On the evening of October 8, we witnessed a furry of hurricane-force winds, the likes of which had never been seen in Wine Country before. Starting in the northwestern section of the Napa Valley, at the foot of Mt. St. Helena north of Calistoga and traveling west towards Santa Rosa, trees fell onto power…
Greetings, friends! It’s been a busy growing season so far, so it must be time for an update on our vineyard progress. The generous rains that we experienced at the end of 2016 and throughout the winter and spring of 2017 have been a boon to our little hillside vineyard. Though twice the average rainfall is…
Our 2016 estate harvest was one for the books. Please enjoy this visual journey of the day… Photographs by Emma Kruch Morris // Video by Matt Morris
We’re off to the races! On Sept. 1, we harvested 5.5 tons of fruit from Mello Vineyard in Yountville — half Sauvignon Blanc, and half Sauvignon Musque. This beautiful fruit was pressed off the next day after extended skin contact, then started fermentation in two stainless steel tanks with a few different yeasts. They’re now…
Although 2012 through 2016 have been deemed drought vintages, we continue to receive anywhere from 60% to 90% of our normal annual rainfall. But the reality is that rainfall amounts and weather patterns vary widely from year to year locally. While many other vineyards in the Napa Valley are claiming that this is the earliest…
2015 was not only the earliest harvest on record in the Napa Valley, but the hottest as well! The fourth year of drought throughout California, coupled with a warm winter and spring, gave us early bud-break and bloom, but also resulted in less tonnage. Heat spikes up to 107 degrees withered the vines and vineyard…
This year’s early-morning harvest at Mello Vineyard in Yountville started around 4:15 a.m. Tractor lights and headlamps lit the way on our journey to create our 2015 Two Old Dogs Sauvignon Blanc! Beautiful bright green clusters shimmer in the tractor’s lights. All hands on deck for these early AM picks! It was the earliest harvest…
With the sporadic rainfall (the warm “Pineapple Express” that came in from the Pacific and dumped inches at a time on us) coupled with the unusually warm winter and spring, the vines budded out about three weeks earlier than usual this year. Below (left) is a cluster that has yet to bloom in a shadier block of…
Every year after harvest, we are blessed by an amazing show of fall colors in the valley. If we have received measurable early fall rains, there is a carpet of fine new grassy growth between the vines, highlighting the dramatic difference between the bright new growth in the vine rows and the declining yellow leaves…
Friends and clients called with worried anticipation at the brief, but notable, rain storm that we experienced in the Napa Valley a couple of weeks ago. We received almost and inch of rain, much of it coming in a sudden downpour, and then the clouds cleared and the sun came out with temperatures in the…