Once again, Véronique Drouhin’s Paulée has produced the greatest wine day of the year, going above and beyond the already lofty expectations I have for this amazing event. 42 of the world’s top Burgundy lovers and collectors, eight of Burgundy’s top vignerons, and a couple hundred magnificent bottles – all in the magical setting of the cellars of the kings of France, with a seven-course 3-Star meal to boot. Or you could just call it “Friday Lunch in Beaune”.

There is a chapter in my forthcoming book devoted to this Paulée. Having begun in 2003, yesterday was the 8th edition, and was certainly one of the best yet. In attendance this year were Burgundy stars Jean-Nicolas Meo of Meo-Camuzet, Marie-André and Marie-Christine Mugneret of Georges Mugneret, Etienne Grivot, Jean-Luc Pepin of Domaine de Vogüé, Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, François de Nicolai of Chandon de Briailles, Egon Mueller from Germany (somebody’s got to bring the stickies!), and of course Véronique Drouhin of Burgundy and Oregon fame.

Also on hand were the Burghound himself Allen Meadows, Mme. Dominique Loiseau of the 3-star restaurant empire, legendary California winemaker Craig Williams, and a few nice bottles of wine.

OMG, the wines. I can only tell you about the ones that made it into my glass, as there were maybe a hundred or so more that never made it my way. No matter where you were sitting or what wines came one’s way, it was simply spectacular. Here, in order, are the bottles I was able to sample over the course of our 6-hour lunch –

(Bottles that were especially outstanding are highlighted)

’82 Corton-Charlemagne – Latour
’04 Batard Montrachet – Gagnard
’06 Chassagne Caillerets – Colin-Morey
’92 Puligny Pucelles – Leflaive
’90 Meursault Goutte d’Or – Buisson-Charles
’99 Batard Montrachet – Ramonet
’86 Montrachet – Drouhin
’93 Batard Montrachet – Pierre Morey
’88 Meursault Charmes – Lafon
’95 Meursault Perrières – Roulot
’61 Puligny Combettes – Sauzet
’85 Puligny Demoiselles – Jadot
’66 Montrachet – Drouhin
’78 Clos des Mouches – Drouhin
’84 Montrachet – Ramonet
’82 Montrachet – Drouhin
’03 Chevaliers Montrachet – Colin-Deleger
’89 Puligny Pucelles – Leflaive
’85 Montrachet – Delegrange-Bachelet
’34 Chevaliers Montrachet – Clerget-Buffet
’04 Montée de Tonnere – Raveneau
’96 Batard Montrachet – Drouhin

And then a few red wines –

’91 Latricières-Chambertin – LeRoy
’91 Musigny – de Vogüé
’92 Cros Parantoux – Meo-Camuzet
’64 Amoureuses – Ropiteau
’64 Grands Echezeaux – LeRoy
’55 Corton Grancy – Latour
’96 V-R Brulées – Liger-Belair
’97 V-R Beaux-Monts – Grivot
’78 Corton – Bonneau du Martray
’78 Bonnes Mares – de Vogüé
’85 Richebourg – Gros Frère et Soeur
’97 Echezeaux – Grivot
’07 G-C Cazetiers – Bruno Clair
’85 Chambolle – de Vogüé
’01 V-R Malconsorts – Cathiard
’89 NSG Murgers – Meo-Camuzet
’78 Pommard Rugiens – de Montille
’66 Corton Grancy – Latour
’69 Combettes – Dujac
’73 Bonnes Mares – de Vogüé
’93 Chambertin – Rousseau
’85 Chambertin – Rousseau
’70 Musigny – de Vogüé
’06 La Romanée – Liger-Belair
’61 Musigny – Drouhin
’85 Richebourg – Gros Frère et Soeur (2nd btl)
’78 Clos Vougeot – Roumier
’49 Volnay – Ponelle
’79 Corton Bressandes – Chandon de Briailles
’46 Corton Grancy – Latour
’34 Clos Vougeot – Bichot
’89 Clos Vougeot – Drouhin
’99 Clos Vougeot – Mugneret
’80 Richebourg – DRC
’62 Musigny – Bouchard

And then a few stickies –

’88 Mueller Berenauslese (don’t remember appellation)
’71 Mueller Trockenberenauslese (ditto)
’62 Climens
’25 Rivesaults (producer unknown)

And there are probably a few more I forgot to write down. Amazingly, my handwriting was still legible as we got down to the end of the day – but I did notice that my tasting notes got shorter and shorter, until they were mostly one-word grunts by the end!

