It is early February 2010 and Napa Valley is already picture perfect with mustard cover crops creeping up between the vines. In the vineyards we are pre-pruning and in the winery we are taking stock of our inventory. This past year we touched three vintages at Larkmead. We bottled the highly anticipated 2007 vintage; we blended the 2008 wines and harvested the 2009 vintage.
In about two weeks time we will “officially” release the 2007 red wine vintage for Larkmead. A great many good things have been said about the 2007 vintage coming out of California. To echo the sentiments, 2007 is the vintage of opulence. It seems I shouldn’t be talking about hedonism during times like these, but it is hard to hold your tongue around these wines. Juicy. Lush. Mouth-watering. Rich. Savory. Tender. Flat out exquisite wines. It is going to be hard to match the extravagance of this vintage. We are all in for a grand treat in the weeks and months to come when these wines arrive on retail shelves, restaurant wine lists or in our wine cellars. I am not going to be afraid of opening these wines upon release. I speak for the Larkmead wines, they will be approachable. Go for it.
Just a few short weeks ago, Andy and I tasted through the 2008 and 2009 wines.
Since January 2009 we have not been more pleased with the overall development of the red wines from the 2008 harvest. It was an interesting vintage in the cellar that perplexed us at times and we truly didn’t know where the wines would go post-fermentation. When we tasted the wines in January 2009 we were quite pleased at how they began to pull together and cloak themselves in characteristic Larkmead cassis and fruit purity. A year later, dark red, black and blue fruit nuances began to add depth to the wines and the tannins and acid held a firm structure on the finish. The 2008 wines are stunning, classic wines and we plan to bottle the Firebelle and Cabernet in mid-May and the Salon and Solari in early July. Look out.
I have written before about the 2009 harvest, its intensity and concentration - mostly in the workload (see the prior posts below), but now is time to talk about the early development of the wines. Well, it is hard not to lead without the same descriptors – intensity and concentration. However, unlike the luxurious concentration of the 2007 wines, the young 2009 vintage is showing much more depth which I’d attribute to a focused intensity. The wines are superbly balanced with an elegant front of the palate fruit purity followed by a rich and clean mid-palate and some of the finest tannins I’ve tasted in a Larkmead wine. Since the early stages of fermentations I have talked repeatedly about the mouth-watering, flavorful tannins of the 2009 wines. In my opinion the 2009 vintage will be a candidate for the finest set of wines produced at Larkmead. I’ll check back in a couple of weeks when we rack and produce the preliminary 2009 blends. Until then, cheers.
As I write this we are preparing to put the last of our young, 2009, red wine to barrel.
When we finished harvesting SB, the calendars were turning to early September and we were turning our attention to the development of the red grapes on the vine. The weather was consistent in early September with the entire growing season – warm and dry. Red grape maturity was in balance - sugar, acid and tannin in grape clusters were slowly plodding along. At this stage of September we were quite excited with the prospect of an elegant vintage with low alcohol levels. A long, cool and dry growing season would also give us the luxury of setting our schedule quite effortlessly so we would be able to focus and manage a handful of fermentations at once while maintaining the parcel by parcel individuality that has been designated in our vineyard.
However, as they say, the best laid plans… are wretchedly destroyed by Mother Nature’s wand. That is not exactly how the story goes, but on September 17th the story of Harvest 2009 commenced. Temperature rose to 99 degrees Fahrenheit and the heat orchestra played on. The following days topped 102, 90, 97, 100, 102, 100, 91, 100, 104 and 104 again.
In 2008 we had a similar heat wave, but that took place about a month prior in the middle of August, thus propelling an early start to red grape harvesting and an early finish. Delayed for a couple of weeks with the early, balanced ripening it didn’t take long for the sugars in 2009 to stand up and say, look at me. As we waited as long as we could during the early stages of the heat wave, vineyard parcel by parcel came ready to pick and we began harvesting Cabernet on September 22nd. That was the start of twenty days of which we harvested 110 tons of red wine grapes from 21 distinct parcels from our vineyard (there were a couple of days where we picked multiple parcels). The prior year, 2008, we actually harvested 10% less red wine grapes over a period of 40 days. So, low and behold, harvest 2009 can aptly be deemed a ‘crush’ at Larkmead.
The good news is that we survived unscathed and we truly believe that the vintage has given us some superb wines. The young Larkmead wines have the elegance and finesse of the 2005 vintage and the tannin structure of the 2006, which in my opinion makes for a masterful combination. Below please find some interesting facts and figures, I hope you enjoy.
• August 24, 2009 – First harvest of Sauvignon Blanc
• September 22, 2009 – First harvest of red wine grapes
• October 11, 2009 – Last harvest of red wine grapes
• Larkmead’s 2009 red grape harvesting happened within a span of 20 days
• All Larkmead’s red wine grapes were in fermenters at the same time
• In 2008 all Larkmead’s red grape harvesting happened in a span of 40 days
• In 2009 we will have pressed off all our red grapes in the span of 35 days
• The longest red grape fermentation/maceration: 30 days
• The shortest fermentation/maceration: 17 days
• Lowest Brix: 17.9 (a portion of the Tocai)
• Highest Brix: 27.7 (Cabernet Franc)
• Red Brix average: 26
On Monday, August 24th we picked our first grapes of the 2009 harvest. The late winter rains and the cool growing season had delayed the start of harvest seven to ten days versus the prior year. So, with the fourth week of August a foot, we began picking Sauvignon Blanc and by Friday the 28th ended with it as well.
There are ten acres of Sauvignon Blanc planted on Larkmead’s estate. Ten acres falls in third place behind Cabernet (67 acres) and Merlot (22 acres); however, the vines are more vigorous and hold a greater tons per acre ratio than its sister varieties on the property. So, with the total production of the vineyard catering 66% to Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc tends to fall into second place, producing about 20% of the vineyard’s output. However, Larkmead doesn’t produce wine from all its Sauvignon Blanc. Being a grower and a vintner, we sell the majority of our Sauvignon Blanc grapes to other wineries, such as Duckhorn and Spottswoode.
It is too early to stake a foot in the soil and claim that this will be a spectacular vintage for Napa Valley wines, but based on the development of the Sauvignon Blanc - the rich, deep, nuanced flavors and the healthy fermentations that we are managing at the moment, I am going to have to say, we are in for a very good year of wine growing.
Stayed tuned as we’ll be picking our century old Tocai vines in the next seven to ten days (the week of September 14). And from there, the red wine grapes (starting with Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet) are not far behind….
