As I write this blog, Labor Day has come and gone here in the beautiful Russian River Valley, and for the first time in several growing seasons, the long weekend didn’t bring a major heat event with it. In fact, so far, the story of the 2023 growing season is about how cool it has been, and how we are expecting a much later harvest than in recent years. The growing season started with a wet winter, which in turn produced good vigor in our vines and the promise of a normal-size crop in most of the vineyards we work with. This early-season precipitation also means that we have excellent canopies in the vineyards. Even so, thanks to very cool overall summer temperatures, and a particularly cool June, some vineyards are still going through veraison, which usually marks the mid-point in the growing season.

As a result, we are in a bit of a holding pattern as the grapes continue to develop, and our entire team is regularly traveling to the vineyards to take grape chemistries, watching for rising sugars and falling acids. In the winery, we are prepped and ready to go. All of our picking bins, fermenters, barrels, and tanks have been meticulously cleaned, and everything is ready for the arrival of the first fruit of the season, which will begin next week with sparkling wine grapes from our acclaimed Thale’s Estate Vineyard. To make it clear how much later this year’s harvest will be, last year we picked our sparkling grapes on August 16^th—a month earlier!

Looking ahead, we will begin harvesting Sauvignon Blanc in mid-to-late September. While most of our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vineyards are still many weeks from being harvested, we will likely start picking Chardonnay from the Tollini Vineyard in Mendocino County in the next few weeks. Right now, the weather is perfect, with no rain and days rarely above the low 80s, with nights dipping down into the 50s. If the weather stays mild and rain-free for the next month, 2023 should be a spectacular vintage.

One interesting aspect of the 2023 growing season is that the weather has been quite different depending on the region. For example, at our new Nightwing Estate Vineyard in the Petaluma Gap AVA, it has been very cool, and while Nightwing was one of the first vineyards harvested last year, this year it will likely be one of our last. In contrast, the usually cool Fiddlestix Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA is usually one of our last sites picked, whereas this year it is trending much, much earlier. Because of this, I expect that 2023 will show some fascinating regional diversity, which will be reflected in the character and quality of both our single-vineyard and blended wines.

While it is too soon to talk about the style and quality of 2023, if Mother Nature is gentle and generous in the next many weeks, we will make some amazing wines!

HEIDI BRIDENHAGEN
Winemaker – MacRostie Winery and Vineyards