A California Winery Blog

This is our first picking of Pinot Noir this year. Winemaker, Bruce McGuire, assures me that although late it is not the latest. We once started picking Pinot Noir the first of October.

This is our oldest block of Pinot Noir, planted in the early eighties, on its own rootstock and in 12′ foot rows. The clone is Martin Ray named after one of, if not the pioneer of Pinot Noir in California. We have re-planted most of our old blocks and we will probably do this one as well, eventually, but what saves it, for the time being, is the quality of the fruit. We have an excellent limited production Martin Ray 2006 Pinot Noir in our current listings.

The first photo shows the fruit and you will notice it is on two levels. In our newer planting the fruit is all on one level for better exposure and better control of the canopy. The canopy, through photsynthesis, ripens the fruit.

The second photo is of workers removing the nets. As anyone, who has netted their plants knows, removing nets is much more difficult than applying them.