I think that we can safely say that the 2010 harvest is over, both for Charnu and pretty much everyone else. We picked our final block on Friday morning. Our winemaker Mark brought along his daughter Kiran (see photo). She thought that the grapes tasted great, and we agree! It felt good to get everything in, as there was rain forecast for the weekend. And the forecasters were definitely right. It rained on Saturday and then harder on ... [»]
So far, the weather is cooperating. After a cool Spring and Summer, we are getting great weather in September and October. We harvested the Stanton Ranch block last Thursday. Similar to the Lewelling Vineyard pick, the grapes had fully mature flavors without sky-high sugars. This is turning out to ... [»]
The Charnu 2010 harvest is officially underway! We harvested our Lewelling block of Cabernet Sauvignon on Saturday. The accompanying photos show the processing at Caldwell Winery down in Napa where we lease facilities. The first photo shows the great rig they came up with to feed the grapes from ... [»]
The 2009 harvest has finally begun in earnest for Charnu. Monday morning we harvested the grapes from our Lewelling Vineyard block, located South of St. Helena on the West side of the valley. The morning was nice and cool, a welcome change from the hot spell we've been having ... [»]
It's the time of year when everyone (vintners, winemakers, growers) keeps a sharp eye on the grapes, trying to figure out when is exactly the right time to pick. Our vineyards look great, the best ever at this date. The high heat we had last week does not seem to have hurt them a bit. The sugars are developing nicely, but they still need more time for tannin development. If everything goes ... [»]