074 - 2026 Fall Release (Part One)

Um, how are you, sir?

I'm doing great.

You know, just, uh, [clears throat] you know, kind of already, like, in a daze that it's the middle of July.

Um, and it's been a kinda fast and furious growing season here 'cause we had a very historically warm March, which kind of fired the starting gun on a lot of vineyards, um, a bit earlier than expected.

But other than that, it's actually been a pretty m- mild growing year so far, too.

So it's this weird, uh, thing where everything feels cattywampus 'cause it's like it's both early, but it's been mild, which is not usually two things that kinda get tied n- together.

Um, so, you know, we're facing potentially a historically early harvest out of Angelo, young vines at Bedrock that, uh, have shallower rooting systems, pushed really early, survived frost season.

But then, like, the old vines didn't push during March 'cause of deeper rooting systems and cooler soils.

And so, like, normally those, you know, we have stuff that would be seven to nine days apart that are now looking like they're three weeks apart.

So it's just, you know, every, uh, every harvest is its own Rubik's Cube, so we're just, uh, you know, figuring it out.

People are talking about a lot of...

Well, and, yeah, it's the warm March is what pushed everything up.

Yeah.

It's not like a hot June, July, which-

And then rain-

... is it better?

... rain in May when almost everything was flowering.

Right.

So there's been, uh, a fair amount of shatter, particularly in Cabernet on mountainsides.

But, you know, we definitely have a block of Cabernet at Bedrock that got pretty badly, badly shattered, which just means that rain affects the vine's capacity to self-pollinate, and the result is you get way fewer berries per cluster.

So it just means crops are down, which is, can both be a good or a bad thing.

It just kinda depends on the rest of the growing season.

Higher skin-to-juice ratio.

You gotta be more careful with your fermentations, right? Because you don't wanna extract too much harsher tannins out of it, but it could actually help accentuate, like, deep flavors, right?

Potentially.

Um, how are you, sir?

I'm doing great.

You know, just, uh, [clears throat] you know, kind of already, like, in a daze that it's the middle of July.

Um, and it's been a kinda fast and furious growing season here 'cause we had a very historically warm March, which kind of fired the starting gun on a lot of vineyards, um, a bit earlier than expected.

But other than that, it's actually been a pretty m- mild growing year so far, too.

So it's this weird, uh, thing where everything feels cattywampus 'cause it's like it's both early, but it's been mild, which is not usually two things that kinda get tied n- together.

Um, so, you know, we're facing potentially a historically early harvest out of Angelo, young vines at Bedrock that, uh, have shallower rooting systems, pushed really early, survived frost season.

But then, like, the old vines didn't push during March 'cause of deeper rooting systems and cooler soils.

And so, like, normally those, you know, we have stuff that would be seven to nine days apart that are now looking like they're three weeks apart.

So it's just, you know, every, uh, every harvest is its own Rubik's Cube, so we're just, uh, you know, figuring it out.

People are talking about a lot of...

Well, and, yeah, it's the warm March is what pushed everything up.

Yeah.

It's not like a hot June, July, which-

And then rain-

... is it better?

... rain in May when almost everything was flowering.

Right.

So there's been, uh, a fair amount of shatter, particularly in Cabernet on mountainsides.

But, you know, we definitely have a block of Cabernet at Bedrock that got pretty badly, badly shattered, which just means that rain affects the vine's capacity to self-pollinate, and the result is you get way fewer berries per cluster.

So it just means crops are down, which is, can both be a good or a bad thing.

It just kinda depends on the rest of the growing season.

Higher skin-to-juice ratio.

You gotta be more careful with your fermentations, right? Because you don't wanna extract too much harsher tannins out of it, but it could actually help accentuate, like, deep flavors, right?

Potentially.