Linden Update | July 30, 2025

Growing Grapes...and Tomatoes

We are only a month away from the start of harvest. The weather will have an increasingly important role in determining the quality and style of the 2025 vintage. So far we have had a hot, wet, and sunny summer. The vines are happy. Too happy. The green growth is abundant and exuberant. If the vines don't slow down soon the green vigor will be competing with the grape ripening process. Fortunately, here at Linden we have now gone ten days without a significant rain. Could things be turning around?

Harvest is on our minds. Next week we bottle in order to free up barrels for the new vintage. Then we clean and set up for crush: presses, destemmer, crusher, picking baskets, trailers. The list is long. But most important, we start palate training. When to pick is the most critical winemaking decision. A few days either way can have an impact. At harvest time we constantly walk the vineyard rows, tasting, observing, and taking samples. Numbers (lab tests of sugar and acid) play a role. But the subjective factors are more critical: taste, balance, concentration, and evaluation of berry integrity.

How does a winemaker learn to pick by taste? One way is to grow tomatoes. In my opinion tomatoes are harder to grow than grapes. Except perhaps cherry tomatoes, which don't require much work and are disease resistant. But their harvests are meager mainly due to the fact that most are consumed in real time by the person picking them.

This year our cherry tomatoes have been very weather expressive. When they started ripening about 3 weeks ago, they had little flavor due to dilution from copious thunderstorms. The following week we had 3.5 inches of rain. The tomatoes cracked and split. This week they rock. No rain (lots of close calls). Great flavor, acidity, and crunchy texture.

Whenever I note skepticism when explaining our taste-based picking decisions, I think of tomatoes. I also think of a juicy, firm peach, but that is another story.

It's all really the same.

Summer Tastings

Before the cellar is in full set-up mode for harvest, we are reviving the cellar tastings for select summer weekends. We have a few spaces left. Guests will be surrounded by barrels in the cellar, which is a nice refuge from the summer heat. (Just in case, you may want to bring a sweater.) Conducted by one of Linden's experienced staff, these intimate tastings feature focused, in-depth flights of older single vineyard wines. We'll conclude with a tank sample of the special 2024 Petit Verdot.  

  • Saturday and Sunday, August 2 and 3, August 23 and 24, 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm    

  • Reservations are required for cellar tastings

  • $45 per person

We also have our seasonal comparative tasting available with refreshing Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs, as well as our two newest red releases from the 2022 vintage. For our comparative tastings, reservations are recommended, but walk-ins are also welcome. 

If spaces fill up for either event, please email us at wine@lindenvineyards.com to join our waitlist.

Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Update: July 30, 2025

Linden UpdatesJim Law2025