If I had to pick a wine of the day of would be the ’61 Drouhin Musigny, simply as complete and magnificent as a wine can be. The ’85 Rousseau Chambertin and the ’92 Cros Parantoux were also magical. In the end, I am truly humbled by these great bottles, and fully know that I am one of the most fortunate guys around. God, I love my job! Now, more coffee, s’il vous plait…

Craig Williams, Marie-André Mugneret, Jean-Nicolas Meo

… than most people drink in a year! 42 wines – before lunch. 3 with lunch. Another 25 after lunch. Now resting my liver prior to diner at Ma Cuisine that promises to include a bottle or six. Such is the life of the importer at work…

And what work it is. A total joy, especially with the lineup of 2010s on display today at Comte Armand, Benjamin Leroux and Domaine Buisson-Charles. The tastings today confirmed my impressions from yesterday – we have a major winner of a vintage in 2010. Crystal clarity, exceptional minerality, pin-point precision – across both colors and all the appellations I’ve tasted so far.

At Comte Armand in Pommard, Ben Leroux has crafted perhaps his best set of wines yet. The Volnay Fremiets and the various components of the Clos des Epeneaux were a revelation – perhaps the two most elegant wines ever to issue from this superstar domaine. Wow.

Benjamin Leroux

In Ben’s own cellars in Beaune, his lineup has now expanded to include a staggering 32 appellations, including stunning examples of Corton-Charlemagne, Batard Montrachet, Clos Vougeot, Bonnes Mares, Clos St. Denis, Clos de la Roche, and for the first time – Les Amoureuses. One precious barrel, to be bottled only in Magnums. (Ben’s daughter Alexa was born in 2010, so this was a special wine to commemorate her birth year. As it turns out, there will now be an Amoureuses every year from Leroux!) In a word – oh my…

Ben’s expanded range of top village and 1er Cru whites from Meursault, Puligny and Chassagne is really exciting – I can’t wait to bring you these wines next year. There is not a drop of juice in his immaculate cellar that is not beautifully made. Seamless, elegant wines all…

Lunch at Becky Wasserman’s office in Beaune is always a blast, with her husband Russell at the stove and good eats always on offer. Today it was a wonderful braised lamb with potatoes and carrots – just what was needed to restore and revitalize after an intense morning of tasting.

Patrick et Catherine Essa - Domaine Buisson-Charles

Then it was off to Meursault and Domaine Buisson-Charles, where Patrick Essa and I tasted through all of his 2011s and 2010s. Obviously way to early to know much about the ‘11s, though they seem very nice – but the 2010s are strong across the board. These are maybe the most terroir-transparent set of wines I’ve seen from the estate – each one is a textbook example of its site, with the richness of Meursault and the laser-beam precision of 2010 in full force. This is rockin’ good stuff.

On another note, I’m sorry to see that the Boulangerie in Volnay is for sale. Apparently Brigitte and Christophe have had enough of the crazy hours and are looking to get out. So far, no bakers have expressed interest. Local scuttlebut is that someone is talking about buying it and turning it into a bistro. If no new baker comes in, the Volnaysiens will have to go Pommard every morning for their baguettes and croissants. Sacré Bleu!

Dinner tonight is at Ma Cuisine with friends in from California and DC, and then to bed to rest up for tomorrow – my favorite day of the year, La Paulée. Over  a hundred amazing old Grand Crus from the greatest vintages and producers, a 3-star chef preparing our lunch – essentially heaven on earth. All in the name of science and research, of course, as I come to the end of the writing of my book on the fascinating history of the Paulée tradition. Pictures and notes to follow – this is gonna be a classic…

I am stone in love. In every sense of the word. With the 2010s of the Côte de Nuits, that is. Stone as in deeply, powerfully, passionately in love, and Stone as in the incredibly fresh, pure, intense limestone-iness that shines through these stunningly beautiful wines.

I have seen no reviews of the 2010s yet (Allen Meadows is here now doing his tastings for reviews and scores to be released in late January), but I must tell you now that this is, to me, the most exciting young Burgundy vintage I’ve tasted since I’ve been in the business.

Yes, that’s a big statement. No, these are not the 2005s, which are ultimately better wines. These are also not the fleshy, fruity, and broadly appealing 2009s. But if you love those things that make Burgundy special and unique, the 2010s will simply knock your socks off.

