First Day of Fall, Last Day of Harvest

Wednesday, September 23rd – certainly not a date we would have guessed for the final day of Harvest 2015. But with a few tons of Estate Grenache, Grenache Blanc and Syrah, the last few bins of grapes arrived on our crushpad.

“In total, we brought in slightly less than last year,” says Assistant Winemaker Jesse Fox. But quality more than made up for quantity, with beautiful, tiny berries and lovely flavor.

While harvest has come to a close, the 2015 vintage as a whole has only just begun. Several ferments continue to thrive in tank, and after the sweet juice converts its sugars into alcohol, the wine will be pressed and “barreled down” to age for between eleven and eighteen months.

From all of us at Ram’s Gate Winery, cheers! We can’t wait to share the fruits of this harvest with you.

An Unexpected October Harvest

Six months ago, we would have been hard-pressed to imagine being at this stage in the winemaking process on October 24th. During a “normal” year — though “normal” is a difficult word to use in the world of wine — our winemaking team would still be receiving fruit this week. Instead, due to this early harvest, each lot has already completed alcoholic fermentation and is now undergoing malolactic fermentation. A few of the earliest lots of Pinot Noir have even completed that stage in the process and are tucked away in barrel to age for the next eleven months.

By contrast, our Four Farmers’ Culinary Garden is thriving under the warm October sunshine, and beautiful veggies and herbs are being harvested daily to contribute to Chef Taylr’s member-exclusive pairings. Here’s a peek at this week’s bounty:

Purple opal basil

Three varieties of peppers: Sweet Chocolate Green, Antohi Romanian and Lunchbox Yellow

Fall favorites: green zebra tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, bush baby squash, goldy yellow zucchini squash and Magda yellow zucchini squash.

Members, be sure to check out Chef Taylr’s pairings to taste these beautiful ingredients in action, complementing Ram’s Gate wines! The opal basil is currently accompanying the hanger steak, crafted to pair to our 2011 Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

The harvest will vary each day, so keep an eye out for extra bounty to take home after your visit to the winery!