Waiting...

Love this symbol sign for waiting room. Pretty much whats going on at the winery right now. The Chardonnay is very close but the Cabernet is still a good two weeks away.

There is so much preparation and anticipation of harvest its hard to just be patient and let the grapes get to the ripeness we are looking for. The really good news is that the longer harvest is delayed the better the quality of the fruit (and therefore wine!).

Harvest Update- Saved by the sun

Tue
Sep 15

11 am

68° F

Precip:
10%

12 pm

71° F

Precip:
0%

1 pm

73° F

Precip:
0%

2 pm

75° F

Precip:
0%

3 pm

77° F

Precip:
0%

4 pm

77° F

Precip:
0%

5 pm

77° F

Precip:
0%

6 pm

75° F

Precip:
0%

Just looked at the latest from the weather guessers regarding tomorrow- and it looks perfect! Looks like we are not going to have to rush to harvest after all. 2009 continues to be one of the most even and long growing seasons in a long while.

It never rains in Napa Valley

This last weekend brought thunderstorms and rain to Napa Valley. This is so unusual I actually thought there were hot air balloons going overhead at 3AM. Turns out the burners they use sound a lot like thunder.

I often get asked what the rain means for this year's harvest. For Cabernet it is not really an issue. The grapes have a pretty think skin and the clusters are loose and able to dry out easily. Chardonnay however, is a more tightly compact cluster and rain can cause pretty serious bunch rot issues. I'm hoping for some warm weather and sun so the Chard can dry out and be ready for harvest in a week or so. Fingers are crossed.

Brix check

Harvest is just around the corner for us at PRIME Cellars. Last year we brought in Chardonnay at about this time. My recent visit to Berry Lane puts this year's harvest about two weeks later that last year's.

I confirmed that today when I sampled Midoriya Hills (Cabernet) in Coombsville- 22.6 Degrees Brix with a pH of 3.18. These grapes are probably going to be on the vine for another three weeks depending on the weather.

Assuming no rain in the immediate future, the slow and steady weather this year could produce a truly outstanding vintage!

Chard in Court

2008 Prime Cellars Chardonnay, Napa Valley is now available in our online store.

The Dude Abides

Okay, I just really like The Big Lebowski and I couldn't resist. I'm referring to a different Dude, Joe Roberts at the 1WineDude blog. PRIME was able to provide a bit of inspiration for his most recent post. Basically boiling down to "does anyone care about small production wines" (with the assumption that most people won't be able to get their hands on them).

Well, you do right? If you're reading this I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. And please read Joe's blog. And see The Big Lebowski if for some reason you have missed one of the greatest films ever.

PRIME - update from the cellar

The 2005 "D4*" Cabernet is all but sold out (I believe we have 8 or so cases left so please feel free to re-order if you like the '05 as much as I do).

Right now were are preparing to release the 2006 D4 Cabernet as well as the (much anticipated by a certain Davis resident) 2008 PRIME Chardonnay. We are excited to have our second vintage out there and are thankful to all who supported the launch of PRIME over the last year.

The "funny thing" (read: expensive) about this business is as we sell out the 2005 and move on to the 2006 (and 2008 Chardonnay) we just had the pleasure of successfully bottling the 2007 Cabernets. After a short break its time to get ready to harvest the 2009 grapes. That's dealing with five years worth of products all at once!

That's it for now. Here's a couple shots of last week's bottling, these are iPhone versions, high quality to follow... First one is a a couple of '07 D4 Cabs going down the bottling line right after getting labeled. The last is what the whole vintage of '07 looks like in cases.

*Lingo update: D4 = District 4