Harvest is in full gear here in Sonoma. At the winery we have about 15% of our fruit in already and our first fruit from Amber Ridge has finished its cold soak and fermentation is just kicking into gear. The berries have been very small this year, giving the juice an amazingly rich deep purple hue after cold soak (because of the high skin to juice ratio). These are going to be some dark pinots!
Above are some samples of Keefer Ranch. We get six different Pinot Noir clones from Keefer Ranch - 115, 2A, 23, 667, 777 and Pommard. Clone 23 is my favorite - up here in Sonoma it gives the wine a beautiful green apple tartness. Just spectacular. We sampled the Keefer juice this week and the flavor is just about to pop - we should see the fruit in the winery this week just as it hits its peak. What a great time of year!