Granted I have only tasted so far at a handful of producers, and only those at the very top of their art. Frankly, I don’t care what the lesser producers did with their 2010s, but I sincerely hope they’re good. What I tasted today at Mugnier, de Vogüé and J-J Confuron was flat-out great.

Daughter Pirrie on the wall at Musigny, summer 2008

What makes these wines so special is an extraordinary sense of freshness and precision, and a crystalline minerality that is unparalleled in my experience. As François Millet said today at de Vogüé, often we speak of minerality in metaphorical terms, because it is so very hard to define or describe. But in these 2010 wines we not only get minerality of the metaphorical variety, there is pure, naked, ancient limestone in the texture and flavors of the wine that is undeniable.

It’s a vintage of truth and honesty. You can see everything in these wines, there is nothing hidden or obscured. The expression of terroir is even more distinct and clear than the 2008s, and these seem more “alive” than the ‘08s as well. I did not taste one 2010 today that was less than thrilling.

Absolute stand-outs among the greats were the Vosne-Romanée les Beaux-Monts and the Romanée-St. Vivant at Confuron, the Amoureuses , Bonnes Mares and Musigny at de Vogüé, and of course the Amoureuses, Bonnes Mares and Musigny at Mugnier. Have I mentioned that I love my job?

Which brings me to a brief dissertation on my love for Musigny. In my opinion, Musigny is THE single greatest red-wine terroir on planet earth (or at least of what we’ve found so far, as Monsieur Millet pointed out – he thinks we might have the equal in Oregon someday, btw!) I will certainly accept all arguments on behalf of Romanée-Conti or La Tâche, and understand that many will prefer one of those. They are all three in their own league, to be sure. As Freddy Mugnier said today – “I hear they make some nice wines down in Vosne-Romanée, too”, in reply to my musing that Musigny was my choice for the greatest.

In tasting the 2010 Musigny at de Vogüé, I was simply at a loss for words, in French or English, to try to verbalize what was going on. The wine was beyond any definition of complex or fascinating. Millet could see that I was grasping for words to express this, and he noted “The Musigny, there are some things going on that are like the dark side of the moon. Normal human beings, in the course of a life will never see it (unless they are astronauts), and therefore one can’t describe it, nor can one ever understand it. But yet it is there. The Musigny is like that.”

With that, I’m off to taste more of these gorgeous 2010s. Thoughts and impressions from Comte Armand, Benjamin Leroux and Buisson-Charles tomorrow…

Vinum the dog & the cat-with-no-name at Confuron

Arrived in Volnay. Shower, clean shirt. Off to Beaune for the usual arrival routine: A quick stop at Athenaeum to pick up any new Burgundy books published since last time (got the new Jacky Rigaux book on Henri Jayer and a new history of the Negociants by Christophe Lucand, and 2 copies of the 2012 Biodynamic Calendar), stop at Bouché for some chocolates, stop at Petit Casino for milk and Nutella, stop at the Boulangerie for a fresh baguette, stop at Hess for a thick slice of Comté and a whole Epoisses, perfectly aged and ready to slather on the baguette tonight.

Back to the Volnay house. Cadged a glass of Thiébault’s 2010 Meursault, and the remains of a lovely bottle of ’73 Pommard Rugiens to wash down the cheeses. Followed by a couple of squares of 85% dark chocolate. Ahhh, I’m back….

Now watching bad French game shows and forcing myself to stay awake, hoping to make it to see at least the first half of the France-Belgium soccer match at 8:50 tonight. Then will crash hard and hopefully sleep until the church bells rouse me at 7am. Tomorrow –  tastings at Confuron, de Vogüé and Mugnier, and then dinner at Ben & Libbi Leroux’s. Nothing like jumping right in…

The wild ride of vintage 2011 has come to an end, with the last fermentations finished now, and all will be pressed-off and in barrel in the next couple of days. Kudos to Kelley Fox and her crew on a job exceedingly well done. It was not an easy one – late, cold, and all the grapes hitting the fan at the same time. In the end, it’s been a brilliant vintage for us, one that ultimately may produce some of our favorite wines yet. Lower alcohol, excellent acidity, and bright, pure flavors – it’s everything we could ask for. The potential to produce wines like these are why we came to Oregon in the first place. We are glad we’re here.

