Harvest Update

Hey y’all, Kiara here. I am sure you have noticed, but so much is happening and oh, so early! First of all, you may have noticed, we have put about 5 more acres of vines in over the last couple of months. We expanded our Tempranillo, added some Brunello clone Sangiovese, and now we officially grow Albariño! I cannot wait to get those up and running in the next few years. For our already producing vineyard, many of our red grapes are right on time as far as the grape ripening stages are concerned. They are now all going through veraison, which is the crucial time once the fruit has set, where the skin softens, the berries start to plump up, the skins start to change color, and sugar really starts to increase. 

Beyond being incredibly beautiful, this is the vines telling us that harvest is officially on its way! Every step so far has been about 2-3 weeks ahead of last season, and that seems to be on track. I did my first round of official brix (sugar level) testing for most of our whites (and red for rosé) this week, and I would guess we are about 2.5 weeks from our first pick which actually brings us to only a week or so earlier than last year, so I am hoping we make it that long. That being said, the crop is looking both beautiful and plentiful.

As far as preparations in the cellar, what this all means is cleaning, cleaning, and, you guessed it, even more cleaning. Beyond that, it means a lot of planning, lab work, visiting vineyards, and training. If you haven’t heard, we added an awesome Cellar Master to our team, her name is Kelly, and we are stoked for her first harvest! We also always bring on an intern to help with the excess of work this time of year, so there is no shortage of action going on down here.

With that being said, cheers to a happy 2025 San Diego Wine Grape Harvest Season!