Journal | September 26, 2020
Hardscrabble Journal
Chardonnay Harvest Complete
Yesterday we picked the last of the Chardonnay, nearly two weeks after we started picking the first Hardscrabble Chardonnay. The time gap not only reflects our cooler than normal September, but also vine age.
I have to admit that 2020 gave an advantage to some of our younger blocks. Much of this has to do with clonal selection. Over the past ten years we have been heavily planting to Wente Chardonnay clone #72. These vines have small, loose clusters making them very rot resistant. This counted a lot this vintage as August and early September rains resulted in a high degree of rot pressure.
Out poor older Chardonnay vines have large, tight clusters (clone #4). We spent a lot of extra time yesterday picking out rot in the vineyard and will do it again today on the crush pad sorting table. This is not a fun job, but it is invaluable when it comes to wine quality.
Fortunately, everyone sorting is well versed in the different rots. To the untrained eye, it is all the same, but there are several types of rot. First there are grapes that succumbed many weeks ago. This rot is totally dried up and will not impact the juice, so no need to sort it out. Second is botrytis rot which tastes kind of nice and has little negative impact to the juice. Last is sour rot. This is nasty. It smells and tastes like vinegar (in fact, that’s what it is). Just a little bit in the juice can bring down wine quality. This is where our efforts go.
Riesling to be picked on Monday. The reds, starting with Merlot may have to wait until the week after. It has been awhile since all the reds were harvested in October.
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Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Journal: September 26, 2020