That said, I’m on the move again – off in a couple of hours to Burgundy for my regular November visit – for the Hospices de Beaune auction, the Paulée, and to see all of our producers and check in on the 2010s in barrel. I worked a bit of the 2010 Burgundy vintage with Lafarge, Confuron, Huber-Verdereau and Buisson-Charles, so I’m especially excited to see how the wines are shaping up. The vintage as a whole has been drawing early raves. The downside is that yields were way down, so there will be 30-40% less wine than normal (with accompanying price increases, I would guess…)

At any rate, stay tuned – I’ll be posting regularly, with lots of pics as well, so come along for the ride. There is a lot of great old Burgundy in our future!

Our 6th annual La Paulée de Carlton is in the books, and it was a rockin’ good time, to say the least. My sincere thanks to everyone that joined us for our harvest celebration and communion with Bacchus. It was a lovely evening of well-choreographed controlled chaos – just they way I like it!

One of the beauties of the Paulée tradition is that each one takes on a personality of its own, based on who comes and what they bring. (I’ve never been to a bad one, btw.) Some of them just sing with a magical combination of camaraderie and wines, and we had that going full-steam on Saturday night.

Chef Paul Bachand of Recipe in Newberg laid out one delicious dish after another – and our own Kelly Karr did a masterful job orchestrating it all. It was a great pleasure to introduce Oregonian & Mix wine columnist and Voodoo Vintners author Katherine Cole as our guest of honor. Oh yeah, there were a few bottles of wine there as well.

Among my favorites:

2000 Meursault Genevrières – Hospices de Beaune (Mag)
1985 Eyrie Reserve
2006 DDO Laurène
2002 La Paulée – Scott Paul (Hadn’t opened one in a long time. Wow – à point!)
2000 Chambolle-Musigny – Roumier
2005 Chambolle-Musigny – de Vogüé
1994 DDO Laurène
2001 Panther Creek Nysa Vyd.
1999 NSG Les St. Georges – Chevillon
2001 Belle Pente Murto Vyd.
2002 Evesham Wood – Cuvée J
1996 Clos Vougeot – Hudelot-Noëllat
1971 Gevrey-Chambertin – Lichine
1996 Musigny – Mugnier

The Musigny was at a different level than everything else that night, as well it should be. Deep appreciation to everyone for sharing the dozens and dozens of great bottles that were going around the room – it was a grand Paulée indeed.

Speaking of grand Paulées, I’m off to Burgundy on Monday to get a good look at the 2010s in barrel, and of course to attend the Hospices de Beaune auction, the Paulée and all of the Trois Glorieuses festivities. I’ll be reporting back in exquisite detail, with copious photos, of course, so keep your eyes on the blog and our FB & Twitter pages for all the action as it happens.

I’ll also be doing the last round of research on the book I’m writing about the history of the Paulée, which I still hope to have finished by the end of the year and ready for release in fall 2012.

Here at the winery we’re at the stage where the aromas are just so intensely beautiful. Dozens of tanks all in full-throttle fermentation, delicious smells filling the entire neighborhood – it’s a beautiful thing…

Well, it was the ultimate rollercoaster ride. When the ride was over, it turned out to one hell of a great ride after all, as scary as some of the steep hills and blind corners may have been at times.

2011 was truly the most bizarre growing season we’ve ever witnessed. Bud-break and flowering were over four weeks late due to a record cool and wet “spring”, if you can call it that. “Summer” didn’t arrive until late July. I remember leaving for France on June 14th and it being grey, cool, rainy, and 55 degrees. We returned on July 11th, and it was still grey, cool, rainy, and 55 degrees. What passed for summer lasted about 3-4 weeks at most, with only a handful of days over 90 degrees in all.

We were still four weeks behind when it started looking very much like fall in early September. This was not good, as we knew we still needed 7-8 weeks to get the grapes ripe, and that would put us at the end of October for harvest. Everybody knows that the rains hit Oregon in October, and that sometimes when they start they never stop. The prognosis was not good.

Early September - still plenty of green berries...

In late September it started to rain. To put it delicately, Oh shit. But then it stopped. Oh yes! During the rain I was convinced that our goose was cooked. When it stopped, I started to believe that we just might pull this one off after all.

And we did. Our butt was ultimately saved by three weeks of cool but dry days in October, allowing the grapes time to ripen up enough to make some beautiful wines. It was not quite the miracle of 2008, but miraculous enough. We managed to eek out just enough sunlight and warmth to get the grapes in shape, and we managed to avoid the bulk of the rot and mildew issues that plagued some sites here in the valley. We clearly dodged a major bullet.

