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Vineyard Update for Amber Ridge
 | This hillside site is located immediately adjacent to the famed Gary Farrell Starr Ridge Vineyard in Windsor. Amber Ridge was planted in 2000 with clones 115, 667 and 777 on 101-14 rootstock and was adopted by several high-end wineries for its inaugural harvest in 2003. This cool climate vineyard, now under the ownership of Far Niente, is farmed by seasoned veterans who practice sustainable agriculture in conjunction with other viticultural techniques that put us at ease. |
2007 - Vineyard Update for Amber Ridge Pinot Noir
Harvest Dates
| Harvest Tonnage | |
|---|---|
| Est Harvest Begin | |
| Est Harvest End | |
| Confirmed Pick Date |
Vineyard Status
| Date | Brix | pH | TA | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09/04/2007 | ALL BLOCKS ARE BEING PICKED TODAY. | |||
| 09/04/2007 | PLEASE READ THIS
We have heard murmurings from wineries over the past few days that pinot picks have been light - approximately 25% less than expectations... but were assured that wouldn't happen at Amber Ridge. Well. it did... our pick was pretty much exactly 25% less than expected and so we grabbed the 777 while we were out there. That means that ALL Amber Ridge fruit is going to come to the winery today (115. 667 and 777). All this back and forth with Amber has been a very rocky start to harvest for us. but those of you that have been doing this a couple of years know that winemaking is ultimately an agriculture-driven endeavor and things don't always go as planned. Having said this. we believe that we will have enough fruit to get everyone's wine made - we sandbagged a bit in case this happened and we also planned to make a barrel of each clone for ourselves - that ain't going to happen! We really should process everything today and tomorrow - it's not advisable to try to wait until Thursday. | |||
| 09/03/2007 | LAST MINUTE CHANGE We are going to pick the 115 and the 667 on Tuesday and then pick the 777 on Thursday (not Friday). The 667 has a lot of "hens and chicks" (big and tiny berries on the same cluster) and the sun is going to fry the chicks if we hang until the end of the week. so 667 will come in tomorrow. We are moving the 777 from Friday to Thursday because that will make life easier for the picking crew (part of our "negotiation" in getting the 667 picked tomorrow). Will get some numbers up when we get them. | |||
| 09/01/2007 | 26.20 | After a visit this morning. we're going to switch things around. Although 1.5 brix behind the 667 and 777 blocks. the 115 block has great flavors and more mature seeds and skin. So we're going to pick the 115 on Tuesday and then pick both of the 667 and 777 on Friday. We'll probably see a fair bit of raisining on the small berries on the 667 (which has a lot of hens and chicks). but that will give the other 90% of skins and seeds time to catch up. | ||
| 08/31/2007 | 25.10 | 777 is about 25.1 while 667 is 24.6. Both are coming along with flavors. although the 667 is further ahead. We will probably pick both of these between next Tue and Thu. Our main block of 115 will hang another week or so. | ||
| 08/18/2007 | 22.80 | 3.21 | 0.80 | Everything is maturing nicely. All 3 of our blocks have had their last fruit drops and the fruit zones have been thinned to allow for maximum ripening as harvest quickly approaches. The sugar levels are climbing in 777 and 667 blocks but flavor development is lagging behind. Seeds are starting to ripen (turn brown) but there is still evidence of greenness. I would estimate that harvest will begin in 777 block during the week of Sept. 3rd. 777 = 22.8 Brix. 3.21 pH. 7.87 g/L TA |
| 08/14/2007 | 21.00 | 777 block is around 20 to 21 brix with medium sized berries and thick skinsl. but still tannic skin and green seeds. Still has another 3 weeks to go. 667 has slightly larger berries... probably 19 or 20 brix. Will probably pick them a week apart. The 115 is still looking great. Smaller berries/clusters and more like 18 or 19 brix... another week behind the 667. There is a fair bit of green "second crop" that we need to be careful we don't pick. but even if a little bit gets picked it is easily sorted out on the line. | ||
| 08/04/2007 | (Direct quote from vineyard manager) Canopies are in good shape for the most part of the vineyard. Certainly we produced far fewer laterals in 2007 than 2006 and we were able to time our work activities closer to the growth cycles. Also. we used a hedger for the first time at Amber Ridge. The machine (Collard) did a great job. The hedging combined with early lateral removal allowed us to get some good air circulation and dappled light into the fruiting zone fairly early. The fruiting zones were leafed "lightly". As most of you know. there has been a history of shrivel in some areas and we are very conscious of exposed fruit. We are opening up the canopy more when we drop fruit and that is discussed more fully below. The 667 & 777 in blocks 3 & 4 are at 80% to 90% veraison. We will complete our fruit drop in these two blocks either tomorrow or Friday. We are dropping approximately 10 clusters per vine. We are removing internal leafs in the fruit zone as we drop crop. The drop is focused on wings and crowded areas. After the pass we are averaging 1.25 clusters per shoot per vine. Relative to last year. clusters are smaller. both in berry count and berry size. Our projection for the 667 is 6.8 lbs per vine and 3.7 tons per acre. Our projection for the 777 is 6.5 lbs per vine and 3.55 tons per acre. Our projection for the 115 is 6.5 lbs per vine and 3.6 tons per acre. | |||
| 07/26/2007 | 777 block is looking good with small clusters and is at about 90% veraison. The dry Winter and Spring have definitely created lower yields and smaller berries this year. But the canopy is healthy and a deficit irrigation scheme is making things look good. This block needs a color drop in the next few days to remove the clusters that are far behind in ripening. 667 block is several days behind and is in a similarly good shape. although there is a bit more canopy on the morning side and we'll be looking to open that up a bit in the next several days to get some more sunshine on the berries. 115 block is looking the best it ever has. While this has historically been the most vigorous area of the vineyard. this year it looks much lower vigor due primarily to more deficit irrigation. The canopy is weaker with smaller clusters and the block is about 10% through veraison. There is no doubt that this block will be creating some fantastic wines this year and we expect that we'll be able to get ripeness and harvest at lower sugars relative to the other blocks. Overall. this vineyard looks to be in better balance than 2005 or 2006... sort of like 2004. except the vines are more mature. We've seen warm. but not hot weather. with lots of fog. Although the highs are in the 80's. most of the day is spent in the 70's... so that might stretch things out by another week or so. |