As we approach the end of September I am starting to get a good feel for how this vintage is stacking up compared to other vintages and it looks fairly promising. The weather has been nothing short of perfect so far this fall, with day time highs in the upper 70's to low 80's. Temperatures at night have been cooling off into the 40's. These temperature consistently have enabled us to slowly ripen the crop over a period of time. This type of ripening reminds me of 2005 which is considered by many to be a very good vintage from Washington. It is still just the end of September and we have a whole lot of fruit yet to bring in, so as I have said before I am not ready to declare a great vintage yet.
We will finish bringing in all of the Merlot we will be taking by Sunday, with Boushey and Conner-Lee Vineyards picking. We have started bringing in Semillon from Stillwater Creek Vineyard and have picked a little Cabernet Sauvignon from Champoux Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills. Next week we will really start bringing in a good portion of Cabernet Sauvignon from warmer sights such as Red Mountain and the Horse Heaven Hills. Malbec, which I am finding out has many followers should start coming in next week as well.
This weekend, September 28-30 is the Columbia Valley Winery Association's "Catch the Crush" event, we hope to see many of you at the winery.
Cheers!
Charlie Hoppes - Winemaker+Owner
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