Fermentation underway - the "Cherry Mousse" stage...

Harvest began for us on October 23rd, our latest start ever, with 10 lovely tons from our blocks of Ribbon Ridge Vyd. Ripeness here, as at all of our other sites, was in a nice state, allowing us to make wines that will finish up at around 12.5% alcohol – a beautiful level for our style of Pinot Noir. NOTE – this will not be a vintage for those who prefer Pinot Noir that masquerades as Syrah. This will be a pure, terroir-driven PINOT vintage – which makes us very happy indeed.

We continued on with Azana – our new estate vineyard, on the 26th. As reported here previously, the birds had a more successful harvest there than we did. The 1.3 tons we did manage to keep out of their beaks was in good shape and tasted delicious. In the fermenter now it is perfumed and flat-out intoxicating. Unfortunately we cannot bottle it on its own this year – we’d have to charge about $150 a bottle to break even, I’m afraid. But it will likely go into the 2011 La Paulée bottling – we’ll know for sure in about a year from now…

Maresh Block 12, happily fermenting

Next up was our three acres of Nysa Vyd. in the Dundee Hills on the 28th. The fruit was really clean and healthy, and the flavors delightfully bright. Last to ripen up, as always, were are blocks of Maresh Vyd., where we picked our old-vine acreage in two passes on the 31st and then on Nov. 2nd. We have never picked in the month of November. Based on my deeply frozen fingers on the sorting line the night of the 2nd, I hope never to again!

All that said, Kelley and I feel that this may end up as one of our better vintages, which we never would have predicted even weeks ago. Tasting through each of the lots shows, already at this early stage, a precision of flavors and a bright but underlying minerality. If we continue to luck out, we’re going to have some beauties to bottle in a year’s time.

It’s worth noting that this has been a hard one in the winery on terms of logistics, with the bulk of the fruit coming in in just a few days – and working in arctic conditions these past few days. Grateful appreciation and kudos to winemaker extraordinaire Kelley Fox and her crew on a job exceedingly well done.

*****

On another matter entirely, all the work and stress pays off when the wines get some nice national attention! We are honored to have received another round of top scores from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate. We don’t make wines for scores, and in fact our understated style tends to run counter to what often gets the big scores these days. We are always rather surprised and certainly thrilled when we do get nice reviews from the major critics.

Our 2009s were lauded across the board:

91 Pts for the La Paulée “Velvety textured, elegant, impeccably balanced…” (to be released in spring 2012)

93 Pts for the Dix “Round, rich, nicely proportioned, already complex and suave…” ( $40 – AVAILABLE NOW)

94 Pts for the Audrey “Sexy, exotic, floral, satin-like texture, succulent flavors, exceptional length. Will evoke moans of ecstasy over the next 8-10 years. One of the stars of the vintage.” (SOLD-OUT. However, the equally stunning 2010 is available as FUTURES now!)

Our thanks to Dr. Jay Miller, who reviews Oregon Wines for The Wine Advocate – we’re glad he likes our stuff. Most importantly, we make the wines for you, our customers, and we thank you immensely for your continued support!

And the insanity continues. So far, so good. I am well and truly pleased with the quality of the harvest so far. All of the fruit to this point has been clean and healthy and delicious, and we’ll have natural alcohols in the range of 12.5-13% – making it another vintage that will play into our hands very nicely. The cooler years like this make it easy for us, when all is said and done. It’s the hot years when we’re battling over-ripeness that I find a lot more challenging.

On the sorting line - life as we know it for the next few days...

Our bacon has been saved by a few weeks of sunny, dry, windy weather here at the end. It has also been saved by our vineyard manager Stirling Fox, whose diligence in the vines all year long has really made a difference. It seems that we are quite fortunate to be bringing in an abundance of healthy and happy grapes this year, as that does not seem to be the case across the board in 2011. There are reports of rampant rot and seriously under-ripe fruit coming in from assorted vineyards here and there. It looks to be overall a potentially very good vintage, but it’s clear it wont be universally excellent. I am thankful to be among the luckier ones.

With Kelley Fox after a long day on the line...

