Craig-Becker assess fire damage at Somerston Estate near Sage Canyon in the eastern Napa Valley.
Craig Becker, co-founder, general manager and director of viticulture and winemaking of Somerston Estate, has announced that his team will not harvest any fruit from the 2020 vintage due to smoke damage from Northern California’s Hennessey Fire.
Located in Napa Valley’s eastern Vaca mountain range, the 1,682-acre estate comprises two historic valleys with 244 acres of vineyards. Nearly 1,400 acres of the estate burned in the fires.
The estate is the sole fruit source for the Somerston Estate and Priest Ranch estate-bottled wines. Somerston Estate is also a long-standing grower for 12 premium Napa Valley wineries.
“At Somerston, we take pride in the grapes we grow, sell, and vinify. We make no compromises,” Becker said. “We stand unwavering in our long-term commitment to this property, as well as to our winery partners, customers and distributors.”
Lightning struck in several places near the Somerston Estate during the barrage that launched the wildfires on Aug. 17.
By Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 18, fires had reached the western ridge of the property, prompting a majority of Somerston’s staff to evacuate.
Cal Fire was unable to provide resources, so a small group of employees volunteered to stay and work with a privately hired fire crew to protect the winery and property structures. The estate suffered substantial vineyard infrastructure damage, yet all structures were saved.
The extensive smoke negatively affected the grapes, prompting Becker to cancel the estate’s harvest and notify long-term buyers that the fruit from the 2020 vintage would not be available.
“On a positive note, our team is safe and well, although still in a bit of shock. While the scrub pine, madrona, manzanita, bay trees, and other shrubs did burn, about 98% of the oak trees on our property did not,” says Craig.
“We expect that the estate will regain its beauty with thriving oak woodlands and grasslands in a few years. We look forward to the 2021 growing season next year, producing high-quality grapes for our wines and those of our partners.”
Somerston Estate was established in 2007 by three families. The 244 acres of sustainably farmed vineyards include 144 individual blocks, from which two wine brands are produced. Somerston wines represent block-designated wines, while Priest Ranch wines are a blend of fruit from multiple vineyard blocks throughout the estate. For more information on Somerston wines, visit www.somertsonestate.com. For details on Priest Ranch wines, visit www.priestranchwines.com.
Melka Estates
Winemaker Cherie Melka from Melka Estates checked in with this progress to date:
“Harvest for Melka Estates began on Aug. 17, with Chardonnay from Mekerra Vineyard in Knights Valley in Sonoma County. Ironically, this was the day the storms hit California, and lightning strikes started multiple devastating fires. Thankfully, the vineyard sits at very high elevation and was not in any close proximity to any active fires. Our Chardonnay is barrel fermented and, after 21 days, has almost completed its fermentation. Daily stirring of the barrels will continue, but we do not allow malolactic fermentation to happen so that the wines retain vibrancy and freshness.
"Next to harvest was our Sauvignon Blanc, also from our estate Mekerra Vineyard. We typically do two to three different picks in the vineyard so that we have varying levels of acidity and sugar. After pressing, we put the juice into a barrel for fermentation, and each barrel becomes its own lot. We let some barrels start with native or indigenous yeast, and we inoculate others with commercial yeasts, selecting on average 4-5 different species. This year, we did only two picks from the vineyard (Aug. 26 and Sept. 1 ), and all 11 barrels are fermenting nicely with the first pick almost at zero Brix.
"We picked the first red fruit for Melka Estates on Sept. 8 -- Merlot from the Jumping Goat Vineyard on the eastern side of Saint Helena at the base of the Mayacamas. Though only a small amount, it marked the beginning of a less stressful harvest than how it has started. Cabernet Sauvignon from Jumping Goat Vineyard arrived on Sept. 16.
"As of now, the barrels are tasting and smelling free of smoke while we wait for test results to confirm our sensory evaluations. While we wait, it appears that this harvest has seen positive numbers not only from mountainous areas but also valley floor. The smoke lingered well into September, so the quality will be determined based largely on harvest dates.
"Melka Estates has decided to harvest significantly less vineyards than we were prepared to as we feel the quality is not going to be to our standards.
"In the meantime, our tradition at the winery is for our team to enjoy breakfast and lunch, and plenty of snacks and fruit throughout the day so that we can all focus on the winemaking. Our commitment is to provide a safe and stress-free work environment, which we hope translates to happy fermenters and great resultant wine. This is a philosophy that Philippe and I learned in France – when the vineyard and cellar crew are happy, the wine made from that harvest is usually fabulous."
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
"fruit" - Google News
September 25, 2020 at 12:16AM
https://ift.tt/33YyN7Q
Harvest 2020: Somerston forgoes harvest; Melka brings in less fruit - Napa Valley Register
"fruit" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2pWUrc9
https://ift.tt/3aVawBg
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Harvest 2020: Somerston forgoes harvest; Melka brings in less fruit - Napa Valley Register"
Post a Comment