready to finally rest. It is not an easy decision, that of when to pick, but one that must be made and made well.

A couple of weeks ago I found myself in the midst of such a decision, walking among Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Sangiovese vines with Aaron Piotter, red wine maker for Ferrari-Carano Winery. Aaron and I have been friends for over 10 years. We met, rather timely, at a Shakespeare play in Ashland, Oregon. The theater had accidentally printed two tickets for the same seat that evening. Aaron had one and I had the other. While we waited for the theater to sort things out, we struck up conversation that eventually turned to wine. That simple conversation lead to a friendship that ten years later found us walking the hillside vineyards of Ferrari-Carano’s Anderson Ranch, tasting fruit and trying to decide…is it time? Making the decision a little more challenging was a front coming in from the northwest that might possibly bring with it the end to what had been a rather perfect growing season.

We made our way from vineyard block to vineyard block, tasting grapes as we went. The fruit was wonderfully sweet, bright and expressive. The skins had just the right amount of tannin and the seeds were beautifully brown. Varietal character, paramount to the decision to pick, was coming through in all the fruit. I could almost taste these as wines, years from now. But was it time?

That decision was up to Aaron, and after an hour or so of walking, tasting, talking and tasting some more we came to the top of the last vineyard block. We stood there for a moment looking at the view around us. To the east we could see Knights Valley and the northern end of Napa, to the south ran Chalk Hill. Off in the western distance lay the Russian River Valley, while our own valley of Alexander spread out from us to the north. “Tomorrow,” Aaron finally said, “We pick tomorrow.” And we did. The day after, a front came in from the northwest turning many valley vineyards to mud and hillside vineyards to tractor traps. At Anderson Ranch, however, only bare, resting vines remained.

Safely in tank and finishing through fermentation, the wines from Anderson are looking to be some of our best from the 2007 vintage. Tasting them with Aaron the other day, I asked him if he was happy about the timing of the pick. Knowing that the answer was already in the glasses in front of us he just smiled, purple teeth and all. .