All that said, it wouldn’t be a Scott Paul harvest without some sort of weird disaster. At our new estate vineyard – Azana, in the Chehalem Mountains – the birds decided to have themselves a feast of unprecedented proportions. Over the space of 24 hours they basically attacked and consumed our entire crop  – we brought in to the winery a meager 1.3 tons from the 6 producing acres there. My rough calculations show that this fruit cost us about $35,000 per ton, making it potentially the most expensive fruit ever harvested in the Willamette Valley! As we do every year in the wine business, time to re-write the business plan again…

The winery full of Pinot - one of my favorite sights...

At least the quality of those 1.3 tons was excellent. As was the 6.33 tons we brought in from our blocks of Nysa Vyd. in the Dundee Hills yesterday. The winery is now full of fermenters full of grapes, awaiting fermentation to take off in a few days. In the meantime, I’m off to grab as much rest and sleep as I can get – we’ve got 20+ tons coming in from our blocks of Maresh tomorrow and Monday, and we’ll likely be processing around the clock until we’re done. More as it happens…

And we’re off! Harvest 2011 has begun, under beautifully sunny skies and crisp fall days in the mid-60s. Indian summer is here and the vines are loving it! Yesss, there is a God…

We started off by bringing in 10 tons of nice juicy fruit from Ribbon Ridge Vineyard on Sunday, which is often the first site we pick. Flavors were rich and succulent, and we’ve got lovely acid levels and good pH too. The fruit is now soaking at ambient temperature in open-top stainless steel fermenters, where we will leave it alone and let fermentation start naturally in another 3-4 days or so.

The first grapes of 2011 at Ribbon Ridge

All of our other sites seem to be ripening up nicely and will soon be ready to go. We’re excited to be picking the first crop at Azana – our new estate vineyard on Chehalem Mountain – tomorrow. We have all of our blocks at Maresh scheduled in for Sunday and Monday, and at the moment are still trying to figure out when will be the best time to take the Nysa fruit. However it shakes out, we should have all the fruit in the barn in the next week. That will make it another very compact harvest, with the entire vintage coming in over the space of 7-9 days (10-14 is more typical, or at least it used to be. There is no “normal” anymore…)

Kelley, Anna & Bella - Queens of the Crush 2011

I need to take a moment here and be very thankful. Thankful for the clear and dry days and cool and dry nights we’ve been blessed with over the last two weeks, and for the days ahead that look to bring us excellent conditions. This has been the most bizarre growing season we’ve ever encountered, but at the end of the day it could very well be a home-run for us.

On the sorting line with Pirrie

We’ve been spoiled with a string of pretty easy vintages here since 1998. For all the hand-wringing and nail-biting that’s been going on around the valley this fall (and the premature nay-saying that always seems to hit the media whenever we’re harvesting in anything less than 80-degree sunshine) – I’ve got a feeling that 2011 just may go down as a truly great vintage for lovers of pure, authentic, elegant Pinot Noir. I for one am very excited.

Our harvest celebration dinner – “La Paulée de Carlton” will actually be happening right in the middle of crush this year – Saturday Nov. 5th to be exact. There are still some seats available, so book now and plan to join us for the best Bacchanalian Blowout of the year! Now back to the vines…

So, the sun is shining again and everything is rosy. The 10-day forecast is promising, and flavors are developing nicely in the vineyards. As Martha is quick to remind me, however, it was just days ago that the gloomy skies and depressing drizzle had me feeling like we’d never see the sun again, and that all was lost. Welcome to the rollercoaster called Vintage 2011 in the Willamette Valley.

A beautiful morning at Ribbon Ridge Vineyard

I have remained optimistic throughout, because that’s my nature, but I do admit to times of woeful despair and anguish. When all is said and done, we’ll make the best out of what we’ve got, and what we’ve got could still be quite excellent if there’s a shred of truth to the 10-day forecast. I just got back from sampling at Azana and Ribbon Ridge. The warm wind is blowing out of the north, which is usually a good sign, as it brings warmer temperatures and allows all the fruit and vegetation to get nice and dry. It might also dehydrate the grapes a bit, increasing concentration of flavor and the perception of ripeness. So, we shall see…

Our all female harvest crew is in place, and Kelley, Bella and Anna have the winery ready to rock when needed. (Jean-Charles from Beaune was a last-minute cancellation, due to a random skateboard accident in Burgundy! We miss him and wish him a speedy recovery.) I’m hoping we really need it on October 30 & 31 – both “fruit” days on the Biodynamic calendar, ideal days to harvest if the fruit is ready. Now back onto the carousel…